Comparison of digestate from solid anaerobic digesters and dewatered effluent from liquid anaerobic digesters as inocula for solid state anaerobic digestion of yard trimmings

To select a proper inoculum for the solid state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) of yard trimmings, digestate from solid anaerobic digesters and dewatered effluent from liquid anaerobic digesters were compared at substrate-to-inoculum (S/I) ratios from 0.2 to 2 (dry basis), and total solids (TS) contents from 20% to 35%. The highest methane yield of around 244 L/kg VSfeed was obtained at an S/I ratio of 0.2 and TS content of 20% for both types of inoculum. The highest volumetric methane productivity was obtained with dewatered effluent at an S/I ratio of 0.6 and TS content of 24%. The two types of inoculum were found comparable regarding methane yields and volumetric methane productivities at each S/I ratio, while using dewatered effluent as inoculum reduced the startup time. An S/I ratio of 1 was determined to be a critical level and should be set as the upper limit for mesophilic SS-AD of yard trimmings.