The effects of catalyst and co-digestion on the performance of biogas yield

Abstract

Abstract This study presented the effects of catalyst and co-digestion on the performance of biogas production. Rabbit dung and plantain peels were used as feedstock materials while clay, KOH and NaOH were used as catalysts. The experiment was divided into five setups. The slurry stayed in the digester for 45days. The digester temperature fluctuated around 35-47°C while the pH varied from 6.8-7.8. The result of the analysis revealed that the gas produced has high methane content values from 69.75 – 72.38% with low CO2 concentration values from 7.16 - 15.41%. Total volume of biogas were noted to be 74L, 31.9L, 125.5L, 112.4L and 55.8L for each sample. The physicochemical properties revealed that the TS varied from 3.63% - 4.20%, while VS varied from 3.17% - 3.78%. The TOC ranged from 2.18% - 4.79% while the nitrogen content ranged within 0.195% - 0.352%, Crude fibre ranged from 3.15 – 3.81%. Ash content ranged within 3.21 – 4.50% and moisture content varied between 82.47 – 90.05%. The COD and BOD were also obtained. The calorific values of the samples obtained ranged from 17,600 – 20,184KJ/kg. The phosphorus content was between 0.25% and 0.40% while potassium was between 0.15 and 0.37% on average.