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Influence of selected biowaste materials pre-treatment on their anaerobic digestion

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Abstract

The topic of this study is the pre-treatment of substrates for anaerobic digestion. Two different substrates of algae Scenedesmus subspicatus (SAG 86.81), Chlorella kessleri (LARG/1) and foliage of Prunus serrulata were subjected to anaerobic digestion. A mixture of commercially available cellulolytic enzymes (Analytical science s.r.o., Modra, Slovakia) was used for anaerobic treatment of algae while the foliage of Prunus serrulata was pre-treated by lignolytic fungi. The highest production of methane per mass of volatile solids was reached with untreated Chlorella kessleri at (0.59 ± 0.04) L g−1. The addition of cellulolytic enzymes did not increase the production of methane from the algal substrate; however, a faster substrate degradation and thus also higher speed of methane production at the beginning of cultivation was achieved. After foliage pre-treatment by fungal isolate Pleurotus pulmonarius, isolated from natural habitats, the methane production increased five times. In this way we were able to speed up the processes of biological degradation of ligno-cellulose materials and thereby to increase the production of methane. Our results show the possibility of using algae as a suitable substrate for biogas production. On the other hand, also aerobic pre-treatment of foliage (Pleurotus pulmonarius) presents a successful way for speeding up the degradation of ligno-cellulose waste leading to increased methane yields.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Slovnaft VÚRUP, a.s., Vlčie Hrdlo, 820 01, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Alžbeta Takáčová

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Tomáš Mackluľak, Miroslava Smolinská & Miroslav Hutňan

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Institute of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Protection, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Petra Olejníková

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  1. Alžbeta Takáčová
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Correspondence to Alžbeta Takáčová.

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Takáčová, A., Mackluľak, T., Smolinská, M. et al. Influence of selected biowaste materials pre-treatment on their anaerobic digestion. Chem. Pap. 66, 129–137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11696-011-0107-1

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