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1. International Journal of Excellence Innovation and Development
||Volume 1, Issue 1, Nov. 2018||Page No. 032-034||
www.ijeid.com {IJEID © 2018} All Rights Reserved Page | 32
Generation of Biogas from Kitchen Waste and
Cow Dung An Experimental Analysis
Ravindra Bhardwaj1
, A.K. Saxena2
, G.S. Sailesh Babu3
1
Research Scholar, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed
University), Dayalbagh, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
2
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University),
Dayalbagh, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
3
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed
University), Dayalbagh, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract—The demand for electricity is increasing
continuously and exponentially and the conventional
fuels are depleting rapidly and renewable energy
technologies are being seen as better alternatives.
Popular among these technologies include solar
photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind energy and biogas
based technologies. These sources can be used for power
generation and/or direct or indirect cooking. The use of
Biogas for power generation, cooking and its by-product
(slurry) as manure for agriculture makes it distinct from
other renewable energy technologies. Biogas production
requires anaerobic digestion, which is a microbial
process for production of biogas, with methane (CH4)
and carbon dioxide (CO2) being primary constituents.
The quality and quantity of produce of a Biogas plant is
dependent on numerous parameters. The main objective
of this paper is to study the effect of such parameters viz.
temperature, PH value, Total Solid Concentration (TSC),
Alkalinity, etc. on the Biogas Generation from organic
matter as kitchen waste and cow Dung. This work also
presents the experimental results obtained on a
completely recycled anaerobic reactor made from
cylindrical column of borosilicate glass with total
volume of 5L.
Keywords—Biogas, anaerobic digestion, kitchen waste,
cow dung
INTRODUCTION
The demand for electricity is increasing continuously
and exponentially and the conventional fuels are
depleting rapidly resulting in increased interest in
nonconventional and renewable energy sources and
pertinent technologies. Popular renewable energy
technologies include solar photovoltaic, solar thermal,
wind energy and biogas based technologies. All these
sources of energy can be used for power generation and
direct or indirect cooking. Whereas, solar and wind
based technologies are climate dependent, biogas based
technologies do not suffer from the same. Ability of
Biogas technologies to generate electric power, cooking
gas and manure for agriculture makes it more attractive.
Biogas operations have numerous advantages which
include, production of clean heat and electricity,
reducing the impact of organic wastes on the
environment (i.e. reduced greenhouse gases and lower
impact on water sources etc.) and enhancing the value of
residual products [1]. To prevent emissions of
greenhouse gases and leaching of nutrients and organic
matter that would cause a threat to the environment, it is
necessary to close the loops from production to
utilization by optimal recycling measures [2,3].In many
countries, sustainable waste management, as well as
waste prevention and reduction, have become major
political priorities, representing an important share of the
common efforts to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions and to mitigate global climate change[4,5].
Decreasing environment pollution (methane) spread by
wastes, avoiding ground water pollution, decreasing
greenhouse gas emissions in atmosphere because of
reduced usage of fossil fuels, reducing amount of fossil
fuels consumption etc., [6] gained extreme importance in
recent times and effectiveness of Biogas plants in these
areas have resulted in increasing research interest.
In the literature, a large number of publications on the
generation of electricity and heat from variety of bio-
mass which are organic matter available in abundance in
the nature (Food waste, Sewage water, Kitchen waste,
Cow dung and Bio-waste based cell etc.) are reported. A
pilot plant was developed to study the generation of
biogas from domestic sewage and kitchen waste[7]. In
[8], investigation of possibility of laboratory-scale for
biogas production from cow dung under four different
treatments was carried out. In this effort, slurry (3 g
dung: 10 cm3 water) in the digesters was subjected to
anaerobic digestion over a four-week retention period,
with weekly measurements of gas yields. The results
presented substantiates that cow dung could be used as a
suitable substrate for biogas production. In [9], a study
was conducted to explore kitchen waste as viable input
for production of methane gas and to estimate the
relation in number of feedstock and quantity of biogas
produced. The efforts listed in literature are indicative of
the emphasis given to the study on generation Biogas &
Electricity using cow dung & Kitchen waste by research
community and encourages this effort.
METHODOLOGY
Generation of biogas done through anaerobic digestion,
and happens in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic
digestion has three important biological processes viz. (i)
Hydrolysis (ii) Acidification (iii) Methanogenesis.

2. Generation of biogas from kitchen waste and cow dung an experimental analysis Bhardwaj et al.
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The rate of biogas generation depends on nature of the
substrate, temperature, pH, loading rate, toxicity,
stirring, nutrients, slurry concentration, digester
construction and size, carbon to nitrogen ratio, retention
time, alkalinity, initial feeding, total volatile acids,
chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solid (Ts),
volatile liquids etc.
