Preliminary preparation for the advanced inocula bioaugmentation process validation are performed to ensure all necessary elements are in place. Specifically, anaerobic reactors and specialised medium and microbial strains are being used to produce the critical bioaugmentation inoculum biomass needed for the experiments. The inoculum will be treated to create a long-term preserved and ready to use bioaugmentation inoculum based on the developed optimal, long term preservation strategy. Following the advanced inoculum preparation, lab-scale continuous stirred tank reactors are going to be set up and used to replicate real-world biogas production conditions with elevated levels of lignocellulosic and ammonia rich biomasses, while performing an upscale validation of the process. The optimal conditions will be assessed to develop a practical and effective bioaugmentation platform for industrial applications. The primary objective is to validate the effectiveness of the long term preserved advanced bioaugmentation inoculum. Testing under these realistic conditions will provide crucial insights into how the composite inocula perform and interact with complex substrates. The goal is to establish a robust bioaugmentation strategy that can be standardized for different operational conditions in real life biogas production. Based on observations and findings from the continuous reactors and upscale validation, a practical bioaugmentation strategy will be proposed for upscale application.
