Study of Biogas Production from Food Waste Using Anaerobic Digestion

The primary goal of this research is to look at the feasibility of food waste biomass (fruits and vegetables) to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion. This study demonstrated the possibility of utilizing sludge and cow manure in energy production rather than being a source of pollution and treating it in natural ways. This study compares inoculums (tap water, 1:1 cows’ manure, tap water slurry, and sewage sludge) for the best methane yield with weight ratios 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1 food waste: inoculum. Temperature varied from room temperature to 55⸰C to determine the best operating conditions for methane production. The volatility of fatty acids (VFAs) and pH were measured during the experimental work. The results concluded that the cows’ manure slurry and the sludge were more effective in increasing the pH than tap water, which ranged from 6.15 to 6.47 and from 5.53 to 6.47 for cow manure and sludge respectively. At the same time, Tap water neither increase the pH more than 5.7 nor produce any gas. The highest amount of methane (4.44%) was obtained by mixing food waste and cow manure slurry at a ratio of 1:1 and maintaining a temperature of 42⸰C. To further increase the methane concentration, improving the operating conditions such as using a semi-batch reactor and controlling the pH and other parameters is necessary.