The effect of a combined biological and thermo-mechanical pretreatment of wheat straw on energy yields in coupled ethanol and methane generation.

Ethanol and biogas are energy carriers that could contribute to a future energy system independent of fossil fuels. Straw is a favorable bioenergy substrate as it does not compete with food or feed production. As straw is very resistant to microbial degradation, it requires a pretreatment to insure efficient conversion to ethanol and/or methane. This study investigates the effect of combining biological pretreatment and steam explosion on ethanol and methane yields in order to improve the coupled generation process. Results show that the temperature of the steam explosion pretreatment has a particularly strong effect on possible ethanol yields, whereas combination with the biological pretreatment showed no difference in overall energy yield. The highest overall energy output was found to be 10.86 MJ kg VS(-1) using a combined biological and steam explosion pretreatment at a temperature of 200°C.

Steam explosion pretreatment of wheat straw to improve methane yields: investigation of the degradation kinetics of structural compounds during anaerobic digestion.

Wheat straw can serve as a low-cost substrate for energy production without competing with food or feed production. This study investigated the effect of steam explosion pretreatment on the biological methane potential and the degradation kinetics of wheat straw during anaerobic digestion. It was observed that the biological methane potential of the non steam exploded, ground wheat straw (276 l(N) kg VS(-1)) did not significantly differ from the best steam explosion treated sample (286 l(N) kg VS(-1)) which was achieved at a pretreatment temperature of 140°C and a retention time of 60 min. Nevertheless degradation speed was improved by the pretreatment. Furthermore it was observed that compounds resulting from chemical reactions during the pretreatment and classified as pseudo-lignin were also degraded during the anaerobic batch experiments. Based on the rumen simulation technique, a model was developed to characterise the degradation process.

Steam explosion pretreatment for enhancing biogas production of late harvested hay.

Grasslands are often abandoned due to lack of profitability. Extensively cultivating grassland for utilization in a biogas-based biorefinery concept could mend this problem. Efficient bioconversion of this lignocellulosic biomass requires a pretreatment step. In this study the effect of different steam explosion conditions on hay digestibility have been investigated. Increasing severity in the pretreatment induced degradation of the hemicellulose, which at the same time led to the production of inhibitors and formation of pseudo-lignin. Enzymatic hydrolysis showed that the maximum glucose yields were obtained under pretreatment at 220 °C for 15 min, while higher xylose yields were obtained at 175 °C for 10 min. Pretreatment of hay by steam explosion enhanced 15.9% the methane yield in comparison to the untreated hay. Results indicate that hay can be effectively converted to methane after steam explosion pretreatment.