Rapid and high yield biogas production from Jatropha seed cake by co-digestion with bagasse and addition of Fe2+

Abstract

Co-digestion and metal ion addition strategies to improve the biogas production potential of Jatropha seed cake (JSC) by anaerobic digestion were evaluated in the present study. Initially, batch experiments were carried out to obtain the maximum JSC concentration for optimum biogas yield, followed by co-digestion with bagasse, and addition of Fe2+. The optimum JSC concentration of 15% (w/v) gave biogas production rate (BPR) of 66.4 mL/d, specific BPR of 9.7 mL/d/gVS and biogas yield of 0.064 m3/kgVS. The co-digestion strategy increased the carbon/nitrogen of feed (10% JSC+5% Bagasse, w/v) to 26.5 from 14 (JSC alone), resulting in biogas yield of 0.136 m3/kgVS of JSC, a 2.1-fold increase. Addition of Fe2+ to JSC and bagasse mixture led to biogas yield of 0.203 m3/kgVS, with methane content of 66% and methane production of 8.8 L/L reactor. With short digestion time of 15 days, co-digestion of JSC with bagasse and addition of Fe2+ showed 3.2-fold higher biogas yield than JSC alone.