Identification and characterization of potential feedstock for biogas production in South Africa

Abstract

Biogas is produced during anaerobic digestion (AD) of biodegradable organic materials and is considered a promising renewable energy resource. Feedstocks are essential to ensure the successful anaerobic digestion in biogas digesters. Therefore, the search of appropriate substrates has come into focus. In this study, we examined the potential substrates that could be used as feedstock for the successful operation of an anaerobic digester. The approach used in this study was to identify the potential feedstocks that can be converted into value-added products. The identification of the feedstocks was done based on classification and evaluation of the theoretical biogas and methane production during the digestion process. The results show that all the considered substrates exhibited the biogas theoretical yield, with cattle manure producing the highest yield (0.999 m3/kg VS), whereas the lowest biogas yield (0.949 m3/kg VS) was obtained from cassava peels. It was concluded that the use of cassava co-digested with fruit and vegetable waste as an alternative feedstock offers a greater potential in terms of biogas production and could thus be implemented in the biogas projects running with cow dungs inside South Africa, especially in rural communities.