Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate anaerobic digestion of wheatgrass in the absence of hydrolytic pre-treatments. The effect of solids retention time (SRT) (1–64 days), inoculum acclimation (0–80 days acclimation), temperature (40–70 °C) and buffer capacity (20–200 mM phosphate buffer) on conversion of the feedstock, yield and composition of liquid-phase products (ethanol and short-chain organic acids, SCOAs) and COD removal was investigated in semi-continuous (intermittent feed) completely mixed reactors. SRT had the most important effect on process performance. Biodegradation of the feedstock was favoured at high SRT, with 61% removal of volatile suspended solids and 84% removal of total carbohydrates at SRT 64 days. However, low yield of liquid-phase products was observed at high SRT because of strong methanogenic activity (57% removal of the total COD). The highest yield of liquid-phase products was 20% (COD basis) at SRT 8 days. Although high biodegradation of the feedstock was observed after long-term batch acclimation (30 and 80 days), once the digestion conditions were switched to semi-continuous at short SRT (2 days), the biodegradation of the feedstock decreased considerably. The best process performance was observed at 40 °C.

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