Application of Hydrodynamic Cavitation for Improving Methane Fermentation of <i>Sida hermaphrodita</i> Silage

oleh: Marcin Zieliński, Paulina Rusanowska, Aleksandra Krzywik, Magda Dudek, Anna Nowicka, Marcin Dębowski

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-02-01

Deskripsi

Hydrodynamic cavitation was recently applied as a biomass pretreatment method. Most of the studies which used hydrodynamic cavitation were applied to pretreated sugarcane bagasse or reed. High biomass yield of <i>Sida hermaphrodita</i> points out the necessity of studies on its effective pretreatment before methane fermentation, especially because its &#8220;wood-like&#8222; characteristics could present different disintegration properties than other lignocellulose biomass. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the influence of duration of hydrodynamic cavitation on lignocellulose composition in <i>Sida hermaphrodita</i> silage, and the assessment of disintegrated biomass as a substrate for methane fermentation. The study showed a slight decrease in lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose content in biomass after hydrodynamic cavitation, which resulted in a higher content of carbohydrates in the liquid fraction of disintegrated substrates. Methane production was 439.1 &#177; 45.0 L CH<sub>4</sub>/kg total solids (TS) from the substrate disintegrated for 20 min. However, the most effective time for methane production was hydrodynamic cavitation of the substrate for 5 min. At this pretreatment duration, the highest values for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), and carbohydrate reduction were also noted. The study proved that hydrodynamic cavitation applied for 5 min allowed obtaining an energy profit of 0.17 Wh/g TS. The studies on a laboratory scale indicated that the technology of hydrodynamic cavitation of <i>Sida hermaphrodita</i> could be economically applied for methane fermentation on a large scale.