Anaerobic Digestion of Hemp and Flax Straw and Shives and Rapeseed Straw by the Ruminal Microbiota

authored by: Aline Fernandes Figueiredo, Melanie Brede, Jannika Heller, Larissa Redzepovic, Lukas Illi, Dirk Weichgrebe
Abstract: To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy supply security, there is an increasing effort toward the use of non-fossil energy sources. Crop residues have a great potential to be exploited as biomass for biogas production. However, due to their lignocellulosic structures they are difficult to degrade and do not reach competitive performance. A feasible option to mine these substrates is present in the forestomach of ruminants. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to use rumen microorganisms to improve anaerobic digestion (AD) of crop residues. For this purpose, hemp straw, mechanically pre-treated hemp fibers and shives, flax straw, flax shives, and aged and fresh rapeseed straw were evaluated using the rumen simulation technique. The AD of the substrates was divided into three batches. In two batches, hay was added as a control substrate. In summary, none of the analyzed substrates had an equivalent performance as the control hay, but pre-treated hemp fibers and shives had better AD parameters compared to all other alternative substrates, with the lowest pH (mean: 6.81), highest short chain fatty acid (20.0 mmol/day) and H₂ production (25.6 mM) and highest degradability (25.2%). Flax straw had the second-best performance (6.81, 17.4 mmol/day, 20.6 mM and 22.2%, respectively), followed by fresh rapeseed straw, hemp straw, aged rapeseed straw and flax shives. Therefore, hemp fibers and shives demonstrated to be the most suitable substrates for AD. However, since pre-treatment can represent significant additional costs for biogas production, flax straw also demonstrated to be a good alternative.
Organisation(s): Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management
External Organisation(s): University of Veterinary Medicine of Hannover, Foundation
Type: Article
Journal: BioEnergy research
Volume: 17
Pages: 700-709
No. of pages: 10
ISSN: 1939-1234
Publication date: 03.2024
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Agronomy and Crop Science, Energy (miscellaneous)
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-023-10667-7 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/16272 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{f7ffe37a420f4690bf24614e6b225cac,
title = "Anaerobic Digestion of Hemp and Flax Straw and Shives and Rapeseed Straw by the Ruminal Microbiota",
abstract = "To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy supply security, there is an increasing effort toward the use of non-fossil energy sources. Crop residues have a great potential to be exploited as biomass for biogas production. However, due to their lignocellulosic structures they are difficult to degrade and do not reach competitive performance. A feasible option to mine these substrates is present in the forestomach of ruminants. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to use rumen microorganisms to improve anaerobic digestion (AD) of crop residues. For this purpose, hemp straw, mechanically pre-treated hemp fibers and shives, flax straw, flax shives, and aged and fresh rapeseed straw were evaluated using the rumen simulation technique. The AD of the substrates was divided into three batches. In two batches, hay was added as a control substrate. In summary, none of the analyzed substrates had an equivalent performance as the control hay, but pre-treated hemp fibers and shives had better AD parameters compared to all other alternative substrates, with the lowest pH (mean: 6.81), highest short chain fatty acid (20.0 mmol/day) and H2 production (25.6 mM) and highest degradability (25.2%). Flax straw had the second-best performance (6.81, 17.4 mmol/day, 20.6 mM and 22.2%, respectively), followed by fresh rapeseed straw, hemp straw, aged rapeseed straw and flax shives. Therefore, hemp fibers and shives demonstrated to be the most suitable substrates for AD. However, since pre-treatment can represent significant additional costs for biogas production, flax straw also demonstrated to be a good alternative.",
keywords = "Anaerobic digestion, Biogas, Crop residues, Rumen Simulation Technique (RUSITEC), Straw",
author = "Figueiredo, {Aline Fernandes} and Melanie Brede and Jannika Heller and Larissa Redzepovic and Lukas Illi and Dirk Weichgrebe",
note = "Funding Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The presented research is part of the joint project DAUMEN 3.0, with the Institute for Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management of the Leibniz Universit{\"a}t Hannover and the Institute for Physiology and Cell Biology of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V. (FNR). The funding supported the participation of LI (Grant No. 2220NR035A) and AF (Grant No. 2220NR035B) in the project.",
year = "2024",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1007/s12155-023-10667-7",
language = "English",
volume = "17",
pages = "700--709",
journal = "BioEnergy research",
issn = "1939-1234",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "1",
}