Studies on bio-pretreatment of pine needles for sustainable energy thereby preventing wild forest fires

Deforestation, forest fire hazard and exploitation of forest have been warning threats to our environment and ecosystem globally. In the present study an attempt has been made to enhance the biodegradability and biomethanation potential of treated pine needles, the leaves of a coniferous tree (Pinus roxburghii) by using Trichoderma spp. and Pseudomonas spp. thereby, utilizing the pine needles for green energy. Studies were carried out in four litre capacity polymer reagent bottles as anaerobic bioreactor at mesophilic conditions (35 +/- 1 degrees C) for 80 days. The experiments were replicated thrice and the results compared with untreated ground pine needles substrate (control). The results showed a specific biomethane production of 0.269 l/g VS destroyed from bio-pretreated substrates whereas it was 0.133 l/g VS destroyed for untreated substrate with a biodegradability of 10.41% and 4.78% respectively. Results indicate that bio-pretreated substrate produced a cumulative biomethane yield of 21.3 l/kg pine needles which was 285% higher as compared to the untreated pine needles substrate (5.53 l/kg). The present study may promote utilization of forest litter as natural resource, thereby preventing the wild forest fires which destruct local ecology.