PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS FROM Desmodium triflorum (L.) THROUGH ANAEROBIC CO-DIGESTION WITH COW DUNG

Abstract:

Biogas is a methane rich gas produced by anaerobic breakdown of organic wastes with the help of methanogenic Archaebacteria under oxygen free environment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of Desmodium triflorum (DT) to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion alone or in combination with cow dung (CD). In this study, biogas production from co-digestion of the Desmodium triflorum with cow dung in five mix ratios was evaluated under mesophilic conditions (38ºC) using batch digesters for 30 days of fermentation. In all treatments, physico-chemical parameters such as total solids, volatile solids, organic carbon, nitrogen, C: N ratio and pH values were determined before and after anaerobic digestion. All measured physico-chemical parameters of each substrate significantly varied between before and after AD (p