PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

This study focused on the optimization of hydrothermal conditioning conditions for Napier PakChong1 grass to produce press fluid for biogas production. The integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass (IFBB) process was adopted to separate press fluid from the biomass. Napier PakChong1 grass was hydrothermally pretreated and then mechanically pressed. The press fluid was used for biochemical methane potential (BMP) test while the press cake could be utilized as the solid fuel. The full factorial design of experiment with center points and the Central Composite Design (CCD) were developed to obtain the best possible combination of harvesting time, grass to water ratio, temperature and soaking time for the maximum organic substance (as COD) in press fluid. It was found that the obtained model could satisfactorily predict the mass of COD in press fluid used as the model response. The optimum hydrothermal conditioning conditions were as follows; harvesting time 75 d, ratio of grass to water of 1:6 (by weight), ambient temperature (about 25°C) of the water and the soaking time of 355 min. The mass of COD obtained in these conditions was 226.42 g equating to 71.5% of the value predicted by the model (316.68 g). The microbial kinetic coefficients and biogas yield potential of press fluid at these optimum conditions were properly fitted with the modified Gompertz equation (adjusted R₂= 0.995). The methane yield potential (P), the maximum methane production rate (R_m) and lag phase time (λ) were 412.18 mlCH₄/gVS_added, 51.47 mlCH₄/gVS_added/d and 4.36 days, respectively.