Effects of pre-treatment and bioaugmentation strategies on the anaerobic digestion of chicken feathers.
Anaerobic digestion of raw chicken feather waste and its co-digestion with poultry litter were assessed in batch assays. Following, two strategies were evaluated to improve methane production from chicken feathers: (i) waste pre-hydrolysis through thermochemical treatment using lime and sodium hydroxide, and (ii) amendment of digestion broth with the proteolytic bacterium Fervidobacterium pennivorans. Anaerobic digestion of the raw waste (2.5% total solids) allowed a specific methane production of 123 ± 3 L CH(4) kg(-1) VS. Pre-treatment and bioaugmentation strategies did not improve methane production from feather waste, despite the significant increase in waste solubilisation, from 45 ± 5% up to 64 ± 1% using F. pennivorans and up to 96% after pre-treatment with 2g NaOH g(-1) waste. These results indicate that conversion of soluble organic matter to methane, and not the hydrolysis rate, was the limiting step for the anaerobic digestion of chicken feather waste.
IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal. carloscosta@deb.uminho.pt
J C
JC
Costa
S G
SG
Barbosa
D Z
DZ
Sousa
D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D002645:Chickens; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D005241:Feathers / Q000378:metabolism*; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011200:Poultry; D012995:Solubility; D014866:Waste Products
D014866:Waste Products; D008697:Methane