Biogas Production from Biodegradable Kitchen Waste Generated on University of Science and Technology Campus, Ghana

Maxwell Peprah Opoku ,Bernard Fei-Baffoe

doi:10.7176/jees/10-7-04

Abstract

The alarming potential environmental problems (low investment, operation cost, technical requirements, air, water and land pollutions, improper waste management practices) linked to organic fraction of municipal solid waste which is mostly landfilled in many parts of the world have fostered the need for a biological treatment using anaerobic digestion. This is an attractive technology for waste stabilization with potential mass and volume reduction and significantly the generation of valuable by-products such as biogas and compost material.This research work focused on the biogas production from kitchen waste generated on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus, Ghana. The experiment was carried out in a multi-stage anaerobic digestion system operated under mesophilic temperature. Various process parameters were measured including temperature, pH, conductivity, total solids, moisture content, BOD, percentage BOD removal, biogas production and biogas production rate. The waste degraded at a rate of 36.1±2.2% / day, with average biogas production of 8.9±3.15 litres per day. Maximum biogas production rate per kilogram of total solids (TS) was 4.5±1.6 L/kg TS of biogas per day. Key w ords: Biogas production; biodegradable waste; kitchen waste; methanogenic reactor; hydrolysis reactor; buffer system; KNUST; Ritter TG05/5 Drum-type Gas Meter; gas analyser, MSW DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-7-04 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

Highlights

Large tons (˃ 8,000) of biodegradable fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated on daily basis in various residences and households in Ghana and are poorly managed despite their high bioenergy potential (Miezah, Obiri-Danso, Kádár, Fei-Baffoe, & Mensah, 2015)
A u-tube with its top slashed in a slanted manner was positioned 50 cm from the base of the Methanogenic Reactor (MR) such that any overflow beyond this level flowed into another 12 L plastic bucket labeled as Methanogenic Overflow Bucket (MOB)
The tables presented show the results obtained from the monitoring of parameters measured during the anaerobic digestion process

Summary

Introduction

Large tons (˃ 8,000) of biodegradable fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated on daily basis in various residences and households in Ghana and are poorly managed despite their high bioenergy potential (Miezah, Obiri-Danso, Kádár, Fei-Baffoe, & Mensah, 2015). MSW could be treated using mechanical operation (land-filling), thermal treatment (incineration), biological transformation (anaerobic digestion, composting) and physico-chemical conversion; landfilling is extensively used as final disposal in many parts of the world (Hu, Du, & Long, 2017) and Ghana is not an exception (Fei-Baffoe et al, 2014; Mensah & Larbi, 2005). Anaerobic digestion for biodegradable waste is the most cost-effective, owing to the high energy recovery (biogas production) and its limited environmental impact (Fei-Baffoe & Busch, 2010; Parawira, Read, Mattiasson, & Bjornsson, 2008). The experiment was carried out in a multi-stage anaerobic digestion system operated under mesophilic temperature

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion