Kinetics Of Biogas Potential From Animal And Domestic Waste

This paper focuses on the following options from the view point of the Kyoto protocol energy use from cow and poultry droppings as well as domestic waste. Biogas potential was determined using laboratory-scale digesters operated to study the effect of varied conditions of pH, and temperature. Gas volumetric technique was employed for the kinetic study. Significant influence of pH on the amount of biogas generated from each system was observed. Gas yield from all systems was maximal in the pH range 6 - 8 (neutral/near neutral) and minimal at acidic (pH 5) and alkaline (pH 9) environments. Temperature influenced several output parameters in the biogas production process. Anaerobic digestion reaction was observed to have followed a first order kinetics as closely related values were obtained from the rate constant. The trend of activation energy (Ea) (Cow dung > Poultry > Domestic) corroborates the incubation period observed in cow dung and poultry dropping before gas production. The activation enthalpies vary in the same manner as activation energies; the enthalpies of activation were higher in cow dung and poultry droppings than in domestic waste. The results show that maximum gas production was obtained at a temperature of 50 o C. (Report and Opinion 2010;2(9):17-21). (ISSN: 1553-9873).