Anaerobic Biodegradation of Wheat Straw Lignin: The Influence of Wet Explosion Pretreatment

Muhammad Usman Khan and Birgitte Kiaer Ahring
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Muhammad Usman Khan: Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory, Washington State University, Tri-Cities, Richland, WA 99354, USA
Birgitte Kiaer Ahring: Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory, Washington State University, Tri-Cities, Richland, WA 99354, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-11

Abstract: Large amounts of lignin residue is expected in the future when biorefineries for producing biofuels and bio-products will increase in numbers. It is, therefore, valuable to find solutions for using this resource for the sustained production of useful bioenergy or bio-products. Anaerobic digestion could potentially be an option for converting the biorefinery lignin into a valuable energy product. However, lignin is recalcitrant to biodegradation under anaerobic conditions unless the structure is modified. Wet oxidation followed by steam explosion (wet explosion) was previously found to make significant changes to the lignin structure allowing for biodegradation under anaerobic conditions. In this study, we examine the effect of wet explosion pretreatment for anaerobic digestion of wheat straw lignin under mesophilic (37 °C) conditions. Besides the biorefinery lignin produced from wheat straw, untreated lignin was further tested as feed material for anaerobic digestion. Our results showed that wet exploded lignin pretreated with 2% NaOH showed the highest lignin degradation (41.8%) as well as the highest methane potential of 157.3 ± 9.9 mL/g VS. The untreated lignin with no pretreatment showed the lowest methane yield of 65.8 ± 4.8 and only 3.5% of the lignin was degraded. Overall, increased severity of the pretreatment was found to enhance anaerobic degradation of lignin.

Keywords: lignocellulosic materials; anaerobic digestion; wet explosion pretreatment; lignin; cellulose; hemicellulose (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 (3)

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