Research Barley

A paper I recently studied on barley presented the results of the cumulative methane production obtained in the co-digestion of the pre-treated barley waste with sewage sludge. The present results show that the alkaline pre-treatment of wastes like barley is beneficial because it significantly improved the (anaerobic) biodegradability.

Barley alone reduces the rate of methane production. It produces 0.22m3. Whereas, kitchen waste produces 64%. This shows that if you combine the two, there is a significant reduction in methanation, which in turn reduces the amount of wastes to be land-filled. However, when the barley waste was subjected to *alkaline hydrolysis pre-treatment before co-digestion with activated sludge, the methane production increased to 222LCH4 (STP)/KgVS initial and the total and volatile solids reductions increased to 67% and 84% respectively.

From my study of this uncovered information, I was asked to create an A2 board, which relayed the message I wanted to convey to the general members of the public. My message was: More barley waste should be treated with alkaline hydrolysis in order to provide the world with many benefits, such as, increased methane production, improved anaerobic biodegradability, reduced amount of wastes to be land-filled, alternative fuel source, gas, heating and the reduction of Carbon Dioxide emissions.

*Alkaline Hydrolysis- a water based chemical reducing process using strong alkali in water at temperatures of up to 180C (350F) to rapidly yet sympathetically reduce the body to ash. It is essentially a highly accelerated version of natural decomposition chemistry. This is a natural process found in the body decomposition after death.