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The purpose of the experiment was to study the degradation characteristics of the products of four roughage feeds, sugarcane tail leaves, corn stalks, elephant grass and cassava branch, fermented by cellulase (CE) in buffalo rumen, so as to provide a reference for the selection and utilization of roughage in buffalo breeding. Three buffaloes with permanent rumen fistula were used as experimental animals. Nylon bag method was used to determine the nutritional components and rumen degradation characteristics of four kinds of roughage and their products after CE fermentation. The results showed that before fermentation, the content of crude protein (CP) in sugarcane tail leaves and elephant grass was significantly higher than that in corn stalks and cassava branch (P<0.05). The content of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in cassava branch was the lowest (P<0.05), and the content of acid detergent fiber (ADF) was the highest (P<0.05). After CE treatment, the content of CP in fermentation group increased in different degrees, while the content of NDF and ADF decreased in different degrees. Before fermentation, the effective degradation rates of all nutrients were as follows: Elephant grass > sugarcane tail leaf > corn stalk > cassava branch. The effective degradation rates of DM, NDF, and ADF of elephant grass were significantly higher than those of other groups (P<0.05), the effective degradation rates of CP of elephant grass were significantly higher than those of corn stalk and cassava branch (P<0.05), and the effective degradation rates of nutrients of cassava branch were significantly lower than those of other groups (P<0.05). After CE treatment, compared with the control group, the effective degradation rates of DM, CP, NDF, and ADF in the fermentation group were improved to varying degrees. The study indicates that the feed value of the four kinds of roughage is as follows: Elephant grass > sugarcane tail leaf > corn straw > cassava branch. Adding CE can improve the rumen degradation rate of the four kinds of roughage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignin is main composition of agricultural biomass which can be decomposed through enzymatic hydrolysis by fungi. However, there are still needs to identify more efficient and effective fungal stain for biomass valorization. In this study, lignin degrading fungi from birch forest were screened for sustainable degradation of waste agricultural straws. The most effective strain was identified as Cerrena unicolor GC.u01 using 18 S rDNA gene-sequencing technology. Three different crop straws (corn stalk, rice and wheat straws) were used for the biotreatment studies. The activities of lignin degrading enzymes, laccase (Lac), cellulase and xylanase, secreted by C. unicolor were also determined. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) were further used to monitor the effects of the biotreatment process. The results showed that C. unicolor degraded 34.3% rice straw lignin, a percentage which was higher than other isolated strains after 15 d straw liquid fermentation. The highest Lac activity (8.396 U•mL− 1) was observed with corn stalk on the 7 d. Cellulase and xylanase activities, in the same biomass, were higher than those of wheat and rice straws after 15 d. Furthermore, SEM, FTIR and TGA analyses showed that C. unicolor pretreatment process had significant effects on corn stalk, rice and wheat straws' structures. The newly isolated stain of C. unicolor demonstrated high lignin degradation potential that can provide effective, ecofriendly means of valorizing biomass to industrial useable raw-material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluates the mold fungal resistance of newly developed loose-fill thermal insulation materials made of wheat straw, corn stalk and water reed. Three distinct techniques for the processing of raw materials were used: mechanical crushing (Raw, ≤20 mm), thermo-mechanical pulping (TMP) with 4% NaOH and steam explosion pulping (SEP). An admixture of boric acid (8%) and tetraborate (7%) was applied to all processed substrates due to their anti-fungal properties. The fourth sample group was prepared from SEP substrates without added fungicide (SEP*) as control. Samples from all treatments were separately inoculated by five different fungal species and incubated in darkness for 28 days at 28 °C and RH > 90%. The highest resistance to the colonization of mold fungi was achieved by TMP and SEP processing, coupled with the addition of boric acid and tetraborate, where molds infested only around 35% to 40% of the inoculated sample area. The lowest mold fungi resistance was detected for the Raw and SEP* samples, each ~75%; they were affected by rich amount of accessible nutrients, suggesting that boric acid and tetraborate additives alone did not prevent mold fungal growth as effectively as in combination with TMP and SEP treatments. Together, the achieved fungal colonization scores after combined fungicide and pulping treatments are very promising for the application of tested renewable materials in the future development of thermal insulation products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was to study the quality and in vitro digestibility of total mixed fermentation diet treated with different proportions of reed grass and corn straw. The concentrate to roughage ratio of the diet was 35:65, and each group has