Dual disintegration of microalgae biomass for cost-effective biomethane production: Energy and cost assessment

The present study aims to enhance the biomethane production potential of microalgae via a dual disintegration process. During this process, the microalgae biomass was firstly subjected to cell wall weakening by thermochemical disintegration (TC) (50 to 80 °C), pH adjustment with alkali, NaOH (6 to 10) and time (0 to 10 min) and, secondly, by bacterial disintegration (BD). TC-BD disintegration was comparatively higher (33 %) than BD (24 %), TC (8.5 %), and control (7 %). A more significant VFA accumulation of 2816 mg/L was recorded for TC-BD. Similarly, a greater substrate anaerobic biodegradability was achieved in TC-BD (0.32 g COD /g COD) than BD (0.21 g COD /g COD), TC alone (0.09 gCOD/g COD) and control (0.08 g COD /g COD), respectively. The TC-BD achieves a positive net profit and an energy ratio of + 0.12 GJ/d and 1.03. The proposed dual disintegration has a promising future for commercialization.