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Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Evaluation of Integrated Anaerobic Digestion and Hydrothermal Carbonization for Bioenergy Production
Published on: June 15, 2014
Mesophilic-hydrothermal-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion of green corn straw
Dong Li1, Qingjing Wang1, Jiang Li2
1Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu 610041, China.
Abstract:
Mesophilic-hydrothermal (80-160 °C, 30 min)-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion and control tests of mesophilic (M), thermophilic (T), hydrothermal-mesophilic (H-M), and mesophilic-thermophilic digestion (M-T) of green corn straw were conducted for a 20-day fermentation period. The results indicate that M-H-T is an efficient method to improve methane production. A maximum methane yield of 371.74 mL/g volatile solid was obtained by the M (3 days)-H (140 °C)-T (17 days) process, which was 20.44%, 16.55%, 31.44%, and 14.31% higher than the yields of the M, T, 140-M, and M-T processes. The enhanced methane production was attributed to (1) the improved hemicellulose degradation and lignin disorganization; (2) prevention of the degradation of soluble sugar, easily hydrolyzed hemicellulose and cellulose into furfural and methylfurfural; and (3) lack of formation of Maillard reaction products during initial hydrothermal treatment.
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