Title: Anaerobic batch degradation of cattail by rumen cultures

Authors: Zheng-Bo Yue, Han-Qing Yu

Addresses: School of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China. ' School of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

Abstract: The anaerobic batch digestion of cattail with two substrate concentrations of 10 g and 30 g Volatile Solids (VS)/l was investigated in this study. The hydrolysis of cattail was not significantly affected by the substrate concentrations, and it was able to be described by a first-order kinetic model with hydrolysis constants of 0.298 d−1 and 0.294 d−1, respectively. The main aqueous products from cattail degradation were Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), in which acetate, propionate and butyrate were dominant. The molar ratio of acetate to propionate (3.3) at 10 g VS/l was larger than that (2.3) at 30 g VS/l, when the acidogenesis phase was at the stationary period. The lag period of the methanogenic phase at 10 g VS/l was shorter than that at 30 g VS/l. A modified Gompertz equation could be adopted to describe the kinetics of products formation.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; cattail degradation; rumen cultures; kinetic modelling; hydrolysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2009.027230

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2009 Vol.38 No.3, pp.299 - 308

Published online: 18 Jul 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article