Highly digestible nitrogen-enriched straw upgraded by ozone-urea pretreatment: Digestibility metrics and energy-economic analysis. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ghorbani, Marzieh; Li, Qiao; Kianmehr, Mohammad Hossein; Arabhosseini, Akbar; Sarlaki, Ehsan; Asefpour Vakilian, Keyvan; Varjani, Sunita; Wang, Yajing; Wei, Dan; Pan, Junting; Aghbashlo, Mortaza; Tabatabaei, Meisam
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 360(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: Ozone-urea pretreatment -- Wheat straw -- Digestibility -- Total digestible nutrients -- Nitrogen enrichment -- Anaerobic microorganisms; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127576
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: 3 wt% urea and 3 g h −1 ozone pretreatment improved the digestibility of wheat straw. A 50% reduction in lignin and a 2 times increase in gas production were obtained. Crude protein and bonded organic-N were increased 4.2 times and 22.5%, respectively. The applied pretreatment method increased total digestible nutrients by 43.67%. One-tonne pretreated straw would be 70.6 USD cheaper than the non-pretreated one. Abstract: Ozone is a powerful oxidative gas widely used as a green pretreatment to enhance the delignification of cereal straws. Urea pretreatment can enrich straws with nitrogen to make them more accessible to anaerobic microorganisms. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of ozone-urea pretreatment on the digestibility of wheat straw (i.e., physicochemical, nitrogen enrichment, gas production, nutritional value, and surface chemistry). The results of ozone-urea pretreatment were compared with non-pretreated, ozone-pretreated, and urea-pretreated samples. This pretreatment method outperformed the other methods in terms of digestibility metrics. The ozone-urea pretreatment resulted in a 50% reduction in lignin, a 4.2 times increase in crude protein, a 22.5% increase in bonded organic-N, a 2 times increase in 24 h-gas production, and a 43.67% increase in total digestible nutrients compared to the non-pretreated sample. Based on the total digestible nutrients index, one-tonne ozone-urea-pretreated straw would be 70.6 USD cheaper than the non-pretreated one.