Enhanced anaerobic degradation of Cumbu Napier hybrid grass through application of rumen microorganisms Shreelavaniya R*, Venkatachalam P, Gopal NO, Subramanian P Department of Bioenergy, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India *Email forcorrespondence: energyengineershree@gmail.com
Online published on 25 July, 2018. Abstract Anaerobic digestion of the cellulosic residues provide an attractive means of waste reduction and waste stabilization with simultaneous recovery of methane as an energy source. Anaerobic treatment of solid organic waste materials lack high degradation efficiencies because of low rate of hydrolysis due to the crystallinity of cellulose, the association of cellulose and hemicellulose with the lignin and the low cellulase activities present in digesters. However in nature several anaerobic microbial ecosystems are highly active in the conversion of lignocellulosic materials. Typical examples are the rumen of the ruminants. Therefore an enhancement of the cellulolytic activity in bio-digester is of utmost importance for an economically feasible anaerobic degradation process. Batch and continuous culture experiments with rumen microorganisms were carried out in order to study the anaerobic conversion of Cumbu Napier hybrid grass. In batch incubation maximum total fibre degradation of 54.4 per cent Cumbu Napier hybrid grass was obtained at 168 h of incubation time and methane production per gram of volatile solid digested in 7 days was 0.036 l. In semi-continuous experiments at loading rate of 15 g TS/l/d, at hydraulic retention times of 10–20 h, the total fibre degradation is reduced from 84.6 to 42.3 per cent at the end of retention period of 35 days. Average production of biogas per gram volatile solids digested per day varied between 0.13 to 0.36 l/day. Top Keywords Anaerobic digestion, Cumbu Napier hybrid grass, rumen, biogas. Top |