Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Cow Manure and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME): Assessment of Methane Production and Biodegradation Efficiency

Abstract

The performance of anaerobic co-digestion of cow manure and POME was evaluated. The anaerobic composting process was carried out by using semi-continuous reactors under the mesophilic condition (35 ± 1℃). The addition of POME to the on-going anaerobic composting of cow manure was applied stepwise within a cycle of HRT (20 days). Results showed that the anaerobic co-digestion reactor could produce methane at about six times higher (7.2 L CH4) than the control reactor (1.3 L CH4). An increasing of POME loaded to the on-going anaerobic composting cow manure culture (4% to 64%) did not affect pH of the culture in which pH was still stable between 7.11 and 7.5. Assessment of biodegradation efficiency revealed that nitrogen removal of the anaerobic co-digestion reactor was six times higher (21%) than the nitrogen removal of the control reactor (3.4%). This suggested that the anaerobic co-digestion reactor performed sufficiently well in which no organic acid as well as ammonia accumulated in the reactor that could be effective to decompose the organic matters.

Effects of the Different Loading Characters of Cattle Manure as Inoculum Towards the Composting Process of Coconut Pulp Waste

“…Besides, study found that fungal decomposers preferred pH ranging from 5.5 to 8.0 [36]. The acidic conditions would be best favorable for the growth of fungi, and also may help degrade lignin and cellulose during the decomposition process [37][38][39].…”

Anaerobic co-digestion of pressmud with vegetable waste in batch reactor for enhanced biogas production

“…Anaerobic digestion has been employed for centuries to convert organic materials into biogas, a renewable energy source primarily composed of methane and carbon dioxide [8], [9]. Traditionally, anaerobic digestion systems have focused on treating specific types of organic waste, such as sewage sludge or agricultural residues [10].…”