Biomethane Yield, Physicochemical Structures, and Microbial Community Characteristics of Corn Stover Pretreated by Urea Combined with Mild Temperature Hydrotherm

The corn stover (CS)’s compact structure makes it challenging for microorganisms to use in anaerobic digestion (AD). Therefore, improving CS biodegradability has become a key focus in AD studies. Methods are being targeted at the pretreatment of CS, combining advanced urea with mild temperature hydr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPolymers Vol. 13; no. 13; p. 2207
Main Authors Lu, Yao, Yuan, Hairong, Zuo, Xiaoyu, Chang, Yanqing, Li, Xiujin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 03.07.2021
MDPI
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
Anaerobic digestion
Biodegradability
Biogas
Cellulose
Energy consumption
Fourier transforms
hydrothermal
Lignin
Lignocellulose
microbial community
Microorganisms
Natural gas
Nitrogen
Pretreatment
Raw materials
urea
Ureas
whole slurry
Beijing China
China
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The corn stover (CS)’s compact structure makes it challenging for microorganisms to use in anaerobic digestion (AD). Therefore, improving CS biodegradability has become a key focus in AD studies. Methods are being targeted at the pretreatment of CS, combining advanced urea with mild temperature hydrotherm pretreatment to study its effect on promoting the AD process of CS. The biomethane yield, physicochemical structure, and microbial community characteristics were investigated. CS samples were assigned into groups differed by a range of pretreatment times (from 24 to 96 h) and set at a temperature of 50 °C with a 2% urea addition. Results revealed that the 72-h group obtained the highest biomethane yield of 205 mL/g VS−1, volatile solid (VS) and total solid (TS) removal rates of 69.3% and 47.7%, which were 36.7%, 25.3% and 27.5% higher than those of untreated one, respectively. After conducting several analyses, results confirmed the pretreatment as a method for altering CS microstructures benefits biomethane production. The most resounding differences between pretreated and untreated groups were observed within a microbial community, an integral factor for improved AD performance. This study serves to confirm that this specific pretreatment is an effective method for enhancing biomethane production in CS.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym13132207