Effect and the mechanism of hydrochars on methane production of cornstalk digestion
In this study,different types of hydrochars were prepared from com straw and cotton straw at different temperatures to clarify the effects of preparation conditions such as temperature,materials on its physicochemical properties and the promotion effects of hydrochars addition on com straw anaerobic digestion were explored further.The results showed that the carbonization degree of com straw was higher than that of cotton straw at the same preparation temperature.The oxygen-containing functional groups of hydrochars such as O-H and C-O were decreased when the reaction temperature was elevated but it was conducive to the improvement of carbonization degree,the construction of surface pore structure and the microsphere morphology at the higher temperature.The hydrochars were added to the com straw anaerobic digestion system,and the com straw hydrochar prepared at 180℃ had the most significant promotion effect which increasing the cumulative methane production and the maximum methane production rate by 13.74%and 12.06%,respectively.Meanwhile,it contributed to the degradation of VFA and stabilized the variance of pH in the anaerobic digestion system.Microbial analysis showed the acidobacterium such as Firmicutes and Synergistota as well as hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis such as Methanosarcina and Methanospirillum were enriched to accelerate the methane production.It may be related to the abundant oxygen-containing group of hydrochar.