Biogas Production from Solid State Anaerobic Digestion for Municipal Solid Waste

Abstract

Municipal solid wastes (MSW) were used as feedstock to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion. Experiments were carried out in batch stirred reactors using different amounts of inoculum under mesophilic conditions (37 °C). The effect of the inoculum amount on the biogas cumulative volume and composition was investigated. The profiles of pH, volatile acids were also taken into account to explain the effect of the inoculum amount, to find the optimal conditions for the reactor. Higher amounts of inoculum resulted in higher concentrations of VFA, causing a reduction of the biogas yield. The maximum specific biogas production was obtained using the minimum amount of inoculums. The experimental results gave indications about the measures to be adopted to optimize the anaerobic digestion of the MSW.