Citation:
Murray D, Parsons SA, Jarvis P, Jefferson B., The impact of barley straw conditioning on the inhibition of Scenedesmus using
chemostats. Water Research, Volume 44, Issue 5, March 2010, Pages 1373-1380
Abstract:
The current paper investigates the role of barley straw conditioning on
inhibiting the alga Scenedesmus. Fresh, pre-rotted and white rot fungi (WRF)
augmented straw was tested in a series of chemostat experiments over 15 weeks.
All three systems were effective at inhibiting the alga with differences
observed in the lag time before inhibition occurred and the rate of alga
decline. Lag times of 8, 4 and 1 week(s) were recorded for the fresh, rotted and
fungi-treated straws, respectively, with a maximum inhibition rate of >7 x 10(4)
cells week (1) observed for the fungi pre-treated system. Overall, the results
indicate that pre-treatment is a viable method to enable barley straw to be used
in a more reactive manner. Explanation is postulated that during pre-treatment
no alternative sources of nitrogen are available, thereby leading to greater
bacterial decomposition of straw lignin to release inhibitory substances. The
principle of utilising an engineered pre-treatment by inoculating barley straw
with WRF to enhance the impact of the straw on algal inhibition has been clearly
demonstrated. Further work is required to understand how the straw pre-treatment
stage can be reduced to minimise its duration while maximising the inhibitory
effect of adding barley straw. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
