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Increased biomethane production from herbaceous peat through pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid

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Abstract

Organic substances of low biodegradability and the high moisture content of herbaceous peat inhibit its high-value utilization. In this study, the effect of pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid on the efficiency of the anaerobic fermentation of herbaceous peat was explored. Single-factor experiments and orthogonal tests were conducted to optimize the pretreatment conditions. The milled herbaceous peat (0.43 mm) was pretreated with 5% sulfuric acid at 100°C for 120 min with a solid–liquid ratio of 1:4, and the reducing sugar yield was 13.49%. The results suggest that dilute sulfuric acid might have hydrolyzed the β-glycosidic bonds between the sugar monomers, causing the partial degradation of cellulose into reducing sugar. Compared to the fermentation of untreated herbaceous peat, the total biomethane yield increased by 29.97%, and the fermentation period decreased by 22.50%. Thus, pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid effectively enhanced the efficiency of biomethane fermentation of herbaceous peat.

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Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21766025) and The Ministry of Education’s “Chunhui Plan” cooperative research project (2018042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, 014010, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Baotou, China

    Ying Wang, Litong Ma & Yanan Lu

  2. Inner Mongolia Engineering Research Center of Comprehensive Utilization of Bio-Coal Chemical Industry, 014010, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Baotou, China

    Litong Ma

  3. Laboratory of New Energy Conversion and Storage of Carbon-Based Resources, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, 014010, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Baotou, China

    Litong Ma

  4. Beijing Key Laboratory of Flavour Chemistry, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, China

    Yuchen Bai

  5. College of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, 014010, China

    Jun Li

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  1. Ying Wang
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Contributions

Investigations, the collection and analysis of data, and editing were conducted by Ying Wang. Conceptualization, resources, methodology, the formal analysis, and editing were conducted by Litong Ma. Analyzing data and writing the original draft were performed by Yuchen Bai. Analyzing, writing/reviewing, and editing were conducted by Jun Li, and writing/reviewing and editing were performed by Yanan Lu.

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Correspondence to Litong Ma.

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Wang, Y., Ma, L., Bai, Y. et al. Increased biomethane production from herbaceous peat through pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 11145–11153 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03052-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03052-5

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