The thermophilic (55°C) microaerobic pretreatment of corn straw for anaerobic digestion.

Microaerobic process has been proven to be an alternative pretreatment for the anaerobic digestion (AD) process in several studies. In this study, the effect of thermophilic microaerobic pretreatment (TMP) on the AD of corn straw was investigated. Results indicated that TMP process obviously improved the methane yield. The maximum methane yield was obtained at the oxygen loads of 5ml/g VSsubstrate, which was 16.24% higher than that of untreated group. The modified first order equation analysis showed the TMP process not only accelerated the hydrolysis rates but also reduced the lag-phase time of AD process. The structural characterization analysis showed cellulosic structures of corn straw were partly disrupted during TMP process. The crystallinity indexes were also decreased. In addition, large or destroyed pores and substantial structural disruption were observed after pretreatment. The results showed that TMP is an efficient pretreatment method for the AD of corn straw.