| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 679766 | Bioresource Technology | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•Ambient temperature Ca(OH)2 treatment improves the methane yield from wheat straw.•Interactions exist between alkali treatment, cellulase addition and particle size.•Most effective treatment blend was size reduction to 3 mm with Ca(OH)2 treatment.•Ca(OH)2 treatment of 3 mm straw saw a 15 day yield of 290 NmL-CH4 g-VS−1.•Little effect of alkaline pre-treatment on lignin composition was seen.
A factorially designed experiment to examine the effectiveness of Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment, enzyme addition and particle size, on the mesophilic (35 °C) anaerobic digestion of wheat straw was conducted. Experiments used a 48 h pre-treatment with Ca(OH)2 7.4% (w/w), addition of Accellerase®-1500, with four particle sizes of wheat straw (1.25, 2, 3 and 10 mm) and three digestion time periods (5, 15 and 30 days). By combining particle size reduction and Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment, the average methane potential was increased by 315% (from 48 NmL-CH4 g-VS−1 to 202 NmL-CH4 g-VS−1) after 5 days of anaerobic digestion compared to the control. Enzyme addition or Ca(OH)2 pre-treatment with 3, 2 and 1.25 mm particle sizes had 30-day batch yields of between 301 and 335 NmL-CH4 g-VS−1. Alkali pre-treatment of 3 mm straw was shown to have the most potential as a cost effective pre-treatment and achieved 290 NmL-CH4 g-VS−1, after only 15 days of digestion.
