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Abstract.

Animal wastes with high lignin and cellulosic contents can serve as the feedstock for biogas production (mainly methane) that could be used as alternative energy source. However, these high lignin and cellulosic feedstocks are quite recalcitrant to be readily utilized by methanogens to produce beneficial biogas, methane. Therefore, a pre-treatment is necessary to breakdown these lignin and cellulosic materials for better methanogenesis. In this study, an evaluation of methane production from animal wastes and crop residues with high lignin and cellulosic contents was carried out. Aerobic and anaerobic batch reactors containing different mixtures of fungal enzymes and recalcitrant feedstocks were set up to evaluate methane potential. Biogas productions were sampled and monitored by gas chromatography and photoacoustic gas analyzer. The results showed that more methane production was observed from feedstocks with enzymatic pre-treatment. Thus, biological pre-treatment of recalcitrant feedstock helps improve methanogenesis.