Effect of Total Solid Content of Lignocellulose Pulp and Paper Mill Sludge on Methane Production and Modeling

Plant biomass in the form of waste materials and by-products from various industries can be a valuable material for the production of composts and growing media for urban gardening. In this study, pulp and paper mill sludge, fruit-vegetable waste, mushroom spent substrate and rye straw were used to produce compost that was further used as a medium component in container cultivation of tomato. The plants were grown in containers with a capacity of 3 dm3 filled with three types of compost-based growing media supplemented with high peat, fen peat, pine bark and wood fiber. The tomato plants grown in 100% peat substrate served as controls. The plants grown in the compost-enriched media had a higher leaf greening index and percentage of ripe fruit, and exhibited an increased content of total polyphenols and flavonoids, potassium, calcium, magnesium and copper in fruit as compared with the control. The tomatoes grown in a medium consisting of 25% compost, 30% high peat, 15% low peat, 20% pine bark and 10% wood fiber reached the highest fresh fruit weight, total polyphenol content and L-ascorbic acid levels. This study demonstrated that the compost produced from natural materials from various sources was a valuable potting medium supplement with positive effects on tomato yield and nutritional value.

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Optimization of Biomethane Production via Fermentation of Chicken Manure Using Marine Sediment: A Modeling Approach Using Response Surface Methodology

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182211988 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (22) ◽

pp. 11988

Author(s):

Fatma Abouelenien ◽

Toyokazu Miura ◽

Yutaka Nakashimada ◽

Nooran S. Elleboudy ◽

Mohammad S. Al-Harbi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Response Surface Methodology ◽

Response Surface ◽

Marine Sediment ◽

Incubation Time ◽

Methane Production ◽

Total Solid ◽

Solid Content ◽

Chicken Manure ◽

Total Solid Content ◽

Semi Solid

In this study, marine sediment (MS) was successfully used as a source of methanogenic bacteria for the anaerobic digestion (AD) of chicken manure (CM). Using MS showed high production in liquid and semi-solid conditions. Even in solid conditions, 169.3 mL/g volatile solids of chicken manure (VS-CM) was produced, despite the accumulation of ammonia (4.2 gNH3-N/kg CM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest methane production from CM alone, without pretreatment, in solid conditions (20%). Comparing MS to Ozouh sludge (excess activated sewage sludge) (OS), using OS under semi-solid conditions resulted in higher methane production, while using MS resulted in more ammonia tolerance (301 mL/gVS-CM at 8.58 gNH3-N/kg). Production optimization was carried out via a response surface methodology (RDM) model involving four independent variables (inoculum ratio, total solid content, NaCl concentration, and incubation time). Optimized methane production (324.36 mL/gVS-CM) was at a CM:MS ratio of 1:2.5 with no NaCl supplementation, 10% total solid content, and an incubation time of 45 days.

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