Corn silage fungal-based solid-state pretreatment for enhanced biogas production in anaerobic co-digestion with cow manure.

The objective of this research was to use white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor for corn silage pretreatment and to investigate the effect of pretreatment on biogas productivity. Semi-continuous pilot-scale experiment, comprised of two experimental phases, was carried out. In the first phase, operational conditions of the full-scale biogas plant were reproduced at pilot-scale. In that phase, the reactor was daily fed with the mixture of cow manure, digestate from industrial postfermentor, corn grits and ensiled corn silage, and the average methane generation rate was 0.167 m kg. In the second phase, corn grits and ensiled corn silage were replaced with corn silage pretreated with T. versicolor, and the average methane generation rate increased up to 0.236 m kg. The results of this study suggest that application of fungal-based solid-state pretreated corn silage has positive effect on pH stability and increase the biogas productivity.