consistent composition of concentrate (corn 13%, soybean meal 7%, flax meal 6%, bran 4%, wolfberry residue 5%). The coarse materials were reed grass and corn straw in different proportions. Reed grass and corn stalk were mixed in fresh weight ratios of 0:10 (group A), 2:8 (group B), 4:6 (group C), 6:4 (group D), 8:2 (group E), and 10:0 (group F), respectively, and combined with 35% concentrate feed. Cellulase and compound probiotics were used to ferment the total mixed diet prepared with different proportions of reed grass and corn straw combined with concentrate. Each group was set with three replicates and fermented for 30 days. The results showed that when the ratio of concentrate to roughage was 35:65, and the daily feed underwent enzymatic complex treatment with a roughage composition of reed grass to corn stalk at a ratio of 2:8, the overall sensory quality of the feed was better, with higher conventional nutritional value, maximum gas production, and the best combined effect. The study indicates that the ratio of reed grass to corn straw in roughage is 2:8, which is helpful to improve the utilization rate of reed grass and straw feed, reduce feed cost, improve economic benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corn straw is an important non-grain feed resource, which is not suitable for feeding animals directly because of its high crude fiber content. Biological fermentation technology can reduce the content of anti-nutrient factors in corn stalk, improve its nutritional value and feeding value, and is widely used in the chemical production in corn stalk feed because of its simple operation and green environmental protection. The bio-fermented corn stalk plays a significant role in regulating animal health and has a broad application prospect in animal breeding. The nutritional characteristics of corn stalk before and after biological fermentation, the methods of biological fermentation of corn stalk and its application in animal feed were reviewed in this paper to provide a reference for the rational application of corn stalk in animal production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil pollution with lead (Pb) has become a serious global concern, adversely affecting the forest ecosystem. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of corn straw on the remediation efficiency of Pb‐contaminated soil using Populus deltoides. Female and male P. deltoides cuttings were subjected to soil spiked with 900 mg kg−1 Pb and amended with 5% (v/v) corn straw biochar for 90 days. Under Pb stress, the addition of biochar significantly increased the total biomass accumulation by 29% in females and 26% in males. However, without the addition of biochar, the biomass accumulation was significantly reduced by 11% in females and 3% in males under Pb stress. Females showed a higher uptake and accumulation of Pb in roots and leaves, while males accumulated more Pb in roots and stems and exhibited an increased anti‐oxidative capacity. Biochar addition alleviated Pb toxicity in both male and female P. deltoides by immobilizing Pb ion in the soil, reducing Pb uptake and translocation, promoting nutrient uptake, and improving the diversity and stability of the soil bacteria community. Under Pb stress, the relative abundances of metal‐resistance bacteria significantly increased, such as the abundance of Bacteroidetes in females and the abundances of Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Planctomycetes in males. In brief, the males under biochar addition exhibited promising potential as candidates for phytoremediation of Pb‐contaminated soil. This study provides new insights into mechanisms underlying sexually differential responses to Pb stress in the presence of biochar amendment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was to explore the effect of cellulase treated corn straw on growth performance, nutrient apparent digestibility and economic benefits of black goats by using different concentrations of cellulase to treat corn stalks. 48 black goats weighing about 15 kg were randomly selected and divided into four groups, with three replicates in each group and four goats in each replicate. The black goats in control group were fed with basic diet. The test group 1, group 2 and group 3 used silage corn stalk treated with 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% cellulase to completely replace corn stalk in basal diet. The experiment lasted for 60 d. The results showed that the final weight and average daily gain of black goats in group 2 and group 3 were extremely (P<0.01) and significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of control group, and the feed to gaint ratio was extremely lower than that of control group (P<0.01). The carcass weight and eye muscle area of black goats in group 2 and group 3 were significantly higher than those of control group (P<0.05). The content of serum TP of black goats in group 2 and group 3 was extremely higher than that in control group (P<0.01), while the content of serum ALP and ALT of black goats in group 2 and group 3 was significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05). Compared with control group, the contents of NH3-N and TVFA in rumen fluid of black goats in group 2 and group 3 increased significantly (P<0.05), the pH value decreased significantly (P<0.05), and the percentage of butyric acid decreased extremely (P<0.01). The apparent digestibility to NDF of black goats in group 2 and group 3 was significantly higher than those in control group and group 1 (P<0.05). The apparent digestibility to ADF and ADL of black goats in group 3 was significantly higher than those of other groups (P<0.05), those of group 1 and group 2 were significantly higher than those of control group (P<0.05). Using 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% cellulase to treat corn stalk can gain 108.87、148.49 and 172.02 yuan per goat, respectively. The study indicates that using cellulase to treat corn stalks can effectively improve growth performance and nutrient apparent digestibility of black goats, and increase feeding efficiency, the optimal dosage of cellulase to treat corn stalk is 0.