Potential of Biogas Production Using Co-Digestion Method Between Food Waste (FW) and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (Pome)

• Main Author: Previndas Nair a/l Mohanadhasan
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Anaerobic Digestion; Food Waste; Pome

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the process by which organic materials are broken down by micro-organisms, in the absence of oxygen. This process consists of four stages which are Hydrolysis, Acedogenesis, Acetogenesis and Methanogensis. This technology is a widely used technique to recover resources such as energy and nutrient. Additionally, it can help in reducing waste volume as well as greenhouse gases. To improve the production of anaerobic digestion products, co-digestion of different substrates is being introduced. In line with the effort to curb and reduce the environmental issues, the objectives of this research are to determine the amount of food waste (FW) being generated in Malaysia and identify the current FW disposal method that is being applied, to identify the physical and chemical properties of FW and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), and to identify the biogas potential using co-digestion method between food waste FW and POME at different ratios. In this research, the co-digestion of food waste and POME will be used. The experiment will be conducted using batch-based AD digester system with different ratios of FW and POME. The digester will be filled with different ratios of FW to POME by volume which consist of D1 (100% FW), D2 (100% POME), D3 (80% FW, 20% POME), D4 (60% FW, 40% POME) and D5 (50% FW, 50% POME) The amount of biogas collected will be observed and analyzed every day to identify which ratio of FW to POME produces the highest amount of biogas.