Production of Biogas from Kitchen Wastes Generated from the Mess of NIT Agartala

Abstract

A review has been done on the formulation of mathematical models for designing anaerobic batch reactor for the producing of biogas from solid wastes. Using material balance analysis, the design parameters, especially biokinetic behavior of solid wastes are studied. Hydrolysis constants and reaction orders at both low total solids concentrations and high total solids concentrations were thoroughly reviewed by initial rate method. Population growth model and first order hydrolysis model are also studied. It has been found that if sufficient reaction time is given, in terms of reaction kinetics, the hydrolysis process in kitchen waste fermentation can be described as a first order reaction. An attempt is done by utilizing the biodegradable kitchen waste collected from Aryabhatta hostel, NIT Agartala for generation of biogas and demonstrating the possibilities of energy recovery. A simple anaerobic digester has been fabricated to capture the generated biogas. To produce methane as a clean fuel the use of cow dung as substrate is studied to ferment the kitchen wastes.