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Updated: Sep 24, 2025

Evaluation of Integrated Anaerobic Digestion and Hydrothermal Carbonization for Bioenergy Production
Published on: June 15, 2014
Mass conversion pathway during anaerobic digestion of wheat straw
Jian Gao1, Juan Li2, Akiber Chufo Wachemo1,3
1Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology 15 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District Beijing 100029 PR China zuoxy@mail.buct.edu.cn xjli@mail.buct.edu.cn.
Abstract:
A material flow analysis (MFA) method was employed to investigate elemental flow direction during the anaerobic digestion (AD) of wheat straw (WS) pretreated with potassium hydroxide. A lab-scale batch AD experiment conducted at 35 ± 1 °C was investigated to realize carbon conversion in biogas, liquid and solid digestates. The results showed that the highest growth rate of carbon conversion in biogas was observed from the fourth day to the twenty-fourth day, which accounted for 70.64%. The cumulative biogas production of WS was 531 mL g-1 VS, along with a high volatile solids degradation rate (55.0%). The MFA results indicated that the flow mass fractions of carbon in biogas, liquid and solid digestates were 49.96%, 5.61% and 44.43%, respectively. The flow mass fraction of nitrogen in liquid and solid digestates was 45.65% and 54.35%, respectively. This study can provide a theoretical basis for elemental flow in each product from biogas projects.
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