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment evaluated the combined effect of roughage resources of Cashmere goats by parameters of in vitro rumen fermentation. A single factor complete randomized trial design was adopted in experiment, the corn stalk was used as control group (CON group), and group Ⅰ, group Ⅱ, group Ⅲ, group Ⅳ and group Ⅴ were replaced by alfalfa, millet straw, corn silage, oat grass, Leymus chinensis equal proportion replacement of 20% corn straw to form a new roughage combination group. Each group was continuously cultured in vitro for 48 h, with six replicates in each group. The results showed that the pH value of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen in group Ⅰ and group Ⅳ was significantly higher than that of CON group (P<0.05), the protozoa number of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen in group Ⅳ was significantly higher than that of other groups (P<0.05), and NH3-N content of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen was the highest in group Ⅰ, which was significantly higher than CON group and group Ⅱ (P<0.05). BCP content of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen in group Ⅲ was the highest (P>0.05). The TVFA content of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen fermentation in group Ⅰ was significantly higher than that of CON group and group Ⅱ (P<0.05). The gas production of Cashmere goats in vitro rumen fermentation in group Ⅰ, group Ⅱ and group Ⅲ were significantly higher than other groups (P<0.05). Compared with CON group, SFAEI increased in each experimental group, and MFAEI was order as group Ⅲ > group Ⅰ > group Ⅳ > group Ⅴ > group Ⅱ > CON group. The experiment indicates that the combination effect of 20% alfalfa and corn silage instead of corn straw is better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Agro-Environment Science is the property of Journal of Agro-Environment Science Editorial Board and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Significant biorefinery potential is held in by-products generated during the production of bio-based insulation material through steam explosion pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials. However, the composition and potential uses of these by-products have not been fully explored. The objective of this study is to characterize the major decomposition components generated during steam explosion pretreatment of wheat (Triticum aestivum) straw, corn (Zea mays) stalks, and reed (Phragmites australis) as second-generation lignocellulosic biomass, in the separated liquid fraction consisting of volatiles and water-dissolved compounds. Decomposition occurred via steam explosion characterized by two key parameters: (1) severity factor (logR0), which combines reaction time and temperature, ranging from 3.25 to 3.75, and (2) pressure, set at 16 and 30 bar. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography were used to analyze sugars, as well as phenolics, furan derivatives, and acids. The highest simple sugar yield (59.2 g/kg biomass) was detected in reed liquid fraction, significantly exceeding corn stalks and wheat straw (21.3 g/kg biomass each). Subsequent acid hydrolysis enhanced the simple sugar content of reed liquid fraction up to 150.4 g/kg biomass, up to 64.5 g/kg biomass for corn stalks and up to 88.3 g/kg biomass wheat straw. These findings show the promising potential of bio-based insulation by-products generated by steam explosion. The sugar-rich liquid fraction can be beneficial for circular bio-based economy especially in the biofuel or biopolymer industry, particularly from reed, enhancing the overall utilization of lignocellulosic materials in a biorefinery context. [Display omitted] • Liquid by-products of biomass defibration by steam explosion were characterized. • Effect of steam explosion hydrolysis conditions on fermentable sugar yield in the liquid by-products was described. • Reed samples show highest fermentable sugar content across all tested materials. • Fermentable saccharides yield in the liquid by-product was 74.5 g per kg of reed biomass in the feed. • Phenolics, acetic acid, furfural identified as valuable compounds in the liquid by-product of steam explosion treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotational straw return technique is considered an effective measure for improving soil quality and maintaining soil microorganisms. However, there are few reports on the influence of wheat-maize crop rotation and straw-returning tillage on crop soil microbial communities in China. This study aimed to investigate how wheat or maize straw-incorporation practices affect bacterial and fungal communities under wheat-maize rotational farming practices. To clarify the effects of strawincorporation