DIONISIO, Charles Amiel P.

BSChE IV I

Introduction to Biotechnology

Journal #

Solid-state anaerobic co-digestion of spent mushroom

substrate with yard trimmings and wheat straw for biogas
production

The journal Solid-state anaerobic co-digestion of

spent mushroom substrate with yard trimmings and wheat
straw for biogas production, was written by Yinqin Lin et,
al. in Guangdong, China, year 2014

The abstract reported the process of the fermentation

itself and how the ratio aff ects the results. Moreover, they
also presented the results and the yield of methane gas in
relation to the feed material and its ratio. They also
presented their suggested way of getting around the
problem in the process, which is the formation and
accumulation of volatile fatty acids that lowers the pH of
the system and hinders solid state anaerobic digestion.
They got around the problem by mixing the main raw
material, the spent mushroom subtrate with other biomass
like yard trimmings and wheat straw. In another
perspective, the structure of the abstract was excellent
since it provided all the necessary information that is
needed to guide the reader in further readings.

In this journals case, the author did provide a list of

keywords, but did not provide defi nitions of vague or
uncommon terminologies, and jargon. Thus, I had to look up
the meanings of some terminologies used in the article that
I am not familiar of.

The introduction part of the article started with the

conceptual framework which for me is very convenient
since I needed a head start in understanding some ideas.
The introduction then gave an insight to the main
signifi cance and purpose of the paper regarding the
utilization of spent mushroom substrate mixed with yard
trimmings/wheat straw to produce a renewable and clean
fuel, methane.

In general, the set-up was in a bioreactor with a

naerobic bacteria incoculated with the spent mushroom
substrate. The reactor was fi tted with a gas bag to collect
and measure the methane output. The set-up was
incubated at 37C for 62 days. Duplicate reactor set-ups
were also present. I have learned from their method that
measuring a large amount of gas by volume is possible by
using a device called a gas meter.

The experimentation and methodology was very

comprehensive and it appears that it is repeatable. The
structure of the chronology was arranged in a very
organized manner. Each step includes the material,
apparatus, and parameters. Similarly, the analysis of the
data they have collected is very comprehensive. They even
included a statistics graph regarding the volume of output
gas versus the input spent substrate with co-digestion
materials like yard trimmings.

Although the conclusion was very brief, all the

necessary deductions and numerical values accompanying
it are present. Also, the best co-digestion material is
concluded, which is dried wheat straw.

In my opinion, their study was major signifi cance

because renewables have many applications in the energy
industry.