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Evaluation of biomethane potential of waste algal biomass collected from eutrophied lake: effect of source of inocula, co-substrate, and VS loading

Journal of Applied Phycology volume 31, pages 533–545 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Present study used sequential optimization of inoculum, co-substrate, and volatile solid (VS) loading rate to enhance biomethanation of waste algal biomass (HL) collected from eutrophied Hauz Khas lake, India. The mixed algal biomass was rich in lipids (45% TS) with a C/N ratio of 10.08 and 88% VS. Higher methane yield (279 mL g−1 VSfed) was observed using inoculum from algae-cattle dung based biogas plant compared to 170–200 mL g−1 VSfed using other inocula (from sewage sludge, Jatropha/ Karanja cake and cattle dung based plant). Biomethane yield was further enhanced (312 mL g−1 VSfed) by co-digestion with cattle dung (HL + CD) as compared to 282 mL g−1 VSfed for HL + WAS (waste activated sludge). Further, VS loading of 5 g VS L−1 gave highest methane yield of 315 mL g−1 VSfed, while a decrease (240 and 224 mL g−1 VSfed) was observed at 10 and 15 g VS L−1, respectively.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology (Grant no. DBT/IC-2/Indo-Brazil/2016-19/06), Govt. of India for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Microbiology Lab (AML), Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Pushpendar Kumar & Anushree Malik

  2. Biogas Laboratory, Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Pushpendar Kumar & Virendra Kumar Vijay

  3. BioResource Engineering Lab (BREL), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna, Bihta, Patna, Bihar, 801103, India

    Sanjeev Kumar Prajapati

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  1. Pushpendar Kumar
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  2. Sanjeev Kumar Prajapati
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  4. Virendra Kumar Vijay
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Correspondence to Sanjeev Kumar Prajapati or Anushree Malik.

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Kumar, P., Prajapati, S.K., Malik, A. et al. Evaluation of biomethane potential of waste algal biomass collected from eutrophied lake: effect of source of inocula, co-substrate, and VS loading. J Appl Phycol 31, 533–545 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1585-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1585-0

Keywords

  • Eutrophication
  • Waste algal biomass
  • Co-digestion
  • Biomethanation
  • Bioenergy