The Effects of Lignocellulose Reduction Using Steam Explosion Pretreatment Method for Biogas Production

Abstract

The production of biogas, an alternative source of energy, from Groundnut Shell (GS) and Cow Dung (CD) was investigated in the laboratory scale using the simple locally fabricated digesters labeled A-E of 4,000cm3 working volume. The digesters were fed on a batch basis with the slurry of different mix ratio and operated at ambient temperature (28-40°C) for 30days. The result of chemical analyses shows that Steam Explosion (SE) reduces the total solid of GS from 87.90% to 79.42% while the volatile solid was increased from75.11% to 86.32% as a result of SE pre-treatment. Though the nitrogen content of GS increases after SE, the carbon content remains barely constant even after SE. The co-digestion of 25%CD-75%GS, 50%CD-50%GS, and 75%CD-25%GS have their highest gas production around sixteen and twenty-first day of retention period respectively while their least were recorded toward the end of the retention period. Also, digester A and E containing 100% each of CD and GS being the control for the pre-treated have their highest biogas production around eighteen and twenty first day of retention period respectively and the least are also seen toward the end of the digestion.