Effect of Addition of Vermicompost on Biogas Production of Corn Stalk Through Anaerobic Fermentation

Effect of addition of vermicompost on anaerobic digestion of corn stalk in biogas production was investigated with total solid (TS) concentration 50 g·kg^-1 and fermentation temperature 35 ℃. It was found that when corn stalk was in the digestor alone, the cumulative biogas yield per gram TS was 333.3 mL·g^-1 and the cumulative methane yield per gram TS was 202.0 mL·g^-1, but when vermicompost was added (1 : 1 in TS mass ratio), their outputs were increased by 20.0% and 35.5%,reaching 400.0 and 269.6 mL·g^-1, respectively. Moreover,the phenomenon of acidification disappeared during the process of fermentation.All these demonstrate that vermicompost is a suitable amendment in anaerobic digestion of corn stalk for biogas production.