African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12479

Article in Press

Analysis of production of biogas from peel of fruits and leaf of vegetable with cow dung as inoculants under anaerobic digestion

Massreshaw Assnakew Abebe

  •  Received: 08 November 2018
  •  Accepted: 08 November 2018
Biogas is a renewable source of energy that belongs to the category of biofuels. Anaerobic condition typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Fruit and vegetable wastes (FVW) were evaluated from feed stalk materials for biogas production under anaerobic digestion. The biogas production and methane content of fruit and vegetable wastes digestion were evaluated against substrate combinations with cow dung at a ratio of fruit and vegetable waste to cow dung T1 (cow dung alone), T2 (1:3), T3 (1:1), T4 (3:1), and T5 (fruit and vegetable waste alone). The combinations were allowed to be digested anaerobically at ambient temperature in 2.5 L sand jacketed triplicate batch digesters; the analysis was done indirectly (water displacement method) and absorption of CO2 was done by 10% NaOH methods. The digesters were operated for 80 days. The highest total methane yields of about 78.35% was obtained from the cow dung digester (T1); the highest production of biogas yield (7552.67 ml) was observed in T1 and the lowest biogas production rate (2652.83 ml) was from a reactor operated by fruit and vegetable waste alone. Similar to the biogas yield, higher percentage of methane was produced in treatment one. The production of biogas and methane content was attributed to the cow dung content in the digesters and the result of physico-chemical characteristics of the fruit and vegetable waste further revealed suitability of the substrate for biogas production without materials for co-digestion. Key words: Anaerobic digestion, biogas, cow dung, C:N ratio, fruit-vegetable wastes, methane.