Electrohydrolysis pretreatment of water hyacinth for enhanced hydrolysis

This study investigates the use of electrohydrolysis pretreatment on water hyacinth to cut short the hydrolysis step and increase biogas production at the same time. Electrohydrolysis pretreatment of water hyacinth at 20 V for 60 min exhibited improved solubilisation (42.9%). Therefore, bio-chemical methane potential (BMP) test was carried out between water hyacinth pretreated at 20 V for 60 min and untreated water hyacinth. By the end of 30 days, cumulative methane production of 2455 ± 17 mL CH4/g VS for electrohydrolysis pretreated substrate and 1936 ± 27 mL CH4/g VS for the untreated substrate was achieved. Compositional analysis and characterization study revealed the efficiency of electrohydrolysis pretreatment in melting the lignin and lowering the cellulose crystallinity of water hyacinth.