Biogas production from steer manures in Vietnam: Effects of feed supplements and tannin contents.

In developing countries, the simple biogas digesters installed underground without heating or stirring are seen as a 'green' technology to convert animal waste into biogas, a source of bio-energy. However, quantitative estimates of biogas production of manures from steers fed local feed diets at actual incubation temperatures have yet to be carried out. The aim of this study was to determine the methane (CH4) production potential of manures from steers in Vietnam offered traditional feed rations or supplemental diets. Biochemical CH4 production (BMP) was measured in batch tests at 30°C using manures collected from two different experiments of steers fed diets containing feed supplements. BMP was 110.1 (NLkg-1VS) for manure from steers receiving a control diet, significantly lower 79.0 (NL kg-1VS) for manure from steers fed a diet containing 0.3% tannin (%DM), but then showed an increasing trend to 90.9 and 91.2 (NL kg-1VS) for manures from steers receiving 0.4 and 0.5% tannin (%DM) supplements, respectively. Similarly, the CH4 production (NL kg-1VS) of manure from steers was 174 for control, 142 for control supplemented concentrate (C), 143 for control added rice straw treated with urea (R), and 127 for control supplemented C and R. Our results show there was a decrease in CH4 emissions from steer manures through using supplemented rations.

Quantifying the climate-change consequences of shifting land use between forest and agriculture.

Land-use change between forestry and agriculture can cause large net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the respective land uses associated with forest and pasture lead to different on-going emission rates of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and different surface albedo. Here, we quantify the overall net radiative forcing and consequent temperature change from specified land-use changes. These different radiative agents cause radiative forcing of different magnitudes and with different time profiles. Carbon emission can be very high when forests are cleared. Upon reforestation, the former carbon stocks can be regained, but the rate of carbon sequestration is much slower than the rate of carbon loss from deforestation. A production forest may undergo repeated harvest and regrowth cycles, each involving periods of C emission and release. Agricultural land, especially grazed pastures, have much higher N2O emissions than forests because of their generally higher nitrogen status that can be further enhanced through intensification of the nitrogen cycle by animal excreta. Because of its longevity in the atmosphere, N2O concentrations build up nearly linearly over many decades. CH4 emissions can be very high from ruminant animals grazing on pastures. Because of its short atmospheric longevity, the CH4 concentration from a converted pasture accumulates for only a few decades before reaching a new equilibrium when emission of newly produced CH4 is balanced by the oxidation of previously emitted CH4. Albedo changes generally have the opposite radiative forcing from those of the GHGs and partly negate their radiative forcing. Overall and averaged over 100 years, CO2 is typically responsible for 50% of radiative forcing and CH4 and N2O for 25% each. Albedo changes can negate the radiative forcing by the three greenhouse gases by 20-25%.

CH4/CO2 ratios indicate highly efficient methane oxidation by a pumice landfill cover-soil.

Landfills that generate too little biogas for economic energy recovery can potentially offset methane (CH(4)) emissions through biological oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria in cover soils. This study reports on the CH(4) oxidation efficiency of a 10-year old landfill cap comprising a volcanic pumice soil. Surface CH(4) and CO(2) fluxes were measured using field chambers during three sampling intervals over winter and summer. Methane fluxes were temporally and spatially variable (-0.36 to 3044 mgCH(4)m(-2)h(-1)); but were at least 15 times lower than typical literature CH(4) fluxes reported for older landfills in 45 of the 46 chambers tested. Exposure of soil from this landfill cover to variable CH(4) fluxes in laboratory microcosms revealed a very strong correlation between CH(4) oxidation efficiency and CH(4)/CO(2) ratios, confirming the utility of this relationship for approximating CH(4) oxidation efficiency. CH(4)/CO(2) ratios were applied to gas concentrations from the surface flux chambers and indicated a mean CH(4) oxidation efficiency of 72%. To examine CH(4) oxidation with soil depth, we collected 10 soil depth profiles at random locations across the landfill. Seven profiles exhibited CH(4) removal rates of 70-100% at depths <60 cm, supporting the high oxidation rates observed in the chambers. Based on a conservative 70% CH(4) oxidation efficiency occurring at the site, this cover soil is clearly offsetting far greater CH(4) quantities than the 10% default value currently adopted by the IPCC.

Testing a biofilter cover design to mitigate dairy effluent pond methane emissions.

