S.E. Banarase and N.V. Phirke
Abstract
Biogas is new able, eco-friendly, economical and feasible energy source for meeting daily need through cooking and kitchen use. Rise in crude oil prices and population created extreme pressure on fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources of energy which is deteriorating steps towards achieving sustainable lifestyle. Already the research is going on to use biogas as vehicle fuel, but its low yield and impurities being hindrance, the main aim of this study was to enhance biogas at laboratory scale and objectives were to co-digest vegetables and fruits with cow dung and applying various techniques such as providing nutrient supplements mostly metal ion, metal nanoparticle and urea. Waste was co-digested for hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 7 days. Optimum enhancements were observed when substrate co-digested with cow dung and urea (30.8 ml) than metal ion (21.1 ml) and with only cow dung (13 ml) considering all the vegetables and fruits used such as spinach, cabbage, fenugreek, tomato, banana and orange peels. By using nanoparticles co-digested with mixed vegetables, (44 ml) highest biogas production was observed.