A Study on Utilization of Co-Digested Citronella Oilmeal Cake, Cow Dung and Poultry Dropping for Enhancement of Biogas Yield

Abstract

Abstract: Power plays a pivotal role in the industrial, economic and infrastructural development of the country’s growth. India is on the exponential growth paradigm and is playing a leadership role in the implementation of renewable energy projects for achieving the INDC’s committed in the Paris agreement and meeting the net carbon zero economy by 2070. The present research work attempts to utilize the co-digested agriwaste and livestock to enhance the biogas productivity. The experimental study considered a co-digested feedstock of cow dung (CD), poultry dropping (PD) and Citronella grass oilmeal cake (CG) using different ratios of each in five different digesters. Amongst all five digesters R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5; R4 having a co-digested feedstock of CD: PD: CG in the ratio of 20% : 55% : 25% respectively. The cumulative biogas yield for an experimental period was observed to 41.26 litres whereas the methane percentage in the biogas was 74%. The feedstock quantity required for 1 m3 biogas production was found to be 18.9 kg which was observed to be lower than the cowdung based monodigester which is 25 kg. Thus, co-digestion of the Citronella grass oilmeal cake along with poultry dropping using cow dung as substrate showed promising results which can be scaled up to commercial level biogas plants in villages where these feedstocks are easily available.