Effects of pretreatment methods on biomethane production kinetics and microbial community by solid state anaerobic digestion of sugarcane trash

Solid state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) of lignocellulose is effective in improving biomethane productivity but is limited by low biomass digestibility and lack of substrate-specific working microorganisms. In this study, the effects of different pretreatment methods on biomethane production by SS-AD of sugarcane trash were studied. The biomethane production, fitted to a modified Gompertz's model, predicted a maximum methane yield of 214.2 L/kg volatile solids (VS) and productivity of 6.9 L/kg VS/day from KOH-pretreated trash, respectively. Microbial community analysis showed that bacterial community was significantly associated with volatile acids and pretreatment types while archaeal community was significantly associated with methane yield. Microbial community dynamics was revealed in SS-AD. Main genera related to pretreatment method were identified and discussed. This study generated important information on SS-AD of lignocellulosic biomass pretreated by different methods, which is useful for developing bioaugmentation strategies to improve biomethane production by SS-AD.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of different pretreatment methods on biomethane production from sugarcane trash via solid state anaerobic digestion and revealed the dynamics of microbial community. The findings provide important information for developing bioaugmentation strategies to improve biomethane production by solid state anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic biomass.