Biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of cow manure with kitchen waste and Water Hyacinth

Abstract

The prime objective of this paper was to analyze and compare biogas production from various sources of waste material. The Renewable Energy Policy envisions that 5% of total energy production needs to be achieved by 2015 and 10% by 2020. This work focuses on the comparative study of the production of biogas through anaerobic co-digestion utilizing abandoned resources of biomass. Materials under study were Cow manure, Sewage Sludge, Kitchen Waste & Water Hyacinth. Experiments were conducted under mesophilic condition (37 °C) with 1.5 wt%NaOH to obtain the desirable pH. The loading ratio of each batch was maintained as 1:1 on both experiments. Kitchen Waste and Cow Manure showed promising results till about the 120th hour following plummeting production of biogas. Total production for 1 L batch of Water Hyacinth, Cow Manure & Sewage Sludge was 812 ml with 65%Methane, 14%CO and 21%other gases obtained after 800 h, while Kitchen Waste & Cow Manure provided 335 ml consisting of 60%Methane, 18%CO & 22%other gases within the same time frame. Results indicated that addition of Sewage Sludge with the widely used Cow Manure can lead to accelerated reaction, increased production and an improved methane content.