Title: Effect of initial biomass on cellulose hydrolysis by leachate communities

Authors: P.D. Jensen, M.T. Hardin, W.P. Clarke

Addresses: School of Engineering, University of Queensland, G.P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane 4001, Australia. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Australia, M050, Stirling Hwy, Crawley 6009 Australia. ' School of Engineering, University of Queensland, G.P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane 4001, Australia

Abstract: Batch anaerobic digestions were performed in 160 ml serum vials, cellulose (1% wt) was the sole added carbon source. All reactors were inoculated with a 10% (v/v) leachate inoculum. The concentration of micro-organisms in the leachate inoculums was increased using centrifugation to investigate the effect of initial biomass on hydrolysis performance. The hydrolysis rate constant for digestions with the highest initial biomass was 0.14 day⁻¹ compared to 0.06 day⁻¹ in digestions with the lowest initial biomass. The results of this study indicate that hydrolysis performance is related to initial biomass concentrations. This is an ongoing project.

Keywords: biomass; cellulose hydrolysis; anaerobic digestion; leachate; hydrolysis performance; centrifugation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2009.026337

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.205 - 213

Published online: 07 Jun 2009 *

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