A novel and simple approach to the good process performance of methane recovery from lignocellulosic biomass alone

BACKGROUND Solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) has been increasingly used for lignocellulosic biomass treatment. However, the separate reactor required for pretreatment prior digestion, poor treatment capacity, and process stability inhibit further development of the SS-AD. In this study, a novel method called SS-AD with simultaneous urea treatment and soil addition was proposed. The process performance of methane yield from rape straw was investigated by adopting the method. RESULTS The results show that the process performance of methane yield from rape straw using the method was better. The level of daily methane yield and the process stability were improved. The time required for reaching steady state was 6 days shorter than that of the common method (SS-AD and urea pretreatment), and the methane content in a stable-state level was 77.5-80.1 %. The total methane yield [409.6 L/kg volatile solids (VS)] was the maximal after using the method, which was 22.6 and 76.8 % higher than those of SS-AD with urea pretreatment and SS-AD with simultaneous urea treatment, respectively. In addition, the carbon dioxide content was reduced significantly. Degradation of feedstock was high; the highest reductions of VS, cellulose, and hemicellulose were 57.1, 61.4, and 65.8 %, respectively, which were in accordance with the maximal methane yield. SEM images also indicate that the biodegradation degree of rape straw in SS-AD was in line with methane yield. CONCLUSIONS The process performance of SS-AD of lignocellulosic biomass (rape straw) with simultaneous urea treatment and soil addition was better. This simplified, low cost, and efficient method has good practicability, which can try to be used for other types of lignocellulosic biomass.