Enhancement of Methane Production from Banana Harvesting Residues: Optimization of Thermal–Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide Pretreatment Process by Experimental Design

Increase of population has a significant effect on energy demand which results in depletion of fossil fuels, and this causes a search for alternative renewable energy sources. One of these alternatives is production of bioenergy and biofuel from renewable and non-food feedstocks such as lignocellulosic biomass and biowaste. However, lignocellulosic biomass needs pretreatment because of its complex structure. Effectiveness of thermal–alkaline H2O2 pretreatment process and determination of its optimum conditions using central composite design of RSM were evaluated for the enhancement of methane production from banana harvesting residues. Optimum process conditions for cost driven approach was determined as 50 °C reaction temperature, 2.73% H2O2 concentration and 6 h reaction time. As a result of pretreatment at optimum conditions, 40% increase on biochemical methane potential was obtained with 290 mLCH4/gVS methane production. SEM and FTIR results revealed surface disruption and lignin removal impacts of pretreatment, respectively. Thermal–alkaline H2O2 pretreatment was determined as an effective pretreatment process for banana harvesting residues.