Potential of microbial inoculum from buffalo feces in activating lignite coal bed methane

Aim: This research aimed to study the ability of microbial consortium from buffalo feces to produce coal bed methane (CBM) in lignite coal through in-vitro technique.Methodology: This study was carried out in 2 stages: In first stage, microbes activated using in-vitro technique, and at second stage volatile fatty acids (VFA) and coal bed methane production were estimated. The nutrition source for inoculum activation was of three types: 100% concentrate: 70% concentrate: 30% grass and 30% concentrate: 70% grass. Biogas digester in laboratory-scale utilized 100 ml serum bottle filled with 70 ml, 98-5 media and 7 g coal. Microbial inoculum was inoculated on digester using a 10 ml syringe and incubated at 39oC. Parameters observed to measure the quality of inoculum were total number of anaerobic microbes, kinetics, and biogas production during fermentation. Complete Randomized Design with two factorial consisted of incubation period as factor A and inoculum dosages as factor B. Results: The activation process of inoculum from buffalo feces was required to produce coal bed methane in anaerobic digestion. During activation process, the microbes from buffalo feces in a mixture of 70% concentrate and 30% grass at 48 hr observation could produce total gas approximately 22.5 ml at 48 hr observation. Addition of activated buffalo feces anaerobic inoculum on the anaerobic digestion as much as 6% produced the highest number of anaerobic bacteria, and VFA accounted for 31 x 1010 CFU ml-1 and 171.7 mM, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest methane production reached 128.61 ml on adding 6% inoculum

Efficacy of alginate- and clay-encapsulated microorganisms on the growth of Araçá-Boi seedlings (Eugenia stipitata)

The present work aimed to evaluate the effects of encapsulated microorganisms on seedlings of Eugenia stipitata, popularly known as araçá-boi, to evaluate the interaction between the inoculum and encapsulating agents such as clay and alginate. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design using a 3×2 factorial scheme. The treatments were control, inoculum, clay without microbial inoculum, clay with microbial inoculum, alginate without microbial inoculum, and alginate with microbial inoculum. The seedlings were grown under nursery conditions over a period of 3 months. No treatment increased the height, stem diameter, shoot dry matter or root dry matter of the araçá-boi seedlings. The use of alginate increased the ammonium content compared to the clay and control treatments. Alginate and clay increased the nitrate content in relation to the control. Alginate increased the total number of bacteria in relation to the clay and control treatments. The application of inoculum combined with alginate increased the nitrate content only in relation to the clay and control treatments. Although the application of inoculum promoted an increase in the nitrate content compared to the uninoculated treatments, there was no effect for the other parameters analyzed. The results suggest that clay and alginate encapsulating agents with the presence or absence of microorganisms may improve some soil parameters.