Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment
Anaerobic digestion (AD) can offer a promising pathway for converting animal waste into biogas. This process improves waste management practices while generating renewable energy. However, the lignocellulosic structure of animal manure, particularly in dairy and cattle manure, hinders digestion effi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/2/305 |
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| author | Meicai Xu Sibel Uludag-Demirer Yan Liu Wei Liao |
| author_facet | Meicai Xu Sibel Uludag-Demirer Yan Liu Wei Liao |
| author_sort | Meicai Xu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Anaerobic digestion (AD) can offer a promising pathway for converting animal waste into biogas. This process improves waste management practices while generating renewable energy. However, the lignocellulosic structure of animal manure, particularly in dairy and cattle manure, hinders digestion efficiency and limits biogas yield. This study investigates the application of ball milling as a pretreatment strategy to enhance the anaerobic digestion of dairy manure. By reducing particle size and disrupting lignocellulosic structures, ball milling increases the bioavailability of organic matter, thus promoting microbial conversion and boosting biogas production. Experimental results reveal that 1 h ball milling pretreatment increases biogas and biomethane production by more than 20% compared to untreated manure. Furthermore, microbial community analysis indicates that anaerobic microbes remain largely unaffected by ball milling pretreatment, unlike the changes observed with activated carbon addition. These findings suggest that ball milling is a practical, adaptable, and scalable pretreatment method to enhance the anaerobic digestion efficiency of dairy manure. It offers a sustainable solution for improved manure management and biogas production. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d16a4805204a401ead58fa8a53d707bd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj-art-d16a4805204a401ead58fa8a53d707bd2025-08-20T02:44:43ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952025-01-0115230510.3390/agronomy15020305Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling PretreatmentMeicai Xu0Sibel Uludag-Demirer1Yan Liu2Wei Liao3Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC), Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USAAnaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC), Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USAAnaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC), Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USAAnaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC), Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USAAnaerobic digestion (AD) can offer a promising pathway for converting animal waste into biogas. This process improves waste management practices while generating renewable energy. However, the lignocellulosic structure of animal manure, particularly in dairy and cattle manure, hinders digestion efficiency and limits biogas yield. This study investigates the application of ball milling as a pretreatment strategy to enhance the anaerobic digestion of dairy manure. By reducing particle size and disrupting lignocellulosic structures, ball milling increases the bioavailability of organic matter, thus promoting microbial conversion and boosting biogas production. Experimental results reveal that 1 h ball milling pretreatment increases biogas and biomethane production by more than 20% compared to untreated manure. Furthermore, microbial community analysis indicates that anaerobic microbes remain largely unaffected by ball milling pretreatment, unlike the changes observed with activated carbon addition. These findings suggest that ball milling is a practical, adaptable, and scalable pretreatment method to enhance the anaerobic digestion efficiency of dairy manure. It offers a sustainable solution for improved manure management and biogas production.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/2/305ball milling pretreatmentdairy manureanaerobic digestionbiogas productionmicrobial communities |
| spellingShingle | Meicai Xu Sibel Uludag-Demirer Yan Liu Wei Liao Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment Agronomy ball milling pretreatment dairy manure anaerobic digestion biogas production microbial communities |
| title | Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment |
| title_full | Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment |
| title_fullStr | Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment |
| title_short | Improving Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency of Animal Manure Through Ball Milling Pretreatment |
| title_sort | improving anaerobic digestion efficiency of animal manure through ball milling pretreatment |
| topic | ball milling pretreatment dairy manure anaerobic digestion biogas production microbial communities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/2/305 |
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