Effects of thermal pre-treatments on solid slaughterhouse waste methane potential

The effects of thermal pre-treatments on the biogas production potential of two solid slaughterhouse waste types (poultry and piggery slaughterhouse by-products) were assessed by means of batch experiments. Both animal by-products were characterized in terms of fat, protein and carbohydrate concentrations. The selected thermal pre-treatments, pasteurization (70 °C for 60 min) and sterilization (133 °C and 3 bars for 20 min), are included in the current European regulations for the disposal or use of animal by-products. The pre-treatments produced notable improvements in organic matter solubilization, but had different effects on the anaerobic bioavailability of the treated substrates. The methane yield of the initial volatile solids did not increase significantly after pre-treatment when carbohydrate concentration was high, reaching a maximum of 0.48 m(CH4)(3) kg(VS)(-1) for the pasteurized poultry waste. However, this yield increased by up to 52.7% after pasteurization and 66.1% after sterilization for the lower carbohydrate concentration sample (piggery waste), reaching maxima of 0.88 and 0.96 m(CH4)(3) kg(VS)(-1), respectively. The maximum methane production rates, measured as the maximum slope of the accumulated methane production curve, per unit of initial biomass content, were also different. While this rate increased by 52.6% and 211.6% for piggery waste after pasteurization and sterilization, respectively, it decreased by 43.8% for poultry waste after pasteurization with respect to untreated waste. Compounds with low biodegradability that are produced by Maillard reactions during thermal pre-treatment could explain the low bioavailability observed for waste with a high carbohydrate concentration.