Innovative nanocomposite formulations for enhancing biogas and biofertilizers production from anaerobic digestion of organic waste

Fatma Y Hassaneen; Muhammed S Abdallah; Nashaat Ahmed; Manar M Taha; Shereen Mohamed M Abd ElAziz; Mohamed A El-Mokhtar; Mohamed S Badary; Nageh K Allam

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123350

Innovative nanocomposite formulations for enhancing biogas and biofertilizers production from anaerobic digestion of organic waste

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Aug:309:123350. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123350. Epub 2020 Apr 8.

Authors

Fatma Y Hassaneen¹, Muhammed S Abdallah², Nashaat Ahmed², Manar M Taha², Shereen Mohamed M Abd ElAziz³, Mohamed A El-Mokhtar³, Mohamed S Badary³, Nageh K Allam⁴

Affiliations

¹ Energy Materials Laboratory, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Assiut University, Assuit 71515, Egypt.
² Energy Materials Laboratory, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
³ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Assiut University, Assuit 71515, Egypt.
⁴ Energy Materials Laboratory, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt. Electronic address: nageh.allam@aucegypt.edu.

PMID: 32289660
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123350

Abstract

Herein, the design of nanocomposite (NC) formulations that consist of metal enzyme cofactors, highly conductive carbon materials, DIET activators, to boost AD biogas production from anaerobically incubated cattle manure are investigated and discussed. Three different NC formulations were designed and synthesized: zinc ferrite (ZnFe), ZnFe with 10% carbon nanotubes (ZFCNTs), and zinc ferrite with 10% C76 fullerene (ZFC76). The structure and morphology of the nano-additives were investigated via x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). NCs were supplemented to lab-scale biodigesters containing organic slurry. Biogas production was monitored daily and compared to blank biodigesters for 50 days. The maximum methane enhancement was obtained for ZnFe, which promoted methane production to 185.3%. ZFCNTs and ZFC76 showed a positive impact on the hydraulic retention time and enhanced methane production to 162% and 145.9%, respectively compared to the blank reactors.

Keywords: Biofertilizer; Biogas; Carbon nanotubes; Ferrites; Fullerene; Nanoparticles.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Animals
Biofuels
Bioreactors
Cattle
Manure
Methane
Nanocomposites*
Nanotubes, Carbon*

Substances

Biofuels
Manure
Nanotubes, Carbon
Methane