Evaluation of batch anaerobic co-digestion of palm pressed fiber and cattle manure under mesophilic conditions

Abstract

Palm pressed fiber (PPF) and cattle manure (CM) are the waste which can be managed properly by anaerobic co-digestion. The biogas production in co-digested PPF and CM at three volatile solids (VS) ratios of 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 was investigated in a series of batch experiments at an organic loading rate of 30.0 g VS/L under mesophilic (37±1°C) conditions. The highest daily biogas yield of PPF and CM only, was 90.0 mL/g VS(added) at day 12 and 23.4 mL/g VS(added) at day 7. For co-digestion of PPF/CM at mixing ratios of 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3, there were 93.6 mL/g VS(added) at day 11, 86.8 and 26.4 mL/g VS(added) at day 8. VS removal rate for PPF, CM, and co-digestion at mixing ratio of 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 were 91.1%, 86.0% and 71.0%, respectively. The anaerobic digestion of PPF and CM and their co-digestion systems were stable in operation with low range of volatile fatty acids (VFA)/TIC (total inorganic carbon) of (0.035-0.091). The main volatile fatty acids were propionic, and iso-butyric acids for PPF, iso-butyric and n-butyric acids for CM. The VFAs and ammonium inhibition were not occurred. The modified Gompertz model can be used to perform a better prediction with a lower difference between the measured and predicted biogas yields. A VS ratio of 3:1 is recommended for practice.

Keywords: Anaerobic co-digestion; Biogas production; Cattle manure; Kinetic model; Palm pressed fiber.