BackgroundTwo parallel plug-flow reactors were successfully applied as a hydrolysis stage for the anaerobic pre-digestion of maize silage and recalcitrant bedding straw (30% and 66% w/w) under variations of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and thin-sludge recirculation.ResultsThe study proved that the hydrolysis rate profits from shorter HRTs while the hydrolysis yield remained similar and was limited by a low pH-value with values of 264–310 and 180–200 gO2kgVS−1for 30% and 66% of bedding straw correspondingly. Longer HRT led to metabolite accumulation, significantly increased gas production, a higher acid production rate and a 10–18% higher acid yield of 78 gSCCAkgVS−1for 66% of straw. Thin-sludge recirculation increased the acid yield and stabilized the process, especially at a short HRT. Hydrolysis efficiency can thus be improved by shorter HRT, whereas the acidogenic process performance is increased by longer HRT and thin-sludge recirculation. Two main fermentation patterns of the acidogenic community were found: above a pH-value of 3.8, butyric and acetic acid were the main products, while below a pH-value of 3.5, lactic, acetic and succinic acid were mainly accumulating. During plug-flow digestion with recirculation, at low pH-values, butyric acid remained high compared to all other acids. Both fermentation patterns had virtually equal yields of hydrolysis and acidogenesis and showed good reproducibility among the parallel reactor operation.ConclusionsThe suitable combination of HRT and thin-sludge recirculation proved to be useful in a plug-flow hydrolysis as primary stage in biorefinery systems with the benefits of a wider feedstock spectrum including feedstock with cellulolytic components at an increased process robustness against changes in the feedstock composition.Graphical AbstractSupplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13068-023-02363-7.