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Growing Spirodela polyrrhiza in Swine Wastewater for the Production of Animal Feed and Fuel Ethanol: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Xu Jiele,
Cheng Jay J.,
Stomp AnneM.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201100108
Subject(s) - wastewater , biomass (ecology) , nutrient , starch , raw material , ethanol fuel , environmental science , aquatic plant , biology , zoology , botany , pulp and paper industry , biofuel , agronomy , food science , environmental engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , macrophyte , engineering
To evaluate the performance of Spirodela polyrrhiza grown in swine wastewater for protein and starch production under field conditions, a pilot‐scale duckweed culture pond was installed at Barham Farm, Zebulon, North Carolina and operated from May to November 2010. The anaerobically treated swine wastewater was fed to the duckweed pond intermittently to provide nutrients for the growth of duckweed, and the duckweed biomass was harvested regularly from the pond and prepared as a protein‐ or starch‐rich feedstock for the production of animal feed or fuel ethanol. Over the experimental period, the duckweed pond produced protein and starch at rates of 2.68 and 1.88 g m −2 day −1 , respectively. During the same time, NH 4 –N and o ‐PO 4 –P in the wastewater were, respectively, removed at rates of 92.9 and 2.90 mmol m −2 day −1 .