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Metabolic and microbial community dynamics during the anaerobic digestion of maize silage in a two-phase process

  • Bioenergy and biofuels
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Abstract

Two-phasic anaerobic digestion processes (hydrolysis/acidogenesis separated from acetogenesis/methanogenesis) can be used for biogas production on demand or a combined chemicals/bioenergy production. For an effective process control, detailed knowledge about the microbial catalysts and their correlation to process conditions is crucial. In this study, maize silage was digested in a two-phase process and interrelationships between process parameters and microbial communities were revealed. In the first-phase reactor, alternating metabolic periods were observed which emerged independently from the feeding frequency. During the L-period, up to 11.8 g L-1 lactic acid was produced which significantly correlated to lactic acid bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus as the most abundant community members. During the alternating G-period, the production of volatile fatty acids (up to 5.3, 4.0 and 3.1 g L−1 for propionic, n-butyric and n-caproic acid, respectively) dominated accompanied by a high gas production containing up to 28 % hydrogen. The relative abundance of various Clostridiales increased during this metabolic period. In the second-phase reactor, the metabolic fluctuations of the first phase were smoothed out resulting in a stable biogas production as well as stable bacterial and methanogenic communities. However, the biogas composition followed the metabolic dynamics of the first phase: the hydrogen content increased during the L-period whereas highest CH4/CO2 ratios (up to 2.8) were reached during the G-period. Aceticlastic Methanosaeta as well as hydrogenotrophic Methanoculleus and Methanobacteriaceae were identified as dominant methanogens. Consequently, a directed control of the first-phase stabilizing desired metabolic states can lead to an enhanced productivity regarding chemicals and bioenergy.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association. We would like to thank Ronny Kirbach and Peter Keil for operating the two-phase reactor system and analysis of process parameters. We thank our collaboration partners from the Department Biochemical Conversion of the Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ) for contributing to the analytical measurements. Furthermore, we thank Dorota Rzechonek and Anne Kuchenbuch for T-RFLP analyses of bacterial communities, Franziska Bühligen for T-RFLP analyses of the methanogenic community and Ute Lohse for technical assistance with 454 pyrosequencing.

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  1. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Heike Sträuber, Rico Lucas & Sabine Kleinsteuber

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  1. Heike Sträuber
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  2. Rico Lucas
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Correspondence to Heike Sträuber.

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Sträuber, H., Lucas, R. & Kleinsteuber, S. Metabolic and microbial community dynamics during the anaerobic digestion of maize silage in a two-phase process. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 479–491 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6996-0

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