Production of Biogas from Plantain Peels and Swine Droppings

Abstract

The current over dependence on non-renewable sources of energy such as fossil fuels calls for caution and rethink. This research deals with the production of biogas from plantain peels alone and plantain peels mixed with swine droppings using a 50L metal prototype bio-digester. The plantain peels was pre-decayed for 2 weeks before charging. They were charged as plantain peels alone (PP-A) and plantain peels mixed with swine droppings (PP-SD) into two separate digesters. The waste (PP-A and PP-SD) were subjected to anaerobic digestion for a period of 44days. The cumulative biogas yield for the plantain peels alone (PP-A) was 80.10dm 3 while that of plantain peels mixed with swine droppings (PP-SD) was 163.30m 3. The PP-A commenced flammable gas production on the 2 nd day while, PP-SD commenced flammable gas production on the 30 th day. The PP-SD had the highest cumulative gas yield though with a slow onset of gas flammability. The overall result indicates that the low gas yield of PP-A could be significantly enhanced by blending it with swine droppings.