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Improving the Biogas Potential of Rice Straw Through Microwave-Assisted Ammoniation Pretreatment During Anaerobic Digestion

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Abstract

Rice straw is an abundant lignocellulosic biomass used to produce biogas. However, its resistant structure hinders biogas production. In this study, three pretreatments, microwave, ammoniation, and microwave-assisted ammoniation (MAA), were evaluated for their use in improving biogas production from rice straw. After an 18-day digestion, methane production by rice straw pretreated with MAA was 281.56 mL/g (volatile solids of substrate), which was 25.43%, 7.96%, and 18.18% more than that produced following the control, microwave, and ammoniation pretreatments, respectively. These increases were mainly attributed to the change in the resistant structure of rice straw following the MAA pretreatment and a more stable anaerobic digestion system. The degradation rate for the volatile solids of the rice straw pretreated with MAA during anaerobic digestion was 71.20%, which was 4.71%, and 4.86% higher than the rates observed using microwave and ammoniation pretreatments, respectively. In addition, the MAA method had a T90 fermentation cycle of 6 days, which was 33.3%, 25.0%, and 33.3% shorter than those for the control, microwave, and ammoniation methods, respectively. This technology shows the potential to enhance biogas production from the anaerobic digestion of rice straw.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi (Grant No. AB17190534) and the Central Government Directs Special Funds for Local Science and Technology Development Projects (Grant No. ZY1949015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Guangxi Microorganism and Enzyme Research Center of Engineering Technology, College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, Guangxi, China

    Qiangqiang Liu, Shiyou Pan, Lang Zhou, Liqin Du & Yutuo Wei

  2. Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Qiangqiang Liu

  3. Delinshe Microbial Organic Fertilizer Co. Ltd, Nanning, 530001, Guangxi, China

    Linchuan Feng

  4. Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning, 530007, Guangxi, China

    Zhenchong Li

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  1. Qiangqiang Liu
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  2. Shiyou Pan
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  3. Lang Zhou
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  7. Yutuo Wei
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Contributions

The study was conducted from June 2019 to June 2020. YTW and ZCL conceived and designed this research. QQL, SYP, LZ, and LCF performed the experiments. QQL, SYP, LZ, LCF, and LQD analyzed and interpreted the data. QQL and SYP composed the manuscript. YTW and ZCL improved the manuscript. All authors reviewed and revised the manuscript prior to publication.

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Correspondence to Yutuo Wei.

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Liu, Q., Pan, S., Zhou, L. et al. Improving the Biogas Potential of Rice Straw Through Microwave-Assisted Ammoniation Pretreatment During Anaerobic Digestion. Bioenerg. Res. 15, 1240–1250 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-021-10299-9

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