Hygienization and microbial metabolic adaptation during anaerobic co-digestion of swine manure and corn stover

Daniel E Arias; Chitraichamy Veluchamy; Kari E Dunfield; Marc B Habash; Brandon H Gilroyed

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123168

Hygienization and microbial metabolic adaptation during anaerobic co-digestion of swine manure and corn stover

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Jun:306:123168. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123168. Epub 2020 Mar 10.

Authors

Daniel E Arias¹, Chitraichamy Veluchamy², Kari E Dunfield³, Marc B Habash³, Brandon H Gilroyed⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, Ridgetown N0P 2C0, Canada.
² Centre for Agricultural Renewable Energy and Sustainability, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, Ridgetown N0P 2C0, Canada. Electronic address: chitraiv@uoguelph.ca.
³ School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph N1G 2W1, Canada.
⁴ School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, Ridgetown N0P 2C0, Canada; Centre for Agricultural Renewable Energy and Sustainability, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, Ridgetown N0P 2C0, Canada.

PMID: 32192959
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123168

Abstract

This study assessed the effect of different swine manure (SM)/corn stover (CS) mixtures based on total solids (TS) content with respect to hygienization, microbial community dynamics and methane yields on batch anaerobic co-digestion performance. Different ratios of SM and CS with TS content between 0.69 and 6% digested at 75 d revealed SM had the greatest methane yield at 403.9 mL g^-1 volatile solids added (VS) and 86.31% VS reduction. BIOLOG AN microplates and lignocellulolytic enzyme assays proved to be rapid tools for characterizing microbial community metabolism as noted by the different carbon source utilization patterns between TS loadings. Hygienization of fecal indicator bacteria groups was achieved with some (E. coli) but not all groups (Clostridia spp.). The results showed that colorimetric biochemical assays and culture-based techniques can rapidly assess microbial community dynamics during co-digestion, and that TS- in the form of lignocellulosic biomass- influences microbial metabolic activities.

Keywords: Agricultural biomass; Biogas; Community-level physiological profiling; Fecal indicator bacteria; Lignocellulolytic activity.