on microbial composition, microbial communities from soils subjected to different treatments were identified using high-throughput sequencing. Our results showed that, before corn planting, wheat and maize straw returning reduced bacterial density and increased their diversity but had no effect on fungal diversity. However, before wheat planting, returning wheat and corn stalks to the field increased the diversity of soil bacteria and fungi, whereas returning corn stalks to the field reduced the diversity of fungi and other microorganisms. Straw return significantly increased the relative abundance of Ascomycota in the first season and decreased it in the second season; however, in the second season, wheat straw return increased the relative abundance of Bradyrhizobium, which can promote the soilmicrobial nitrogen cycle and provide nitrogen to the soil. Wheat and maize straw return increased the relative abundance of Chaetomium, whereas, individually, they decreased the relative abundance. In addition, we detected two fungal pathogens (Fusarium and Trichoderma) under the two planting patterns and found that the relative abundance of pathogenic Fusarium increased with wheat straw return (FW and SW). Trichoderma increased after treatment with maize straw return before wheat planting (S group). These results suggest that wheat straw return (FW and SW) and maize straw return might have a negative impact on the pathogenic risk. Therefore, further studies are needed to determine how to manage straw returns in agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the transformation and release of fuel K, the combustion of corn stalk and wheat straw were performed in a reactor with a fixed bed between 400–1000°C. Measurements of weight and elemental composition, chemical fractionation analysis, and low‐temperature ashing coupled with X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were conducted on biomass and residual samples. The effects of biomass species, temperature and duration time of combustion, oxygen concentration, and pretreatment of water washing were evaluated. The results show that compared with wheat straw, corn stalk has a lower K release, which is much more sensitive to the combustion temperature than to the oxygen concentration. The inorganic potassium occurs as KClO3 and KClO4 in wheat straw and KCl and KClO4 in corn stalk. K2SO4 appears through sulphation of KCl as combustion happens at 800°C or above. When the combustion temperature reached 900°C for corn stalk and 1000°C for wheat straw, some KCl changed into K2Si2O5, which contains insoluble K. K2Ca(SO4)2 appears as corn stalk and wheat straw are burnt at 1000 and 900°C, respectively. Along with the proceeding of wheat straw combustion, more ion‐exchangeable and water‐soluble K transform to the insoluble K with the increasing temperature. The pretreatment of water washing removes nearly all the water‐soluble K from the corn stalk and significantly decreases the K release from 3.26–0.27 mg g−1 in quantity and from 26.74%–14.84% in ratio at 1000°C, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the experiment was to study the feeding value of micro storage and ammoniated corn stalks on Liaoning Cashmere goats. A total of 24 Liaoning Cashmere goats with an average weight of (24.14±1.02) kg were selected and randomly divided into three groups, with eight replicates in each group and one sheep in each replicate. Group I was control group, the roughage was corn stalks+peanut stalks+alfalfa hay, group II was micro storage corn stalks+peanut stalks+alfalfa hay, and group III was ammoniated corn stalks+peanut stalks+alfalfa hay. The formal trial period was 30 d, during which the metabolic test was conducted for 7 d. The results showed that the CP content of corn straw after micro storage and ammoniation treatment increased by 14.84% and 93.70% respectively, and the CP content of ammoniated straw was significantly higher than that of the other groups (P<0.05). The average daily gain of test sheep in group II and group III was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05), and the feed to gain ratio was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). The apparent digestibility of CF, NDF and ADF in control group was significantly lower than that in test group (P<0.05). The study indicates that the micro storage and ammoniation can increase the content of CP, reduce the content of corn straw fiber, improve its quality, increase the digestibility of nutrients, improve the growth performance, and increase economic benefits. The micro storage treatment of corn straw has the best effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To gain an in-depth understanding of AAEMs (alkali and alkaline earth metals) transformation during biomass gasification, a fixed-bed reactor is built to simulate the CO 2 gasification at 500–900 °C. The influences of biomass species, gasification temperature, and particle size are examined. The results show that the AAEMs release follow a sequence of candlenut wood > wheat straw > corn stalk. The alkali metals mainly appear as water-soluble inorganic salts and the contents are more than 80%. K mainly occurs as KCl and KClO 4. At higher temperatures, K could combine with Al and Si to form K(AlSi 3)O 8. For candlenut wood, a bigger particle size is beneficial to the transformation of water-soluble K to organic K. For candlenut wood with centimeter-scale, K mainly occurs as organic K in the biochar