Analysis of Corn Stover

Fruit juice processing generates large volumes of organic waste, including pomace, retentate, and waste apples, that are a challenge to manage. Anaerobic digestion (AD) allows for conversion of these wastes into biogas; however, their high acidity and low buffering capacity limits AD process stability, leading to reduced methane yield. In this study, co-digestion with manure and lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) was assessed. A five-factor mixture design was used to test different combinations on a bench scale, selected based-on seasonal fruit waste availability. Process performance was assessed based-on methane yield and volatile fatty acids before and after AD. Feedstock mixture representing an off-season blend of 20% pomace, 30% retentate and 50% manure, as well as an in-season blends of 20% waste apples, 30% pomace, 30% retentate, and 20% manure, were found to maximise the biomethane yield. Supplementation with at least 20% manure was essential for fruit waste digestion. Replacing a portion of the fruit waste with lignocellulose in the anaerobic digestion significantly improved the methane yield and prevented an “acid crash”. It was found that 30% LCB and 20% manure supplementation were the minimum required for anaerobic digestion process stability and yield for both in- and off-season fruit harvesting and processing.

Next-generation biofuels from renewable sources have gained interest among research investigators, industrialists, and governments due to major concerns on the volatility of oil prices, climate change, and depletion of oil reserves. Biobutanol has drawn signicant attention as an alternative transportation fuel due to its superior fuel properties over ethanol. e advantages of butanol are its high energy content, better blending with gasoline, less hydroscopic nature, lower volatility, direct use in convention engines, low corrosiveness, etc. Butanol production through (acetone, butanol, and ethanol) ABE fermentation is a well-established process, but it has several drawbacks like feedstock cost, strain degeneration, product toxicity, and low product concentrations. Lignocellulosic biomass is considered as the most abundant, renewable, low-cost feedstock for biofuels. Production of butanol from lignocellulosic biomass is more complicated due to the recalcitrance of feedstock and inhibitors generated during the pretreatment and hydrolysis process. Advanced fermentation and product recovery techniques are being researched to make biobutanol industrially viable.