Sustainable anaerobic digestion of euphorbiaceae waste for biogas production: Effects of feedstock variation

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) refers to the biological process which can convert organic substrates to biogas in the absence of oxygen. The aim of this study was to determine the capability of feedstock to produce biogas and to quantify the biogas yield from different feedstocks. A co-digestion approach was carried out in a continuous stirred tank reactor operated under mesophilic conditions and at a constant organic loading rate of 0.0756 g COD/ L.day, with a hydraulic retention time of 25 days. For comparison, mono-digestion was also included in the experimental work. 2 L working volumes were used throughout the experimental work. The seed culture was obtained from composting as substrate digestion. When the feedstock was added to seeding, the biogas started to emit after three days of retention time. The highest volume of biogas was observed when the seeding volume used for 1000 mL. However, the lowest volume of biogas yield was obtained from both co-digestion reactors, with a value of 340 mL. For methane yield, the highest methane production rate was 0.16 L CH4/mg. The COD with yield was at 8.6% and the lowest was at 0.5%. The highest quantity of methane was obtained from a reactor of Euphorbiaceae peel with added seeding, while the lowest methane yield came from a reactor of Euphorbiaceae stems with added seeding. In this study, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) was used as a buffering solution to correct the pH in the reactor if the reactor condition was found to be in a souring or acidic condition.