ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Increase of biogas production from pretreated hay and leaves using wood-rotting fungi

Tomáš Mackuľak, Josef Prousek, Ľubomír Švorc, and Miloslav Drtil

Department of Environmental Engineering, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: lubomir.svorc@stuba.sk

Abstract: Wood-decaying mushrooms can be applied for the pretreatment of lignocellulosic substrates such as leaves, hay and straw. The use of wood-decaying fungus Auricularia auricula-judae for the decomposition of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) leaves and hay is discussed in the proposed paper. Such pretreated substrate was employed in the anaerobic processes for biogas production. Comparison of pretreated and non-pretreated substrate revealed that an increase of 15 % in the biogas production can be achieved using the pretreated substrate. Composition of organic compounds in the sludge during the anaerobic process was identified by HPLC. The obtained results show that the utilization of pretreated leaves and hay leads to a gradual increase of the concentration of formic, acetic, and volatile fatty acids as well as to the formation of some aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols.

Keywords: wood-decaying fungus – biogas production – sludge

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-012-0171-1

Chemical Papers 66 (7) 649–653 (2012)