Materials and Methods
Cow dung was collected from Radhasoami Satsang
Sabha(RSS) Gaushala, Dayalbagh, Agra. Food waste
was collected from Boy Hostels of Dayalbagh
Educational Institute, Agra and Dayal Bhandar,
community kitchen of Dayalbagh, Agra. This waste
includes vegetables, rice and other similar edibles.
Sample Collection
Samples for treatment of cow dung & food waste items
collected are categorized as vegetables, fruits, rice, other
food items and waste water. A semi solid mixture of
these was prepared.
Feed Stocks and its Characterization
The study was conducted on a mixture of kitchen waste
(KW), cow dung, and leftovers collected from
households.
The inputs were ground using a kitchen grinder to reduce
its particle size to 0.2-1mm. The slurry so prepared, with
cow dung concentration was 50% made after diluting
with tap water and later fed to the reactor.
Reactor Set-Up
A completely recycled anaerobic reactor made from
cylindrical column of borosilicate glass with total
volume of 5L was used in the study. Reactor system for
AD of FW & Cow Dung with arrangement for feed,
recirculation and biogas measurement is made by using
5L liter container (used for drinking water storage). The
cow dung slurry and the FW slurry were mixed in equal
proportions and the mix was poured in the reactor. The
material used was (i)Solid tape, (ii)M – seal, (iii) PVC
pipe 0.5’’ (length ~ 1 m) (iv)Rubber or plastic cape (to
seal container), (v)Funnel (for feed input) (vi) Cape 0.5”
(to seal effluent pipe), (vii)Pipe (for gas output, I was
used level pipe) (3-5 m) (viii) Bucket (15-20 litter) and
Bottle – for gas collection (2-10 lit).
Anaerobic Digestion Tests
Daily biogas production from digester was measured
using biogas flow meter. Chemical analysis of COD,
TSS, VSS and pH values was performed at the
beginning, during the test and at the end of each
biodegradability test.
RESULTS
It was observed that set2, which contain kitchen waste,
produces 150.69% of the gas produced by set 1, which
contains only cow dung. It is evident that kitchen waste
produces more gas than cow dung as kitchen waste
contains more nutrients than dung. Hence, use of kitchen
waste proves to be more efficient method of biogas
production.
It is evident from the graph in figure 1 that gas
production increases in the beginning for 3 days and then
starts decreasing as acid concentration increases in the
bottles. pH decreases below 7 after 3-4 days and water
was added to dilute the slurry and subsequently increase
pH. This is visible from increased gas production on the
5th
day. This indicates that acid concentration adversely
affects biogas production.
From results it is evident that pH reduces as the process
continues and this is due to increased production fatty
acids by bacteria. The methanogens bacteria which
utilize the fatty acids, is slow reacting as compare to
other and thus is considered rate limiting step in
reaction. In set2 which contains kitchen waste, pH
decreases rapidly indicating fast reaction. Hydrolysis and
acid genesis reaction is fast as organism utilizes the
waste more speedily than dung. And hence, total solid
decreases more in set2.
Table 1: Typical cow dung and kitchen waste
composition.
Parameters Cow Dung Kitchen Waste
Moisture content (% ) 84.34 72
TS (g/L) 12.48 89
VTS (g/L) 78 87
pH 7.2 7.1
COD 24 24
Temperature o
C 30 30
Table 2: Biogas production in ml.
SET No/Day 1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
SET 1 20 30 25 15 12
SET 2 40 65 70 55 20
Fig. 1: Gas production v/s day for three sets.
Table 3: pH and total solid concentration of setup.
Day Set 1 Set 2
pH TS% pH TS%
1 7.25 8 7.2 6
3 6.7 7.6 5.9 5.4
5 6.85 7.0 6.1 5.1

3. International Journal of Excellence Innovation and Development
||Volume 1, Issue 1, Nov. 2018||Page No. 032-034||
www.ijeid.com {IJEID © 2018} All Rights Reserved Page | 34
Fig. 2: pH v/s day.
This graph shows that initially pH is on the higher side,
then, as reaction inside the bottles progresses, it stars
decreasing and after day 2 it becomes acidic. Then water
added to dilute and thus increase pH.
CONCLUSION
The paper presents a study of effect of various
parameters on generation of bio gas for two different
inputs, Kitchen Waste and Cow dung. It was found that
the kitchen waste is better alternative as it produces more
gas and produces useful bi product that has better
anaerobic biodegradability. This results into better waste
resource utilization.
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