Biogas production from Calotropis procera: A latex plant found in West Africa

Abstract

Calotropis procera is a bush latex plant, 1–3 m high; its leaves are 10–13 cm wide by 17–19 cm long. This plant is very drought-resistant and grows throughout the Sahelian countries, notably in Burkina Faso. Batch fermentation experiments show that it is a good substrate for biogas production. The highest productivities obtained varied from 2·9 to 3·6 litres biogas day −1 litre −1 when the digester loading was a 4% (w/v) suspension of dry leaves at initial pH 7·5. The acidogenic step of the fermentation was very fast, about 66% of dry material loaded being degraded during the first 2 days of incubation at 30°C. The resulting biogas contained 56–59% (v/v) methane.