Enhancing Biogas Generation: A Comprehensive Analysis of Pre-Treatment Strategies for Napier Grass in Anaerobic Digestion

Abstract

Grass is being explored as a potential feedstock for biogas production since it consumes less water than other crops and may be grown on non-arable soils without displacing the food crops directly. The feedstock's features, particularly its intricate lignocellulosic structure, limit the amount of biogas produced. Various pretreatment techniques are being researched to prevent disruption of the grass's structural integrity during the anaerobic digestion process. This article aims to review the knowledge of recent pretreatment techniques that are used for lignocellulosic biomass. The chemical composition of an energy crop (Napier grass) from various literature sources is evaluated and tabulated. Techniques for pretreatment are divided into physical, chemical, thermal, physicochemical, biological, and combined categories. Alkaline chemical pretreatment on Napier grass showed enhancements in methane yield up to 70%, demonstrating its potential as an effective strategy for improving biogas production efficiency. The pretreatment method can serve as an effective alternative for enhancing biogas and methane yields from lignocellulosic biomass in both full-scale and pilot-scale bio-methanation projects.