Generating Renewable Energy from Food Waste, Kitchen Waste and Poultry Waste (Biogas to Methane)

Abstract

The current study aims to design and manufacture a simple biogas unit suitable for the small-scale holder in the remote areas of AMARAKU, IMO STATE NIGERIA, to produce biogas from leftover food and poultry waste; the hydraulic model of the biogas system was selected as a simple model for biogas digester. The biogas unit was fabricated from simple material with a total capacity of 1m³. The results showed that the ambient temperature was ranged from 29^oC to 37^oC, the digester temperature ranged from 30^oC to 35^oC, pH ranged from 7 to 7.3 and C: N ratio was ranged from 15~28:1, that indicates to these conditions were suitable for completing the fermentation process and biogas production. The total solid concentration (TSC) and fermentation time have an effect on biogas yield and CH₄ content, where the biogas yield was increased with the increase of TSC. The highest biogas yield was obtained under TSC 14% in week number 11th, and the biogas yield had a limited increase under the same TSC and different fermentation times. The fabricated unit succeeded in producing economic biogas with CH₄ content 58% and 62% from leftover food and poultry waste mixed with poultry manures, respectively. The highest weekly biogas yield was 2.75 m³ under TSC 14% with an average of 0.4 m³per days, it could be covering the biogas needs for 2 people. Thus, this unit could be recommended for farmers' families in remote areas as a simple biogas technology to produce biogas from their poultry wastes.