Abstract
This study investigated the effects of nutrients supplementation during codigestion of maize silage and cattle slurry. Batch anaerobic biodegradability tests lasted 20 days under mesophilic conditions, and an organic loading rate of 5.0 g VS (volatile solids)/L were done. Biogas yield increased with the dose of the cattle feed supplement up to 894 L/kg VS, which was 65% higher than in the control reactor. Similarly, the cumulative biogas production rate (CBPR) increased with successive increase in the dose of feed supplement. Supplementation enabled efficient volatile fatty acids (VFA) elimination and pH increasing; however, the best VFA/TA ratio was achieved with feed supplementation of 25 mg/g of feedstock, providing the highest rate of biogas production (k = 0.22/d). The highest increase in biogas production of 8.0 mL/mg was achieved with the lowest nutrient supplement dosage. Based on these results, it can be recommended that a supply of feed supplement at a ratio of 0.5% of the fresh mass provide considerably increasing biogas production.
Highlights
A global trend for biofuels production is focused on sustainability in environmental and economic aspects
Digestion in the animal ruminants can be enhanced by feed additives, which stimulate the rumen functions
It was found that specific biogas yield (SBY) increased with increasing dose of cattle feed supplement from 643 L/kg volatile solids (VS) in G1 to 894 L/kg VS in G5
Summary
A global trend for biofuels production is focused on sustainability in environmental and economic aspects. To meet the acceptable sustainability criteria, the second generation biofuel technologies manufacture biofuels from non-food biomass. Agricultural residues available for the second generation biofuels include various crop and plant residues, fruit and vegetable waste, grass, forest residues, livestock manure, and many other byproducts of various agricultural processes (Paudel et al 2017). The anaerobic digestion (AD) of agricultural residues is an attractive second-generation technology with the potential of environmental and economic benefits (Wei et al 2015). Energy gain/input ratio in AD is estimated at 28.8 MJ/ MJ, which outcompetes the other technologies for bioenergy production from biomass (Chandra et al 2012a, b). Well-balanced feedstock should ensure highly efficient biogas production.
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