Investigating Low Temperature Dry Anaerobic Digestion of Nitrogen Rich Organic Feedstock

畜禽粪便管理是一项重要的环境和社会挑战。它通过释放温室气体排放、气味、病原体以及对地表水和地下水的污染对畜牧业产生负面影响。然而，粪便可以通过厌氧消化(AD)来处理，从而解决上述负面影响并产生生物燃料。本研究旨在研究和开发一种富氮(N)粪便的低温干式厌氧消化(LTDAD)，作为一种生物技术，在新型组合条件(低温、高固体分、高N负荷)下处理猪禽粪便并产生甲烷。虽然它提供了一种技术和社会解决方案，但它将产生关于适应新条件的动力学和微生物动力学的基础知识。*本研究的目标是将LTDAD开发为一种环境无害、成本有效和易于使用的生物技术，用于处理富含N的猪禽粪便，阐明其适应、动力学和微生物动力学。它的目的是：1-填补我们对适应低温、高固体分和高N负荷过程中微生物群落变化的认识空白；2-评估适应策略并确定启动适应策略；3-阐明生物炭对适应过程中培养的动力学、微生物动力学和生理变化的影响。考察了在有机负荷增加、N负荷增加、固形物含量增加、接种量与底物比降低、处理时间缩短的情况下，高氨适应时间对LTDAD性能和稳定性的影响。利用细胞壁膜磷脂生物标记物将提高我们对微生物/结构和生理适应诱导的变化的理解，并将其与分子生物学方法的结果相关联。从长远来看，该计划的目标是将实验室SBR的规模扩大1000倍，评估其稳定性和性能，并发现适应引起的脂类分布的变化是否会影响氨通过细胞壁的扩散。*这项研究的成果将改善养殖业，并提供环境、社会、经济、健康和气候效益。从这项研究中获得的关于富N的LTDAD的改进知识可以惠及其他富N的废物，如屠宰场、肉类、鱼类、食品加工和动物养殖场的死亡率。它还将通过其培训和推广计划带来社会经济效益。它将培训8名学生并使他们得到专业发展，并支持一项外联计划，该计划旨在吸引当地社区的高中生和教师在纽芬兰推广环境生物技术。这项研究将与申请者正在进行的对北卡罗来纳州圣约翰的莱斯特乳品农场的教育农场的模仿相结合，重点放在牲畜和农业废物管理和生物能源上。**

Livestock manure management is an important environmental and social challenge. It negatively impacts the livestock industry through release of greenhouse gas emissions, odor, pathogens, and contamination of surface and ground water. However, manure could be treated by anaerobic digestion (AD) which addresses the aforementioned negative impacts and generate biofuel.******This research is to investigate and develop a low temperature dry AD of Nitrogen (N)-rich manure (N-rich LTDAD) as a biotechnology to treat swine and poultry manure and produce methane at the novel combination of conditions (low temperature, high solids, and high N-loading). While it provides a technical and social solution, it will generate fundamental knowledge regarding the kinetics and microbial dynamics during adaptation to the new conditions.******The objectives of this research is to develop LTDAD as an environmentally-sound, cost-effective and easy-to-use biotechnology to treat N-rich swine and poultry manure, elucidate its adaptation, kinetics, and microbial dynamics. It aims to: 1- fill the gap in our understanding on the microbial community changes during adaptation to low temperature, high solids, and high N-loading; 2- assess adaptation strategies and determine a start-up adaptation strategy; 3- elucidate the effects of biochar on the kinetics, microbial dynamics, and physiological changes in the culture during adaptation. It also assesses the effect of adaptation time to high ammonia levels on the performance and stability of LTDAD under increasing organic loading rate, increasing N-loading rate, increasing solid content, decreasing inoculum-to-substrate ratio, and decreasing treatment duration. It will improve our understanding of the microbiological/structural and physiological adaptation-induced changes using cell wall membrane phospholipid biomarkers and correlate them with the results of molecular biology methods. In a long term, the program aims to scale-up the laboratory SBR by 1000x, evaluate its stability and performance, and find whether the adaptation-induced changes in lipids profile affect ammonia diffusivity through the cell wall.******This research's output will improve the farming sector and provide environmental, social, economic, health and climatic benefits. The improved knowledge of N-rich LTDAD gained from this research could benefit other N-rich wastes such as slaughterhouses, meat, fish, food processing, and animal farm mortalities. It will also will bring in socioeconomic benefits through its training and outreach program. It will train 8 students and develop them professionally, and support an outreach program to engage high school students and teachers from the local community to promote environmental biotechnology in Newfoundland. This research will be integrated with an on-going imitative, by the applicant, of an educational farm at the Lester's Dairy Farm in St. John's, NL with a focus on livestock and agriculture waste management and bioenergy.**