during 600–700 °C. When the gasification is carried out at 700 °C, K concentrates at the center and its content is even higher than that on the outer surface. While for biochar samples obtained from gasification at 600 and 900 °C, the K content at the center is lower than that on the outer surface due to the continuous outward transformation of K from the central biochar. • AAEMs release follow an order of candlenut wood > wheat straw > corn stalk. • K can combine with Al and Si to form K(AlSi 3)O 8 above 900 °C. • Bigger particle is beneficial to transformation of water-soluble K to organic K. • K spatial transformation is related to its occurrence mode and diffusion rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe an experimental study on the hot alkali extraction of hemicelluloses from wheat straw and corn stalks, two of the most common lignocellulosic biomass constituents in Romania. The chemical compositions of the raw materials were determined analytically, and the relevant chemical components were cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, and ash. Using the response surface methodology, the optimum values of the hot alkaline extraction parameters, i.e., time, temperature, and NaOH concentration, were identified and experimentally validated. The physicochemical characterization of the isolated hemicelluloses was performed using HPLC, FTIR, TG, DTG, and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The main hemicellulose components identified experimentally were xylan, arabinan, and glucan. The study emphasizes that both corn stalks and wheat straw are suitable as raw materials for hemicellulose extraction, highlighting the advantages of alkaline pretreatments and showing that optimization methods can further improve the process efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroforestry biomass involving cedar wood (CW), polar wood (PW), corn stalk (CS) and wheat straw (WS) was torrefied in a fixed-bed reactor under the torrefaction temperature (T) of 200–300 °C and the holding time (τ) of 10–60 min to prepared straw biochars (WSC, CSC) and woody biochars (PWC and CWC). The effects of biomass species, torrefaction temperature and holding time on the hygroscopicity of biochars were investigated under constant temperature and humidity. Combined with the results of N 2 adsorption/desorption and FTIR of raw biomass and its biochars, the mechanism of torrefaction conditions on the hygroscopicity of biochar was discussed. The obtained results indicated that water absorption process of biochar can be divided into two stages of initial rapid water absorption and the later slow water absorption. The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) decreases, the hygroscopicity reduction extent (HRE) increases gradually, and hydrophobicity of biochar is enhanced with increasing torrefaction temperature. However, too high torrefaction temperatures (T ≥ 275 °C) has little or even adverse effect on the hydrophobicity of biochars. The longer holding time has a certain influence on the hydrophobicity of biochar, but the overall effect is not significant. The hydrophobicity of woody biochars (PWC and CWC) is better than that of straw biochars (WSC and CSC) at the same torrefaction conditions. The severe torrefaction of T ≥ 275 °C and τ ≥ 40 min are able to improve the hydrophobicity of woody biochars, however it has negative effect on straw biochars. The hydrophobicity of four biochars is ordered as PW > CW > WS ≈ CS at the same torrefaction conditions. The water adsorption mechanism of biochars is influenced by the coupling effects of physical structure evolution, release of hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups and pyrolytic tar condensation, and the severer the torrefaction, the more significant the influence is. • Water absorption process of biochar involves two stages of initial rapid water absorption and later slow water absorption. • The effect of torrefaction temperature on hydrophobicity of biochar is significantly stronger than that of holding time. • The order of hydrophobicity of biochar torrefied at same condition is poplar wood > cedar wood > wheat straw ≈ corn stalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water washing can effectively remove Na, K, and Cl in biomass, which can cause fouling, slagging, and corrosion during thermal conversion process of biomass fuels. However, it is necessary to dispose the leachates appropriately after water washing. Characterization of organic matters in leachates should be performed first, which is beneficial to find an effective way to dispose the leachate. In this study, four biomass materials are washed with the deionized water at 30°C, 60°C, and 90°C. The release of toluene and styrene is studied. The results show that yields of organic matters for corn stalk and wheat straw are the highest relatively, of which the eventual values are 8% and 15%, respectively. Less toluene and styrene are released at 30–60°C than that at 90°C for wheat straw. But the release of toluene and styrene in rice hull leachate shows the opposite trend. The concentration of styrene in leachates reaches a minimum value at 60°C. The corresponding values are 0.017 mg L−1 for wheat straw and 0.15 mg L−1 for rice hull. But none is detected in corn stalk and sorghum stalk leachates. In addition, variations of toluene and styrene concentrations are obviously different with different washing temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-hydrogen (H 2) production from renewable biomass has been accepted as a promising method to produce an alternative fuel for the future. In this study, fermentative hydrogen production from cornstalk (CS) hydrolysate pretreated by alkaline-enzymolysis method was investigated. Meanwhile, a five-factor and five-level orthogonal experimental array was designed to study the influences of Ca(OH) 2 concentration, alkaline hydrolysis time, alkaline hydrolysis temperature, cellulase and xylanase dosages on cornstalk pretreatment and hydrogen production. A maximum reducing sugar yield of 0.59 g/g-CS was obtained at Ca(OH) 2 0.5%, hydrolysis temperature 115 °C, hydrolysis time 1.5 h, cellulase dosage 4000 U/g-CS and xylanase 4000 U/g-CS. Under this same condition, the maximum hydrogen yields of 168.9 mL/g-CS, 357.6 mL/g-CS, and 424.3 mL/g-CS were obtained at dark-fermentation, photo-fermentation, and two-stage fermentation respectively. It's also found that the significance of these five parameters on H 2 production followed from high to low order as: Ca(OH) 2 concentration, cellulase dosage, xylanase dosage, hydrolysis time, and hydrolysis temperature. By comparing the energy produced with the energy spent, the maximum Energy Sustainability Index (ESI) value of 1.11 was obtained at the two-stage fermentation. The results suggested that two-stage fermentation is a promising and efficient way for hydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass. • Cornstalk pretreated by Ca(OH) 2 -enzymolysis was used for bio-H 2 production. • Parameters of cornstalk pretreatment were optimized by a 55 orthogonal design. • A maximum H 2 yield of 424.3 mL/g-cornstalk was obtained at two-stage fermentation. • A maximum ESI value of 1.11 was obtained at two-stage fermentation. • Two-stage fermentation is a promising way to produce H 2 from agricultural biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas production effect of two kinds of straws mixed with pig manure via anaerobic fermentation under two sets of temperatures 32°C and 52°C has been studied in this experiment. In the process, sunflower and corn straw were used as raw materials with activated sludge as inoculum in a batch anaerobic fermentation reactor. The results showed that the average methane content of sunflower straw reached 62.55% at 37°C, which was 20.41% higher than that of sunflower straw at 52°C.The cumulative methanogenic yield of corn stalks was higher than that of sunflower stalks at different temperatures. The cumulative methane production of corn stalks was the highest at 52°C, and 67.99 L of methane was produced in 54 days. The cumulative methane production of sunflower stalks was the lowest at 52 °C, and the methane production was 34.09 L in 53 days. The results showed that corn stalks produce more methane than sunflower stalks and are more suitable for high temperature anaerobic fermentation. On the other hand, sunflower stalks were found suitable for medium temperature fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The aim of this work is to determine the influence of dispersion modes of plant biomass of raw materials in the rotor-pulsating apparatus by the method of discrete-impulse energy input Materials and methods. The material of the studies was wheat straw and corn stalks, grinded on a disintegrator, which were mixed with water in certain proportions. The suspension was treated in a rotor-pulsating apparatus under different modes. The particle size distribution of the obtained particles was determined by the sieve method and the laser diffraction method. Results and discussion. It is determined that under the same conditions of treatment granulometric composition of the mixture of milled biomass of corn stalks with water after milling in the rotor-pulsating apparatus has a dispersity of 3–5% lower than the mixture of wheat. This can be explained by the different strengths of lignocellulosic fibers in the investigated plants. It was found that with the increase of a solid/water ratio from 1: 5 to 1:15, a dispersity of particles is reduced by 35–40%, and from 1: 5 to 1:10 by 3–5%. According to the authors, this is due to changes in the viscosity of the solution. Reducing the solid/water ratio from 1:15 to 1:10 for 10 cycles of the dispersion treatment in the rotor-pulsating apparatus leads to a decrease in temperature from 47 to 42º C (≈ 10%), but the productivity of the equipment increases 1.5–2 times, energy consumption decreases by 25–30%. The optimum parameters for milling of wheat straw or corn stalks in a rotor-pulsating apparatus are: the solid/water ratio is 1:10; the shear flow rate is 40∙103 s-1; the frequency of flow pulsations is 3 kHz. The number of processing cycles is 25–30. It was determined that the granulometric composition of an aqueous dispersion of wheat straw or corn stalks at a solid/water ratio of 1:10 and treated in the rotor-pulsating apparatus with the frequency of pulsations of 3 kHz, shear flow rate 40∙103 s-1 for 25– 30 cycles allows the conclude that about 50% of the particles have a size in the range of 30–50 μm. Conclusions. Dispertion of plant biomass by the method of discrete-pulse energy input provides for obtaining 80% of particles with a size of 1–50 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Sugar’s molecules of lignin-cellulosic biomass make them inaccessible for carrying-out of polysaccharose depolymerization. The aim of investigation is power of physical-chemical