Mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of cattle manure and corn stover with biological and chemical pretreatment

• Biological and chemical pretreatment methods using LFD, AS, and NaOH were compared.
• Cattle manure and corn stover were used to co-digestion.
• LFD pretreatment achieved the same effect as the chemical pretreatment.
• LFD pretreatment significantly reduced pretreatment cost without additional agent.
• LFD pretreatment reduced T80 and improved buffer capacity of AD system.

Biological and chemical pretreatment methods using liquid fraction of digestate (LFD), ammonia solution (AS), and NaOH were compared in the process of mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of cattle manure and corn stover. The results showed that LFD pretreatment could achieve the same effect as the chemical pretreatment (AS, NaOH) at the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD). Compared with the untreated corn stover, the cumulative biomethane production (CBP) and the volatile solid (VS) removal rate of three pretreatment methods were increased by 25.40–30.12% and 14.48–16.84%, respectively, in the co-digestion of cattle manure and corn stover. T80 was 20–37.14% shorter than that of the control test (35 ± 1 days). LFD pretreatment not only achieved the same effect as chemical pretreatment, but also reduced T80 and improved buffer capacity of anaerobic digestion system. Therefore, this study provides meaningful insight for exploring efficient pretreatment strategy to stabilize and enhance AD performance for practical application.