title: Anaerobic co-digestion of recalcitrant agricultural wastes: Characterizing of biochemical parameters of digestate and its impacts on soil ecosystem.
abstract: Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes is a promising alternative to landfilling for reducing Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) and it is encouraged by current regulation in Europe. Biogas-AD produced, represents a useful source of green energy, while its by-product (digestate) is a waste, that needs to be safely disposal. The sustainability of anaerobic digestion plants partly depends on the management of their digestion residues. This study has been focused on the environmental and economic benefits of co-digest recalcitrant agricultural wastes such olive wastes and citrus pulp, in combination with livestock wastes, straw and cheese whey for biogas production. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of two different bioenergy by-products on soil carbon stock, enzymes involved in nutrient cycling and microbial content. The two digestates were obtained from two plants differently fed: the first plant (Uliva) was powered with 60% of recalcitrant agricultural wastes, and 40% of livestock manure milk serum and maize silage. The second one (Fattoria) was fed with 40% of recalcitrant agricultural wastes and 60% of livestock manure, milk serum and maize silage. Each digestate, separated in liquid and solid fractions, was added to the soil at different concentrations. Our results evidenced that mixing and type of input feedstock affected the composition of digestates. Three months after treatments, our results showed that changes in soil chemical and biochemical characteristics depended on the source of digestate, the type of fraction and the concentration used. The mainly affected soil parameters were: Soil Organic Matter (SOM), Microbial Biomass Carbon (MBC), Fluorescein Diacetate Hydrolysis (FDA), Water Soluble Phenol (WSP) and Catalase (CAT) that can be used to assess the digestate agronomical feasibility. These results show that the agronomic quality of a digestate is strictly dependent on percentage and type of feedstocks that will be used to power the digester.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy. Electronic address: amuscolo@unirc.it.
authors.forename: Adele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muscolo
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Settineri
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Papalia
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Attinà
authors.affiliation: Coop. Fattoria della Piana Soc. Agr., C.da Sovereto, Candidoni (RC), Italy.
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Basile
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Panuccio
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004798:Enzymes / Q000032:analysis; D005060:Europe; D008372:Manure; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D004798:Enzymes; D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas production; Carbon stock; Digestate quality; Soil ecosystem functioning