Biomethane Potential of Agricultural Biomass with Industrial Wastewater for Biogas Production

Abstract

The aim of this present study is to determine the biogas potential of sugarcane bagasse and corn silage. Sugarcane bagasse (SB) and corn silage (CS) are feedstocks that could be used to produce renewable sources of energy such as biogas, serving as an alternative energy source. There have been several drawbacks in the past decades on anaerobic monodigestion such as reactor failure and process instability. Also, there has not been any studies on the use of industrial wastewater with SB or CS for biogas production, hence, providing the novelty in this study. A working pH range of 6.0 to 8.5 was observed in this study without the addition of a buffering medium. A feedstock loading of 1.5 gVS/100 mL solution was used with SB or CS controlled over a digestion period of 35 days for both 35 °C and 25 °C. The proximate and the ultimate analysis were carried out by the gravimetric method and the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with the energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analyzer, respectively. The thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to evaluate the changes in masses (gain or loss) for both CS and SB over a temperature range as a function of time. A higher biogas yield of 1.2 L/d was observed at 35 °C by the anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of CS with industrial wastewater with a methane yield of 79 % at a working temperature of 35 °C. The result of the study showed that the AcoD of CS or SB is promising and could contribute significantly on the yield of biogas production.