Wood biochar enhances methanogenesis in the anaerobic digestion of chicken manure under ammonia inhibition conditions

Tien Ngo; Leadin S Khudur; Christian Krohn; Soulayma Hassan; Kraiwut Jansriphibul; Ibrahim Gbolahan Hakeem; Kalpit Shah; Aravind Surapaneni; Andrew S Ball

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21100

Wood biochar enhances methanogenesis in the anaerobic digestion of chicken manure under ammonia inhibition conditions

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 21;9(11):e21100. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21100. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Tien Ngo^{1

2}, Leadin S Khudur^{1

2}, Christian Krohn^{1

2}, Soulayma Hassan^{1

2}, Kraiwut Jansriphibul^{1

2}, Ibrahim Gbolahan Hakeem^{2

3}, Kalpit Shah^{2

3}, Aravind Surapaneni^{2

4}, Andrew S Ball^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
² ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia.
³ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.
⁴ South East Water, 101 Wells Street, Frankston, VIC 3199, Australia.

Abstract

The process of breaking down chicken manure through anaerobic digestion is an effective waste management technology. However, chicken manure can be a challenging feedstock, causing ammonia stress and digester instability. This study examined the impacts of adding wood biochar and acid-alkali-treated wood biochar to anaerobically digest chicken manure under conditions of ammonia inhibition. The results highlighted that only the addition of 5 % acid-alkali-treated wood biochar by volume can achieve cumulative methane production close to the typical methane potential range of chicken manure. The treated wood biochar also exhibited highest total ammonia nitrogen removal compared to the Control treatment. Scanning Electron Microscope revealed growing interactions between biochar and methanogens over time. Real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that treated wood biochar produced the highest number of bacterial biomass. In addition, 16S amplicon-based sequencing identified a more robust archaeal community from treated biochar addition. Overall, the acid-alkali treatment of biochar represents an effective method of modifying biochar to improve its performance in anaerobic digestion.

Keywords: Ammonia inhibition; Biochar; Biomethane; Chicken manure; Methanogenic pathway; Methanogens.