Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste, algae, and cow dung for biogas yield enhancement as a prospective approach for environmental sustainability

Abstract

The enduring economic and environmental concerns have prompted extensive research in bioenergy in recent decades. Biogas is an effective carbon-free, sustainable energy source generated by the anaerobic digestion of biological wastes. Biogas production is promoted globally to decrease carbon emissions and maximize resource recycling from various wastes. The extant work examines biogas production in an anaerobic digester using co-digestion, which uses food wastes, algae, chicken, and fish mixed with cow manure. A physicochemical pre-treatment is used to change the lignocellulosic structure of the mixture of the wastes prior to the anaerobic co-digestion.

The response surface technique is used to optimize the co-digestion factors, like pH, F/I ratio, organic loading rate, temperature, and concentration of the wastes. The optimal values of cumulative CO2, methane, and biogas have been obtained as 30.18 ml, 1345.97 ml, and 2244.58 ml, respectively.