parameters on the process of organosolv delignification of lignin-cellulosic biomass. Materials and methods. Target of research is the way of organosolv lignin dilution. As a raw stuff we used a wheat straw, afterharvesting maize shruffs and halm of sugar broomcorn. Lignin was determined by the hydrolysis of mixed of concentrate hydrochloric acid and 72% sulphuric acid, polysaccharides - in amount of monosaccharide by the Machen and Schoorl method. Results and discussion. For maximum lignin dilution a solvent composition, fineness degree of row, treatment temperature and a process time were investigated. Depending on concentration change of sulphuric acid (from 1 to 3,9%) in solvent, lignin yield from maize’chaff is increased from 14,4 to 29,2%, content of undissolved remainder is decreased from 66,7 to 55,4%. The lignin yield is changed from 19,3 to 32,4% in stalk of sugar sorghum in the same condition. Treatment temperature rising of chopped wheat straw from 70 to 100 °С contributed to an increase in the degree of conversion of lignin by 3%, and for the stalks of corn - this indicator changed from 6.8% to 17.1%. Maximum lignin dissolution is at the temperature of 100 C°, wherein the highest yield of reducing substances is achieved within 1:00, regardless of the type of plant material. Lignin conversion increases at increase processing time to 6:00, but at the same time there is a destruction of sugar molecules, the content of which is almost halved. Conclusions. The hydrolysis degree of lignin by an organosolvent solvent can be adjusted by choosing rational modes of grinding of raw materials, temperature and duration of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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As a large agricultural country, China has abundant straw resources, and the annual output of corn stalks is 3 billion tons. Corn straw could be used as silage after mechanized processing, it could effectively alleviate the current shortage problem of animal feed. At present, the research on kneading and crushing of corn straw mainly focused on physical experiment, but less on numerical simulation. Therefore, the lack of effective numerical simulation method in the crushing process of corn straw and the improvement efficiency for the structure of processing equipment is reduced to some extent. Based on the above background, in this paper, a discrete element model for bimodal distribution of corn straw was established based on discrete element method, which was originally applied to the field of geotechnical mechanics. This process included setting particle size, filling geometric model, obtaining particle group coordinate information and so on. All of the numerical simulations were carried out in EDEM 2018 version, and users were allowed to customize the settings. Then the parameters calibration for the bonded particle contact model of corn straw was carried out that combined with physical experiment and virtual experiment. The mechanical parameters were obtained through compressing and shearing experiments of corn stalk samples. This parameter could provide basis for theoretical calculation of bonded particle model parameters of corn stalks. The mechanical properties of bonded particle model were determined by 5 parameters: normal stiffness coefficient, tangential stiffness coefficient, normal critical stress, shear critical stress and bonded radius which could be obtained through theoretical formula calculation. In the virtual experiment, the corn stalk model was subjected to axial compression experiment and radial shear experiment, respectively. The final BPM (bonded particle model) parameters were determined by the phenomenological simulation method which was compared physical experiment and virtual experiment. Finally, the discrete element model of corn straw was simulated and verified by physical experiment. This process involved the kneading and crushing simulation of corn straw model, classifying the types of materials and weighing the mass of materials, and using API plug-in to realize particle replacement and adding bonded particle model in the simulation process. After the simulation was completed, the change of bonded number and the shape classification of broken materials were analyzed. The whole research results showed that the maximum critical loads were 2,260 N and 110 N, respectively when the straw was compressed and sheared at a loading rate of 5 mm/min; After calibrating the parameters of bonded particle model, it was found that the normal stiffness coefficient, tangential stiffness coefficient, critical normal stress, critical tangential stress and bonded radius were 9.60×106 N/m, 6.80×106 N/m, 8.72 MPa, 7.5 MPa and 2 mm, respectively. At this time, the mechanical properties of the discrete element model were close to the harvested corn straw that had a moisture content of 87.8%. After the simulation, material could be divided into four types: short type, standard type, long type and incomplete crushing type. At the same time, the simulation mass of 4 materials were 5.2, 5.8, 8.2 and 8 g, respectively. After the physical experiment, the mass of different types of materials were respectively 4.8, 5.3, 7.6 and 9.1 g. The deviation of the mass for different materials were 8.3%, 9.4%, 7.8% and 7.7%, respectively. The mass deviation for different types of materials between the physical experiment and virtual experiment was kept within 10%. This research could not only prove