TY - JOUR
T1 - Anaerobic digestion of macroalgae
T2 - Methane potentials, pre-treatment, inhibition and co-digestion
AU - Nielsen, H. B.
AU - Heiske, S.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - In the present study we tested four macroalgae species - harvested in Denmark - for their suitability of bioconversion to methane. In batch experiments (53 °C) methane yields varied from 132 ml g volatile solids -1 (VS) for Gracillaria vermiculophylla, 152 ml g VS -1 for Ulva lactuca, 166 ml g VS -1 for Chaetomorpha linum and 340 ml g VS -1 for Saccharina latissima following 34 days of incubation. With an organic content of 21.1% (1.5-2.8 times higher than the other algae) S. latissima seems very suitable for anaerobic digestion. However, the methane yields of U. lactuca, G. vermiculophylla and C. linum could be increased with 68%, 11% and 17%, respectively, by pretreatment with maceration. U. lactuca is often observed during 'green tides' in Europe and has a high cultivation potential at Nordic conditions. Therefore, U. lactuca was selected for further investigation and co-digested with cattle manure in a lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactor. A 48% increase in methane production rate of the reactor was observed when the concentration of U. lactuca in the feedstock was 40% (VS basis). Increasing the concentration to 50% had no further effect on the methane production, which limits the application of this algae at Danish centralized biogas plant.
AB - In the present study we tested four macroalgae species - harvested in Denmark - for their suitability of bioconversion to methane. In batch experiments (53 °C) methane yields varied from 132 ml g volatile solids -1 (VS) for Gracillaria vermiculophylla, 152 ml g VS -1 for Ulva lactuca, 166 ml g VS -1 for Chaetomorpha linum and 340 ml g VS -1 for Saccharina latissima following 34 days of incubation. With an organic content of 21.1% (1.5-2.8 times higher than the other algae) S. latissima seems very suitable for anaerobic digestion. However, the methane yields of U. lactuca, G. vermiculophylla and C. linum could be increased with 68%, 11% and 17%, respectively, by pretreatment with maceration. U. lactuca is often observed during 'green tides' in Europe and has a high cultivation potential at Nordic conditions. Therefore, U. lactuca was selected for further investigation and co-digested with cattle manure in a lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactor. A 48% increase in methane production rate of the reactor was observed when the concentration of U. lactuca in the feedstock was 40% (VS basis). Increasing the concentration to 50% had no further effect on the methane production, which limits the application of this algae at Danish centralized biogas plant.
KW - Anaerobic digestion
KW - Biogas reactors
KW - Macroalgae
KW - U. lactuca
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80054964332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2166/wst.2011.654
DO - 10.2166/wst.2011.654
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 22335117
AN - SCOPUS:80054964332
SN - 0273-1223
VL - 64
SP - 1723
EP - 1729
JO - Water Science and Technology
JF - Water Science and Technology
IS - 8
ER -