Biogas Production from Kitchen Wastes: Special Focus on Kitchen and Household Wastes in Egypt

Abstract

Pollutants are released into the atmosphere due to production and consumption energy especially from fossil. However, not only the environmental concerns but also the increase in energy demand promotes the researchers to develop new and current energy alternatives that cause zero- or low-negative environmental impact. Anaerobic fermentation can be used for the treatment of organic wastes (OW) such as kitchen waste, municipal solid waste, industrial organic waste, animal manure, and agricultural residues. The fuel produced from anaerobic digestion is environmental friendly. Kitchen wastes (KWs) are easily biodegradable organic material with high moisture, carbohydrate, lipid, and protein. The use of KW only in anaerobic digestion reduces the activity of methanogenic bacteria as a result of rapid accumulation of volatile fatty acids followed by a pH drop in the reactor, thus, adjusting C/N by some additives to accelerate the growth of methanogens and methane formation is necessary. The favorable pH for methanogens’ growth range of 6.5 to 7.2. Furthermore, the key factors controlling the production of volatile fatty acids during fermentation for methanogenesis represented in pH, temperature, C/N ratio, and hydraulic retention time.