Modeling composition of properties of biogas produced from the Co-digestion of cow-dung and organic kitchen waste

Abstract

Public concerns about climate change, air pollution, water quality and rising energy consumption have place pressure on producers and industry to reduce emissions and promote pollution-free sources of energy. One of the most generally available sources of renewable energy is biogas; hence, this study on kinetic modeling of the biogas composition was carried out at ambient condition for a period of 30 days to supplement energy requirements in farms and houses. The substrates, cow dung and organic kitchen waste were co-digested at different ratios for biogas production at laboratory scale. The digesters substrate had 3300g of feed each with varying ratios of 70:30 (Sample A), 50:50 (Sample B), 40:60 (Sample C), and 30:70 (Sample D) of cow dung to organic kitchen waste respectively. A biogas analyzer was used for the measurement of gas composition, biodigester operating parameter were measured using a multi-meter, while gas volume was obtained using calibrated floating drum. The model showed polynomial correlation as best fit using the R2 method.