Enhanced biomethane potential from wheat straw by low temperature alkaline calcium hydroxide pre-treatment

Matthew Reilly*, Richard Dinsdale, Alan Guwy

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A factorially designed experiment to examine the effectiveness of Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment, enzyme addition and particle size, on the mesophilic (35°C) anaerobic digestion of wheat straw was conducted. Experiments used a 48h pre-treatment with Ca(OH)2 7.4% (w/w), addition of Accellerase®-1500, with four particle sizes of wheat straw (1.25, 2, 3 and 10mm) and three digestion time periods (5, 15 and 30days). By combining particle size reduction and Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment, the average methane potential was increased by 315% (from 48NmL-CH4 g-VS-1 to 202NmL-CH4 g-VS-1) after 5days of anaerobic digestion compared to the control. Enzyme addition or Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment with 3, 2 and 1.25mm particle sizes had 30-day batch yields of between 301 and 335NmL-CH4 g-VS-1. Alkali pre-treatment of 3mm straw was shown to have the most potential as a cost effective pre-treatment and achieved 290NmL-CH4 g-VS-1, after only 15days of digestion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)258-265
Number of pages8
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume189
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2015

Keywords

  • Alkaline pre-treatment
  • Cellulase
  • Methane potential
  • Particle size
  • Wheat straw

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