Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula

Astals, Sergi; Koch, Konrad; Weinrich, Sören; Hafner, Sasha D.; Tait, Stephan; Peces, Miriam

doi:10.3390/w12051321

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula

by

Sergi Astals

^1,2,*

,

Konrad Koch

³

,

Sören Weinrich

⁴,

Sasha D. Hafner

⁵

,

Stephan Tait

² and

Miriam Peces

^2,6,*

¹

Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

²

Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

³

Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany

⁴

Biochemical Conversion Department, Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum Gemeinnützige GmbH, Torgauer Straße 116, 04347 Leipzig, Germany

⁵

Hafner Consulting LLC, Reston, VA 20191, USA

⁶

Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Centre for Microbial Communities, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Water 2020, 12(5), 1321; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051321

Submission received: 5 April 2020 / Revised: 27 April 2020 / Accepted: 4 May 2020 / Published: 7 May 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomethane Potential Tests—A Key Tool for Anaerobic Digestion Research and Practice)

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Abstract

The impact of storage temperature (4, 22 and 37 °C) and storage time (7, 14 and 21 days) on anaerobic digestion inocula was investigated through specific methanogenic activity assays. Experimental results showed that methanogenic activity decreased over time with storage, regardless of storage temperature. However, the rate at which the methanogenic activity decreased was two and five times slower at 4 °C than at 22 and 37 °C, respectively. The inoculum stored at 4 °C and room temperature (22 °C) maintained methanogenic activity close to that of fresh inoculum for 14 days (<10% difference). However, a storage temperature of 4 °C is preferred because of the slower decrease in activity with lengthier storage time. From this research, it was concluded that inoculum storage time should generally be kept to a minimum, but that storage at 4 °C could help maintain methanogenic activity for longer.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; biogas; inoculum; sample storage; methanogenesis; specific methanogenic activity (SMA); biochemical methane potential (BMP) test

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MDPI and ACS Style

Astals, S.; Koch, K.; Weinrich, S.; Hafner, S.D.; Tait, S.; Peces, M. Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula. Water 2020, 12, 1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051321

AMA Style

Astals S, Koch K, Weinrich S, Hafner SD, Tait S, Peces M. Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula. Water. 2020; 12(5):1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051321

Chicago/Turabian Style

Astals, Sergi, Konrad Koch, Sören Weinrich, Sasha D. Hafner, Stephan Tait, and Miriam Peces. 2020. "Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula" Water 12, no. 5: 1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051321

APA Style

Astals, S., Koch, K., Weinrich, S., Hafner, S. D., Tait, S., & Peces, M. (2020). Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula. Water, 12(5), 1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051321

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Impact of Storage Conditions on the Methanogenic Activity of Anaerobic Digestion Inocula

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