that it was feasible to establish corn straw model by discrete element method and simulate the kneading and crushing process, but also provide guidance for kneading other straws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the release and transformation of fuel K during rapid pyrolysis of biomass, wheat straw, corn stalk and rice hull are pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed reactor system during 400–1000 °C, and weight measurement, elemental composition analysis, and chemical fractionation analysis are performed. The effects of fuel type, pyrolysis temperature, co-pyrolysis of different fuels, and water washing pretreatment are discussed. The results show that for all biomass fuels, the released K is far less than the water-soluble K and a sudden increase occurs in the fraction of ion-exchangeable K at 400 °C, whereas a significant increase happens in the fraction of insoluble K above 800 °C. Wheat straw releases less than 5% of K at 400 and 500 °C. As temperature rises, the K release increases abruptly and around 40% of K enters the gas phase at 1000 °C. Rice hull has a slow and linear K release with increasing pyrolysis temperature. Corn stalk has the lowest K release during 400–800 °C. Co-pyrolysis of wheat straw and rice hull reduce the K release at 1000 °C, and the biggest decrement is 0.76 mg g −1 . Water washing removes all the water-soluble K of corn stalk and part of ion-exchangeable K enters the gas phase during pyrolysis of the washed sample. Water washing decreases the K release from 2.77 to 0.18 mg g −1 at 1000 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ fibrous bed bioreactor ( is FBB) for efficient succinic acid (SA) production by Yarrowia lipolytica was firstly developed in our former study. In this study, agricultural residues including wheat straw, corn stalk and sugarcane bagasse were investigated for the improvement of is FBB, and sugarcane bagasse was demonstrated to be the best immobilization material. With crude glycerol as the sole carbon source, optimization for is FBB batch fermentation was carried out. Under the optimal conditions of 20 g sugarcane bagasse as immobilization material, 120 g L −1 crude glycerol as carbon source and 4 L min −1 of aeration rate, the resultant SA concentration was 53.6 g L −1 with an average productivity of 1.45 g L −1 h −1 and a SA yield of 0.45 g g −1 . By feeding crude glycerol, SA titer up to 209.7 g L −1 was obtained from fed batch fermentation, which was the highest value that ever reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the durability properties of concretes involving corn stalk, wheat straw and sunflower stalk ash along with barite and colemanite are investigated. Corn stalk, wheat straw and sunflower stalk ash are substituted in place of cement, while barite and colemanite are substituted in place of fine aggregate with different percentages. Concrete specimens were tested for compressive strength at 7, 28 and 180 days. Furthermore, abrasion and freeze–thaw tests were performed to investigate the physical and mechanical properties. 180 day sulfate resistance tests were applied in 5% sodium sulfate solution (Na 2 SO 4 ) for investigating the chemical effect on concrete. Moreover, 12 × 12 × 2 cm mortar samples were produced to apply radiation shielding test. Am-241 gamma ray source was used for the radiation shielding test. The present study showed that the use of the abovementioned ashes improves many engineering properties of concrete. By filling the voids, the ashes produce a stronger concrete, which is further enhanced by colemanite and barite. Additionally, the described additives improve the radiation shielding property of concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural fibre-based materials offer various advantages compared to synthetic fibres, however their applications are limited mainly due to their hygroscopic properties, which are affected by their chemical composition, microstructure and the porosity of the plant cells of which the fibre is composed. Therefore, this work investigates the hygroscopic behavior of natural fibres to obtain a better understanding of the relation of the chemical composition of the fibres, their crystallinity, and their equilibrium moisture content. The crystallinity index was determined to include amorphous cellulose into the developed models. Nine biomass samples were selected (flax, hemp, jute, spruce, bamboo, corn stalks, palm leaves, rice husk and wheat straw) to construct models via linear regression to predict the moisture sorption behavior of natural fibres. Thorough statistical (ANOVA, RMSE) analysis showed that the developed models are relevant and descriptive. From all major plant cell wall constituents (lignin, crystalline cellulose, amorphous cellulose and hemicellulose), it is hemicellulose's hygroscopicity that is largely responsible for the moisture uptake of the fibres, with (amorphous) cellulose and lignin playing a (much) smaller role. This study has improved the understanding of the hygroscopic behavior of natural fibres, and is important for optimal application of these fibres in composite materials. • A linear models predicting the EMC absorption and desorption were constructed. • Hemicellulose is the main cell wall constituent affecting EMC desorption and absorption. • Non-crystalline cellulose affects the sorption significantly more than the overall cellulose content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]