Thermal pretreatment of Lantana camara for improved biogas production: Process parameter studies for energy evaluation

Biswanath Saha; Visva Bharati Barua; Meena Khwairakpam; Izharul Haq; Ajay S Kalamdhad; Sunita Varjani

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2022.114661

Thermal pretreatment of Lantana camara for improved biogas production: Process parameter studies for energy evaluation

Environ Res. 2023 Jan 1;216(Pt 3):114661. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114661. Epub 2022 Oct 31.

Authors

Biswanath Saha¹, Visva Bharati Barua², Meena Khwairakpam¹, Izharul Haq³, Ajay S Kalamdhad⁴, Sunita Varjani⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Agro and Rural Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 789039, Assam, India.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
³ Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 789039, Assam, India; School of Life Sciences, Jaipur National University, Jaipur 302017, Rajasthan, India. Electronic address: izhar.iitg@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 789039, Assam, India.
⁵ Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar 382010, Gujarat, India.

PMID: 36328230
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114661

Abstract

The rigid lignocellulosic structure of Lantana camara impedes the hydrolysis phase and reduces the biogas production during anaerobic digestion of Lantana camara. Hence, the current study focuses on the impact of various heating pretreatment techniques, viz., hot air oven (HAO), autoclave (ATC), hot water bath (HWB), and microwave (MCW) on L. camara to speed up hydrolysis and boost up biogas production. ATC pretreatment of L. camara was witnessed to be most efficient compared to HAO, MCW, and HWB pretreatment. ATC pretreatment enhanced the solubilization (45.44%), and an increment in volatile fatty acids (VFA) was observed (56.75%) at 110 °C for 80 min when correlated to the untreated (control). Cumulative methane production following ATC pretreatment had risen to 3656 mL in 5 weeks from 2895 mL in 7 weeks. Thermal pretreatment of Lantana camara broke down the rigid lignocellulosic structure, accelerating the hydrolysis stage and improving biogas production simultaneously. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first thermal pretreatment study conducted on Lantana camara for biogas production.

Keywords: Autoclave; Biogas; Lantana camara; Lignin; Thermal pretreatment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biofuels*
Heating
Hydrolysis
Lantana*
Microwaves

Substances

Biofuels