Optimization of Biogas Production Through Anaerobic Co-digestion of Food Wastes and Chicken Manure: A Kinetic Study and Economic Feasibility
摘要
The Current trend encourages waste-to-energy drive technology, specifically anaerobic digestion (AD), which is pivotal for sustainable energy by converting organic-rich waste compounds into clean biogas. In our previous work, we researched different types of samples from biomass and agro wastes to generate biogas on a laboratory scale. This paper investigates strategies to boost AD efficiency, emphasizing enhanced biodegradability and methane potential via co-digestion of the selective combination of substrates. A study on the prospective biogas generation from various proportions of food wastes (FW) and its blend with chicken manure (CM) was investigated. The prepared slurry (FW + CM) was charged into 1cubic meter capacity-based HDPE model biogas digesters with water in the ratio of 1:1. They were subjected to anaerobic digestion within 22–24 days of the retention period and mesophilic temperature range of 26–43 °C. The physical and chemical characteristics of the wastes were analyzed. This study also investigates the synergy of anaerobic co-digestion (co-AD) of food wastes (FW) and chicken manure (CM), focusing on biogas production, methane yield, and kinetics. The improvement of methane content in biogas was monitored at regular fortnightly intervals by conducting gas chromatography (GC) tests. A notable result was addressed in the feed composition70FW30CM (70% FW and 30% CM) mixture yielding the maximum production of biogas at 65% and pure methane at 82.5%, with a substantial increase in methane by 17.52% compared to normal FW. The study used the modified Gompertz models with higher R2 values (0.943–0.996), lower RMSE (0.28–0.38), and minimal prediction errors (<8.00%). Moreover, the economic feasibility of biogas compared to LPG also established its significance from a domestic use perspective.