Methane Production from the Co-digestion of Cattle Manure and Agricultural Residues

Abstract

Large amounts of organic wastes generated in agricultural environments such as crop residues and livestock manure adversely affect the environment. Anaerobic digestion can reduce the amount of organic wastes and convert them into energy at the same time. Efforts are being made to further increase the energy conversion efficiency by using co-anaerobic digestion using two or more substrates. Tomatoes, rice straw, cattle manure, and cattle feces (CF) were used as substrates for anaerobic digestion. Each substrate was subjected to anaerobic digestion and the cumulative biochemical methane production potential was measured, and the biodegradability was calculated. Based on the methane production, CF and tomato were further used for co-anaerobic digestion at different mixing ratios. Among the CF:tomato ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1, 1:2 produced the most methane and the synergy index was greater 1 indicating that the co-digestion of CF and tomato improved the methane production. Overall, the results showed that the methane production from cattle manure can be improved using tomato residues.