The effect of loading rate to biogas production rate of the 500 liter anaerobic digester operated with continuous system

Abstract

Conventional anaerobic digester such as fixed dome and floating drum are found having drawback in application in developing country. It was difficult in maintenance and operation. It was also difficult to relocate to the new site of waste processing. The portable anaerobic digester is prepared in this work as a solution. The capacity is about 500 liter so that suitable for home scale organic waste treatment. The material that is used for the digester was 304 stainless steel. The digester is completed wit agitator to optimize the biogas production. A slurry of cow dung (50% cow dung+ 50% water) is use to feed the digester. There are 2 variations of slurry loading rate that were investigated in this work, namely 5 liter slurry/day and 10 liter slurry/day. The biogas production rate is found about 51.7 liter biogas/day if loading with 5 liter slurry/ day. The biogas production rate is found increase significantly to become 82 liter biogas/day if loading with 10 liter slurry/day. The quality of biogas is found better with loading rate 5 liter slurry/day which has average CH4 content about 58.75% vol. comparing the one with loading rate 10liter slurry/day that have average CH4 content about 56.40% vol.