Biofiltration, whereby CH(4) is oxidized by methanotrophic bacteria, is a potentially effective strategy for mitigating CH(4) emissions from anaerobic dairy effluent lagoons/ponds, which typically produce insufficient biogas for energy recovery. This study reports on the effectiveness of a biofilter cover design at oxidizing CH(4) produced by dairy effluent ponds. Three substrates, a volcanic pumice soil, a garden-waste compost, and a mixture of the two, were tested as media for the biofilters. All substrates were suspended as 5 cm covers overlying simulated dairy effluent ponds. Methane fluxes supplied to the filters were commensurate with emission rates from typical dairy effluent ponds. All substrates oxidized more than 95% of the CH(4) influx (13.9 g CH(4) m(-3) h(-1)) after two months and continued to display high oxidation rates for the remaining one month of the trial. The volcanic soil biofilters exhibited the highest oxidation rates (99% removal). When the influx CH(4) dose was doubled for a month, CH(4) removal rates remained >90% for all substrates (maximum = 98%, for the volcanic soil), suggesting that biofilters have a high capacity to respond to increases in CH(4) loads. Nitrous oxide emissions from the biofilters were negligible (maximum = 19.9 mg N(2)O m(-3) h(-1)) compared with CH(4) oxidation rates, particularly from the volcanic soil that had a much lower microbial-N (75 mg kg(-1)) content than the compost-based filters (>240 mg kg(-1)). The high and sustained CH(4) oxidation rates observed in this laboratory study indicate that a biofilter cover design is a potentially efficient method to mitigate CH(4) emissions from dairy effluent ponds. The design should now be tested under field conditions.

In vitro methane removal by volcanic pumice soil biofilter columns over one year.

Soil methane (CH(4)) biofilters, containing CH(4)-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs), are a promising technology for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, little is known about long-term biofilter performance. In this study, volcanic pumice topsoils (0-10 cm) and subsoils (10-50 cm) were tested for their ability to oxidize a range of CH(4) fluxes over 1 yr. The soils were sampled from an 8-yr-old and a 2-yr-old grassed landfill cover and from a nearby undisturbed pasture away from the influence of CH(4) generated by the decomposing refuse. Methane was passed through the soils in laboratory chambers with fluxes ranging from 0.5 g to 24 g CH(4) m(-3) h(-1). All topsoils efficiently oxidized CH(4). The undisturbed pasture topsoil exhibited the highest removal efficiency (24 g CH(4) m(-3) h(-1)), indicating rapid activation of the methanotroph population to the high CH(4) fluxes. The subsoils were less efficient at oxidizing CH(4) than the topsoils, achieving a maximum rate oxidation rate of 7 g CH(4) m(-3) h(-1). The topsoils exhibited higher porosities; moisture contents; surface areas; and total C, N, and available-P concentrations than the subsoils, suggesting that these characteristics strongly influence growth and activity of the CH(4)-oxidizing bacteria. Soil pH values and available-P levels gradually declined during the trial, indicating a need to monitor chemical parameters closely so that adjustments can be made when necessary. However, other key soil physicochemical parameters (moisture, total C, total N) increased over the course of the trial. This study showed that the selected topsoils were capable of continually sustaining high CH(4) removal rates over 1 yr, which is encouraging for the development of biofilters as a low-maintenance greenhouse gas mitigation technology.

Response of methanotrophic communities to afforestation and reforestation in New Zealand.

Methanotrophs use methane (CH(4)) as a carbon source. They are particularly active in temperate forest soils. However, the rate of change of CH(4) oxidation in soil with afforestation or reforestation is poorly understood. Here, soil CH(4) oxidation was examined in New Zealand volcanic soils under regenerating native forests following burning, and in a mature native forest. Results were compared with data for pasture to pine land-use change at nearby sites. We show that following soil disturbance, as little as 47 years may be needed for development of a stable methanotrophic community similar to that in the undisturbed native forest soil. Corresponding soil CH(4)-oxidation rates in the regenerating forest soil have the potential to reach those of the mature forest, but climo-edaphic fators appear limiting. The observed changes in CH(4)-oxidation rate were directly linked to a prior shift in methanotrophic communities, which suggests microbial control of the terrestrial CH(4) flux and identifies the need to account for this response to afforestation and reforestation in global prediction of CH(4) emission.

Effect of afforestation and reforestation of pastures on the activity and population dynamics of methanotrophic bacteria.

We investigated the effect of afforestation and reforestation of pastures on methane oxidation and the methanotrophic communities in soils from three different New Zealand sites. Methane oxidation was measured in soils from two pine (Pinus radiata) forests and one shrubland (mainly Kunzea ericoides var. ericoides) and three adjacent permanent pastures. The methane oxidation rate was consistently higher in the pine forest or shrubland soils than in the adjacent pasture soils. A combination of phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and stable isotope probing (SIP) analyses of these soils revealed that different methanotrophic communities were active in soils under the different vegetations. The C18 PLFAs (signature of type II methanotrophs) predominated under pine and shrublands, and C16 PLFAs (type I methanotrophs) predominated under pastures. Analysis of the methanotrophs by molecular methods revealed further differences in methanotrophic community structure under the different vegetation types. Cloning and sequencing and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the particulate methane oxygenase gene (pmoA) from different samples confirmed the PLFA-SIP results that methanotrophic bacteria related to type II methanotrophs were dominant in pine forest and shrubland, and type I methanotrophs (related to Methylococcus capsulatus) were dominant in all pasture soils. We report that afforestation and reforestation of pastures caused changes in methane oxidation by altering the community structure of methanotrophic bacteria in these soils.