Abstract
The main focus of this study was mesophilic
anaerobic co-digestion of cow dung, chicken droppings and
grass clippings using pilot bio-digesters. The biochemical
methane potential (BMP) works under batch anaerobic
digester operating in ambient mesophilic temperature of 35
oC and 37 0C and pH of 7 to generate biogas. The
carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio for cow dung and chicken
droppings was found to be 17.70 and 63.67 respectively and
grass clippings to be 20.54. Through co-digestion in a ratio of
1:1, the C/N ratio for cow dung and grass clippings settled at
19.19 while that for chicken droppings and grass clippings
settled at 20.49. The conversion rate of the reaction and
biogas production increased with the increase in temperature
and hydraulic retention time until an equilibrium state was
achieved. At the temperature 37 OC, it was observed to be the
suitable mesophilic temperature for anaerobic digestion due
to high dissociation and collision leading to high rate of biogas
production.