PRODUCTION OF BIOENERGY FROM COMPOSITE WASTE MATERIALS MADE OF CORN WASTE, SPENT TEA WASTE, AND KITCHEN WASTE CO-MIXED WITH COW DUNG

This paper presents a comparative study of biogas production from agriculture waste, cow dung, and kitchen waste, which was conducted under the batch anaerobic digestion of substrates from different feed material. Corn waste, kitchen waste, and spent tea waste mixed with cow dung were carried in closed apparatus for 30 days hydraulic retention time (HRT). Under mesophilic digestion condition, effects of different solid concentration of feed on characteristics of biogas production were investigated. A simple method to fit constants of model using linear regression is presented and these constants are used to determine and compare kinetic rates of biogas production of each mixture. Results show that biogas yield from cow dung is highest. The mixture of spent tea waste and cow dung produces lowest gas. It is interesting to note that cow dung and kitchen waste composite gives a maximum biogas production of 14.819 l/kg of waste at 1:1 ratio. It has been recommended that all waste materials generated in kitchen, including tea waste and corn waste, may be combined with cow dung for continuous generation of biogas.