(2018) Environmental Pollution_Anaerobic digestion as an alternative disposal for phytoremediated biomass from heavy metal contaminated sites

Lee J., Park K.Y., Cho J., Kwon E.E., Kim J.Y.

(Elsevier Ltd) Environmental Pollution ISSN: 2697491 Vol.243 Issue. Article No. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.09.108

It is desirable to establish an environmentally benign platform for disposing biomass from the phytoremediation process while recovering energy is of importance. To this end, the biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were conducted using four different biomass samples (i.e., sunflower: Helianthus annuus) that were obtained from the different remediation sites. In particular, this study laid great emphasis on evaluating the inhibition for the anaerobic digestion (AD) process induced by endogenous heavy metal (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) content in biomass. Despite the high levels of heavy metal contents (Cd: 58.4, Cu: 23.0, Ni: 2.01, Pb: 9.88, and Zn: 146 mg kg−1) in the substrate for the AD process, the overall performance was comparable relative to the case of the references. Therefore, this study signified that the inhibition derived from heavy metals was nearly negligible, which suggested that biomass from the phytoremediation site could be used as a substrate for the AD process. © 2018

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. 2018R1A6A3A01012222) and Waste to Energy-Recycling Human Resource Development Project funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment. We would also appreciate the technical support of Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Research Institute, Seoul National University. This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. 2018R1A6A3A01012222 ) and Waste to Energy-Recycling Human Resource Development Project funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment . We would also appreciate the technical support of Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Research Institute , Seoul National University .