Biological pretreatment of sugarcane top to enhanced the gaseous energy recovery using two stage biohythane productions

Biohythane (biohydrogen + biomethane) from lignocellulosic biomass is a win - win solution for the supply of renewable energy and valorization of organic wastes. Lignocellulosic biomass contents mainly lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. The carbohydrate contains is approximately 70-80% (w/w) of the total biomass. These carbohydrates can be suitable raw material for dark fermentative biohydrogen production and further biomethane production. Therefore, an eco-friendly biological pretreatment was used to remove the lignin from sugarcane top. Up to 60 % w/w lignin removal was observed after 21 d at 28 ^oC in static condition. Confirmation of lignin removal was performed using confocal microscopy and FTIR analysis of pretreated sugarcane top. Biohydrogen production followed by biomethane production of fungal pretreated sugarcane top resulted in 77 mL hydrogen/g-VS and 158 mL methane/g-VS. This improved the overall gaseous energy recovery to 38 %.