Effect of Particle Size on the Aerobic and Anaerobic Digestion Characteristics of Whole Rice Straw

Lina Luo, Youpei Qu, Weijia Gong, Liyuan Qin, Wenzhe Li and Yong Sun
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Lina Luo: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China
Youpei Qu: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China
Weijia Gong: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China
Liyuan Qin: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China
Wenzhe Li: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China
Yong Sun: Department of New Energy Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, No. 600 Changjiang Street, Harbin 150030, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: The effect of reducing particle size on physical properties, the methane yield and energy flow were investigated through the biochemical methane potential (BMP) experiment of aerobic-anaerobic digestion (AAD) of rice straw (RS). The whole straw was crushed through four sieves of different aperture sizes (1, 3, 5, and 7 mm) to obtain the actual and non-uniform particle size distribution (PSD). The results indicated that the actual particle sizes were normally or logarithmic normally distributed. Reducing particle size could significantly promote the aerobic hydrolysis and acidification process, increase the content of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from 4408.78 to 6225.15 mg/L and the degradation of volatile solids (VS) from 40.56% to 50.49%. The results of path analysis suggested that particle size reduction played an important role in improving lignocellulosic degradability, which was the main factor affecting methane production with the comprehensive decision of 0.4616. The maximum methane production obtained at 1 mm sieve size was 176.47 mLCH 4 g ?1 VS. The phyla of Firmicutes (61.5%), Proteobacteria (9.3%), Chloroflexi (8.3%), Bacteroidetes (4.1%), Cyanobacteria/Chloroplast (4.6%) were mainly responsible for VFAs production and lignocellulose degradation. However, the net negative energy balance was observed at the 1 mm sieve size due to the increased energy input. Therefore, the optimum sieve size for AAD was 3 mm.

Keywords: rice straw; particle size reduction; aerobic hydrolysis and acidification; methane production; lignocellulose (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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