Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Shradha Shetty, John Abraham, Balusami C, Sabin George and Renuka Nayar

Abstract:
A newly designed Two Stage Restricted Flow Anaerobic Baffled Digesters (TS-ABD) was compared with that of a Single Stage Non-baffled Digesters (SSD) of similar capacity by co-digesting kitchen waste and cow dung for a period of one year. The pH of methanogenic chamber of TS-ABD was maintained at 8.5 with the addition of sodium bicarbonate. The average biogas production and volatile solid (VS) removal was 15% and 22.5% higher in TS-ABD than the SSD. Digester heating by circulating hot water produced by solar water heater through water jacket improved the biogas production by 70.92% and 67.11% more than that obtained during winter and by 30.68% and 32.88% than that obtained during summer from SSD and TS-ABD, respectively. The Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) could be reduced to 23.5 days and Organic Loading Rate (OLR) increased to 20 kg VS d^-1m^-3 in the TS-ABD. The methane concentration of biogas was 11% more in TS-ABD than that obtained from SSD.