Evaluation of dried sweet sorghum stalks as raw material for methane production

Biomed Res Int. 2014:2014:731731. doi: 10.1155/2014/731731. Epub 2014 Aug 19.

Abstract

The potential of utilizing dried sweet sorghum stalks as raw material for anaerobic digestion has been evaluated. Two different treatments were tested, a mild thermal and an enzymatic, alone or in combination. Thermal pretreatment was found to decrease the methane yields, whereas one-step enzymatic treatment resulted in a significant increase of 15.1% comparing to the untreated sweet sorghum. Subsequently, in order to increase the total methane production, the combined effect of enzyme load and I/S on methane yields from sweet sorghum was evaluated by employing response surface methodology. The obtained model showed that the maximum methane yield that could be achieved is 296 mL CH4/g VS at I/S ratio of 0.35 with the addition of 11.12 FPU/g sweet sorghum.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomass
  • Bioreactors*
  • Humans
  • Methane / biosynthesis*
  • Sorghum / chemistry*

Substances

  • Methane