Effect of pretreatment on Typha biomass for biogas production

Abstract

Plant biomass as an alternative energy source serves as a viable option for improving sustainable development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the tight bonding within its constituents may hinder anaerobic digestion, thus, requires pretreatment to break down the complex polysaccharide structure into simpler disaccharide and monosaccharide sugars to facilitate digestion and enhance the production of biogas. The research determined the effect physical and chemical pre-treatment methods of Typha biomass for biogas production. Characteristics determined include; carbonnitrogen (C-N) ratio for Typha biomass, temperature, pH, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) of slurry formed by mixing the biomass with cow-dung in ratio 1:1. The volume of biogas produced was determined by water displacement method using an anaerobic digester while the mass balance approach was used to estimate the biogas yield from the TS/VS lost. Results indicated 31.6 C-N ratio; pH of 6.7; Temperature of 32.4^OC and TS of 11.3%, which falls within suitable ranges reported for biogas production. The volume of biogas produced was 180 cm³, 235cm³ and 118cm³ for control, physical and chemical pre-treated samples respectively. Similarly, the biogas yield was 21mg/l, 15mg/l and 48mg/l for control, physical and chemical pre-treatment respectively. Hence the findings revealed physical pre-treatment as the best pretreatment method for biogas generation from Typha biomass in relation to chemical pretreatment and untreated Typha biomass.