Shockwave Pre-Treatment Enhances the Physicochemical Availability and Anaerobic Mono- and Co-Digestion of Highly Concentrated Algae
40 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2022
Abstract
The effect of shockwave pre-treatment of algae on biogas production and physical availability was elucidated by lab-scale experiments. Solubilization rate, dewaterability, drying performance, microcystin concentration, and anaerobic mono- and co-digestion efficiencies before and after shockwave application were compared to other pre-treatment techniques, such as ultrasonication and thermal hydrolysis. Dewaterability and drying efficiencies of algae pretreated with shockwaves were 5.2 and 2.1 times higher than non-pretreated algae. Non-pretreated algae improved solubilization from 12% to 47%. The shockwave pre-treatment enhanced the reduction of the extracted microcystin concentration from 391.9 to 350.9 μg/L without affecting the methane production rate. The cumulative methane yield increased from 197.6 to 414.5 mL/g-VS and from 290.1 to 375.0 mL/g-VS for mono- and co-digestion, respectively. Co-digestion with 3 kJ/g-VS revealed the highest energy efficiency of 482.8%. Overall, the shockwave pre-treatment significantly enhanced algae physicochemical availability and methane production rate.
Keywords: Algae, livestock manure, pre-treatment, shockwave, Anaerobic co-digestion
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