Bioresource Technology, Vol.245, 876-883, 2017
Two-stage anaerobic digestion of sugar beet silage: The effect of the pH-value on process parameters and process efficiency
The study investigated the influence of the target pH-values 4.5, 5, 5.5 and 6 in the acidification reactor on process parameters, such as substrate-specific methane yield and the intermediates, in the two-stage anaerobic digestion of sugar beet silage. The total specific methane yield (Nl kg(-1) COD d(-1)) increased with an increase in the pH (pH 4.5: 140.58 +/- 70.08, pH 5: 181.21 +/- 55.71, pH 5.5: 218.32 +/- 51.01, pH 6: 256.47 +/- 28.78). The pH-value also had an effect on the dominant intermediate in hydrolysate. At the pH-value of 4.5, almost no acidification and microbial activity was observed. At pH 5 and 5.5, butyric acid production dominated, guided by H-2 production. At pH 6 acetic acid was the main product. The absence of H-2 and the highest SMY makes it favorable under practical aspects.