0000000000115000
AUTHOR
Christoph Bürger
Microbial communities involved in biogas production exhibit high resilience to heat shocks
We report here the impact of heat-shock treatments (55 and 70 °C) on the biogas production within the acidification stage of a two-stage reactor system for anaerobic digestion and biomethanation of grass. The microbiome proved both taxonomically and functionally very robust, since heat shocks caused minor community shifts compared to the controls, and biogas yield was not decreased. The strongest impact on the microbial profile was observed with a combination of heat shock and low pH. Since no transient reduction of microbial diversity occured after the shock, biogas keyplayers, but also potential pathogens, survived the treatment. All along the experiment, the heat-resistant bacterial prof…
Ammonia removal during leach-bed acidification leads to optimized organic acid production from chicken manure
This work demonstrates the suitability of nitrogen removal during anaerobic acidification in batch configuration for a more efficient pre-treatment of chicken manure prior to anaerobic digestion. High loading rates corresponding to a total nitrogen input between 6.3 and 9.5 g L−1 allowed successful suppression of methanogenic archaea. To eliminate nitrogen, NH3-stripping and MAP (magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate) precipitation were compared. In spite of decreased cell quantities detected using qPCR, removal of nitrogen caused an increase in volatile fatty acid (VFA) formation from 13 to 19%. The highest nitrogen removal during acidification (up to 29%) was achieved with three consec…
Producing high-strength liquor from mesophilic batch acidification of chicken manure.
This report describes the results from anaerobic batch acidification of chicken manure as a mono-substrate studied under mesophilic conditions. The manure was diluted with tap water to prevent methane formation during acidification and to improve mixing conditions by reducing fluid viscosity; no anaerobic digester sludge has been added as an inoculum. Highest acidification rates were measured at concentrations of 10 gVS L−1 and 20 gVS L−1; the pH value remained high (pH 6.9–7.9) throughout the test duration and unexpected fast methane formation was observed in every single batch. At substrate concentrations of 10 gVS L−1 there was a remarkable methane formation representing a value of 82% …