Wastes from feedlot cattle fed finishing diets containing either monensin, chlortetracycline, or no antibiotic were investigated as substrates for methane production. We used continuously mixed anaerobic fermentors with 3-liter working volumes at 35 and 55 degrees C; these fermentors were fed once per day. Within a few days after waste from animals fed monensin was added, the volume of methane ...

Agriculture has a key role in food production worldwide and it is a major component of the gross domestic product of several countries. Livestock production is essential for the generation of high quality protein foods and the delivery of foods in regions where animal products are the main food source. Environmental impacts of livestock production have been examined for decades, but recently em...

Dissolved hydrogen (dH) influences the pathways of VFA production and is a precursor of methane formation in the rumen. Measurements of dH in rumen fluid taken at the same time as measuring other rumen fermentation end products would improve our quantitative understanding of the role of dH as a controller of rumen fermentation. Sample collections though a rumen cannula and using oral stomach tu...

The FibreEtOH concept was developed to tackle major challenges in the production of ethanol from lignocellulosics. The two feedstocks, waste fibre fractionated from solid recovered fuel, and pulp and paper mill fibre sludge, provide all-year-round supply of biomass with high hexose content (44e56%) and acceptable ash content (13e14%). They can be liquefied and hydrolysed by enzymes rapidly with...

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of cellulosic biomass is a promising source of ethanol. This process uses anaerobic bacteria, their own cellulolytic enzymes and fermentation pathways that convert the products of cellulose hydrolysis to ethanol in a single reactor. However, the engineering and economics of the process remain questionable. The ruminal fermentation is a very highly developed natu...

Most organic matter can be used for bioenergy generation via anaerobic fermentation. Today, crop plants like maize play the dominant role as substrates for renewable biogas production. In this work we investigated the suitability of six dominant microalgae species (freshwater and saltwater algae and cyanobacteria) as alternative substrates for biogas production. We could demonstrate that the bi...

In this study, a novel three-stage (lactate-+photo-H(2)+CH(4)) fermentation system was developed, which converts food waste to H(2) and CH(4), with an emphasis on achieving high H(2) yield. The system begins by first fermenting food waste to lactate, rather than acetate and butyrate, using indigenous lactic acid bacteria. Lactate fermentation effluent was then centrifuged, and the supernatant w...

Carbon monoxide can act as a substrate for different modes of fermentative anaerobic metabolism. The trait of utilizing CO is spread among a diverse group of microorganisms, including members of bacteria as well as archaea. Over the last decade this metabolism has gained interest due to the potential of converting CO-rich gas, such as synthesis gas, into bio-based products. Three main types of ...

The use of alga biomass for biogas generation has been studied for over fifty years but until today, several distinct features, like inefficient degradation and low C/N ratios, limit the applicability of algal biomass for biogas production in larger scale. In this work we investigated a novel, one-stage combined cultivation/fermentation strategy including inherently progressing nitrogen starvat...