Bioconversion of Vegetable and Agricultural Waste in Biogas using Cow Dung as Co-substrate

A 21 days batch experiment was conducted for production of biogas using cow dung alone (T1) and with vegetable waste (T2) and agricultural waste (T3) at mesophilic conditions. At every 3 days interval, total gas, methane and substrate degraded were measured. The partitioning of carbon to total gases is measured in terms of gas produced per unit of substrate loss. The total gas production reached its maxima at day 3 with 30ml in T2 giving a cumulative biogas production of 91 ml at the end of the 21 day of the experiment followed by T1 (69ml) and T2 (61ml). The maximum methane production per unit of total gas (0.60) as well as per unit substrate degraded (0.32) was also observed for T2. From the results it is concluded that the wastes can be managed through conversion into biogas, which is a source of income generation for the society.