Surfactant-assisted ultrasonic fragmentation of mixed fruit and vegetable biomass: Its impact on biomethane yield and energy analysis

The present study examines the effect of Tween-80 assisted ultrasonic fragmentation (TUF) method for efficient disintegration of mixed fruit and vegetable (MFV) biomass with minimum energy consumption. In TUF method, tween 80 at different dosages was used to remove the biomass barrier (lignin), then it was exposed to ultrasonic fragmentation (UF). TUF was assessed based on SCOD release and specific energy consumption (SEC). At min-imum SEC (4628 kJ/kg TS), TUF achieved a higher SCOD release (26 %) than UF (15.6 %). Bioacidogenic studies and biomethane potential assay (BPA) revealed higher volatile fatty acids (VFA) accumulation and biomethane production (2000 mg/L vs 550 mL/g COD) in TUF compared to UF (1200 mg/L vs 320 mL/g COD). From energy analysis, a higher energy ratio of 1.2 was obtained for TUF indicating combined fragmentation method could reduce the energy demand of UF and signifying the economic feasibility of TUF on practical usage.

Automated summary

The present study investigates the efficiency of Tween-80 assisted ultrasonic fragmentation method for disintegration of mixed fruit and vegetable biomass. The results show that this method achieves higher biomass release compared to traditional ultrasonic fragmentation, with lower energy consumption. Additionally, it also leads to higher volatile fatty acids accumulation and biomethane production.