scholarly journals Fungal Pretreatments on Non-Sterile Solid Digestate to Enhance Methane Yield and the Sustainability of Anaerobic Digestion

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Zanellati ◽  
Federica Spina ◽  
Luca Rollé ◽  
Giovanna Cristina Varese ◽  
Elio Dinuccio
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Untreated Control ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Coprinopsis Cinerea ◽  
Cell Wall Polymers ◽  
Anaerobic Degradability ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
By Products ◽  
Digestion Step

Fungi can run feedstock pretreatment to improve the hydrolysis and utilization of recalcitrant lignocellulose-rich biomass during anaerobic digestion (AD). In this study, three fungal strains (Coprinopsis cinerea MUT 6385, Cyclocybe aegerita MUT 5639, Cephalotrichum stemonitis MUT 6326) were inoculated in the non-sterile solid fraction of digestate, with the aim to further (re)use it as a feedstock for AD. The application of fungal pretreatments induced changes in the plant cell wall polymers, and different profiles were observed among strains. Significant increases (p < 0.05) in the cumulative biogas and methane yields with respect to the untreated control were observed. The most effective pretreatment was carried out for 20 days with C. stemonitis, causing the highest hemicellulose, lignin, and cellulose reduction (59.3%, 9.6%, and 8.2%, respectively); the cumulative biogas and methane production showed a 182% and 214% increase, respectively, compared to the untreated control. The increase in AD yields was ascribable both to the addition of fungal biomass, which acted as an organic feedstock, and to the lignocellulose transformation due to fungal activity during pretreatments. The developed technologies have the potential to enhance the anaerobic degradability of solid digestate and untap its biogas potential for a further digestion step, thus allowing an improvement in the environmental and economic sustainability of the AD process and the better management of its by-products.

scholarly journals Critical Issues and Opportunities for Producing Biomethane in Italy

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2431
Author(s):  
Roberto Murano ◽  
Natascia Maisano ◽  
Roberta Selvaggi ◽  
Gioacchino Pappalardo ◽  
Biagio Pecorino
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Biogas Plants ◽  
High Level ◽  
By Products ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Nowadays, most Italian biogas produces electricity even though recent political incentives are promoting biomethane from biogas by “upgrading” it. The aim of this paper is to focus on the regulatory framework for producing biomethane from new or already-existent anaerobic digestion plants. The complexity and lack of knowledge of the regulations on biofuel production and of anaerobic digested biomethane from waste and by-products create difficulties of both interpretation and application. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze the regulations for producing biomethane, underline the critical issues and opportunities, and evaluate whether an electrical plant built in the last 10 years in Italy can really be converted to a biomethane plant, thereby lengthening its lifespan. Three case studies were considered to look more closely into applying Italian biomethane incentives and to simulate the types of incentivization in agriculture with examples based on certain fuel types typical of a standard biomethane plant of 500 standard cubic meter per hour. All the considered cases put in evidence that biomethane is a further opportunity for development with a high level of efficiency for all biogas producers, especially for many biogas plants whose incentivization period is about to finish.

scholarly journals Solar Integrated Anaerobic Digester: Energy Savings and Economics

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4292
Author(s):  
Lidia Lombardi ◽  
Barbara Mendecka ◽  
Simone Fabrizi
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Solar Integration

Industrial anaerobic digestion requires low temperature thermal energy to heat the feedstock and maintain temperature conditions inside the reactor. In some cases, the thermal requirements are satisfied by burning part of the produced biogas in devoted boilers. However, part of the biogas can be saved by integrating thermal solar energy into the anaerobic digestion plant. We study the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in biowaste mesophilic/thermophilic anaerobic digestion, with the aim of reducing the amount of biogas burnt for internal heating and increasing the amount of biogas, further upgraded to biomethane and injected into the natural gas grid. With respect to previously available studies that evaluated the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in anaerobic digestion, we introduce the topic of economic sustainability by performing a preliminary and simplified economic analysis of the solar system, based only on the additional costs/revenues. The case of Italian economic incentives for biomethane injection into the natural gas grid—that are particularly favourable—is considered as reference case. The amount of saved biogas/biomethane, on an annual basis, is about 4–55% of the heat required by the gas boiler in the base case, without solar integration, depending on the different considered variables (mesophilic/thermophilic, solar field area, storage time, latitude, type of collector). Results of the economic analysis show that the economic sustainability can be reached only for some of the analysed conditions, using the less expensive collector, even if its efficiency allows lower biomethane savings. Future reduction of solar collector costs might improve the economic feasibility. However, when the payback time is calculated, excluding the Italian incentives and considering selling the biomethane at the natural gas price, its value is always higher than 10 years. Therefore, incentives mechanism is of great importance to support the economic sustainability of solar integration in biowaste anaerobic digestion producing biomethane.

Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse by-products

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1046-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anette Hejnfelt ◽  
Irini Angelidaki
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
By Products

scholarly journals Transcriptional and Metabolomic Analyses Indicate that Cell Wall Properties are Associated with Drought Tolerance in Brachypodium distachyon

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Lenk ◽  
Lorraine Fisher ◽  
Martin Vickers ◽  
Aderemi Akinyemi ◽  
Thomas Didion ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Brachypodium Distachyon ◽  
Glycoside Hydrolases ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Pectin Acetylesterase ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Cell Wall Properties ◽  
Go Terms

Brachypodium distachyon is an established model for drought tolerance. We previously identified accessions exhibiting high tolerance, susceptibility and intermediate tolerance to drought; respectively, ABR8, KOZ1 and ABR4. Transcriptomics and metabolomic approaches were used to define tolerance mechanisms. Transcriptional analyses suggested relatively few drought responsive genes in ABR8 compared to KOZ1. Linking these to gene ontology (GO) terms indicated enrichment for “regulated stress response”, “plant cell wall” and “oxidative stress” associated genes. Further, tolerance correlated with pre-existing differences in cell wall-associated gene expression including glycoside hydrolases, pectin methylesterases, expansins and a pectin acetylesterase. Metabolomic assessments of the same samples also indicated few significant changes in ABR8 with drought. Instead, pre-existing differences in the cell wall-associated metabolites correlated with drought tolerance. Although other features, e.g., jasmonate signaling were suggested in our study, cell wall-focused events appeared to be predominant. Our data suggests two different modes through which the cell wall could confer drought tolerance: (i) An active response mode linked to stress induced changes in cell wall features, and (ii) an intrinsic mode where innate differences in cell wall composition and architecture are important. Both modes seem to contribute to ABR8 drought tolerance. Identification of the exact mechanisms through which the cell wall confers drought tolerance will be important in order to inform development of drought tolerant crops.

Effect of char addition on anaerobic digestion of animal by-products: evaluating biogas production and process performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (19) ◽  
pp. 24387-24399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Bernabé Arenas ◽  
William Meredith ◽  
Collin Edward Snape ◽  
Xiomar Gómez ◽  
José Francisco González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Process Performance ◽  
By Products

Co-digestion of manure and biowaste according to the EC Animal By-Products Regulation and Finnish national regulations

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Paavola ◽  
E. Syväsalo ◽  
J. Rintala
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Retention Time ◽  
Methane Production ◽  
Hydraulic Retention Time ◽  
Treatment Temperature ◽  
Undetectable Level ◽  
Similar Treatment ◽  
Treatment Methods ◽  
By Products

The objective of this study was to compare methane production and characteristics of digested material in anaerobic digestion concepts according to the Animal By-Products Regulation (ABP-Regulation) of the EC (hygienisation of biowaste for 1 hour at 70 °C, particle size &lt;12 mm) and Finnish national regulations (treatment temperature 55 °C, feeding interval 24 h, hydraulic retention time (HRT) 20 d, particle size &lt;40 mm) and with small variations in treatment methods for treating manure and biowaste. Moreover, the survival of three different salmonella bacteria in these processes was studied. Hygienisation of biowaste prior to digestion at 35 °C enhanced methane production by 14–18% compared to similar treatment without hygienisation. The differences in treatment temperature, HRT and hygienisation of biowaste prior to digestion did not significantly affect the characteristics of digested material. The concepts according to the ABP-Regulation and Finnish national regulations were effective in destroying salmonella bacteria to an undetectable level.

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