title: Improvement of methane production from waste paper by pretreatment with rumen fluid.
abstract: Cellulose hydrolysis is the rate-limiting step in anaerobic digestion. In the present study, waste paper was used as a model of cellulosic biomass and was pretreated with rumen fluid prior to methane production. To achieve a high methane yield, the reaction time of the pretreatment was examined. Waste paper was soaked with rumen fluid for 6 and 24h at 37 °C. Various volatile fatty acids, especially acetate, were produced by the pretreatment. Semicontinuous methane production was carried out over a 20-day period. The best daily methane yield was obtained by the 6-h pretreatment. The amount was 2.6 times higher than that of untreated paper, which resulted in 73.4% of the theoretical methane yield. During methane production, the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin degradabilities were improved by the pretreatment. Pretreatment by rumen fluid is therefore a powerful method to accelerate the methane yield from a cellulosic biomass.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sustainable Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Yomogida 232-3, Naruko-onsen, Osaki, Miyagi 989-6711, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Chika
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism*; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000382:microbiology*; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000941:ethics*; D008697:Methane / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D010209:Paper; D012417:Rumen / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D002482:Cellulose; D008697:Methane