Abstract
The ever-increasing organic waste generation in Malaysia is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, organic wastes can be utilized to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion, which is a promising option for both energy and material recovery from organic wastes with high moisture content. Therefore, this study was formulated to investigate the feasibility of anaerobic co-digestion of three types of organic wastes generated in significantly huge quantities in Malaysia, namely palm oil mill effluent (POME), food waste (FW), and sewage sludge (SWS). The biomethane potential (BMP) test was used to evaluate the biomethane potential from these organic wastes under mesophilic conditions to establish a stable and balanced microbial community, which may lack in mono-digestion, to improve biogas production. Comparative performance was made at different food to microorganism (F/M) ratios to investigate methane production in three groups of assays, namely A, B, and C. In groups A and B, the effect of F/M ratio variation on methane production was investigated, while in group C, the effect of varying the co-substrate mixture on methane yield was examined. The findings showed that the highest methane yields achieved for mono-digestion of POME and SWS in group A were 164.44 mL-CH4/g-CODadded and 65.34 mL-CH4/g-CODadded, respectively, at an F/M ratio of 0.8 and 197.90 mL-CH4/g-CODadded for FW in group B at an F/M ratio of 0.5. In addition, the highest methane yield achieved from the anaerobic co-digestion was at 151.47 mL-CH4/g-CODadded from the co-digestion of the POME and SWS (50:50) at an F/M ratio of 1.7 in group A. Both AD and AcoD were tested to fit into two kinetic models: the modified Gompertz and the transfer function models. The results showed that the modified Gompertz model had a better fit and was more adjusted to the experimental results for both AD and AcoD. The importance of this research lies in the economics of anaerobically co-digesting these abundance feedstocks and the variations in their characteristics which were found to increase their methane yield and process efficiency in anaerobic co-digestion.
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Abbreviations
- AcoD:
-
anaerobic co-digestion
- AD:
-
anaerobic digestion
- BOD:
-
biochemical oxygen demand
- BMP:
-
biomethane potential
- C:
-
carbon
- C/N:
-
carbon to nitrogen ratio
- COD:
-
chemical oxygen demand
- EMY:
-
experimental methane yield
- F/M:
-
food to microorganisms ratio
- FW:
-
food waste
- H:
-
hydrogen
- I/S:
-
inoculum to substrate ratio
- MSW:
-
municipal solid waste
- N:
-
nitrogen
- NH3N:
-
ammoniacal nitrogen
- O:
-
oxygen
- OL:
-
organic loading
- POME:
-
palm oil mill effluent
- S-COD:
-
soluble COD
- SD:
-
standard deviation
- SMY:
-
specific methane yield
- SS:
-
suspended solids
- STP:
-
standard temperature and pressure
- SWS:
-
sewage sludge
- T-COD:
-
total COD
- TP:
-
total phosphorous
- TSS:
-
total suspended solids
- TVS:
-
total volatile solids
- VFA:
-
volatile fatty acid
- VS:
-
volatile solids
- VSS:
-
volatile suspended solids
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the solid waste management laboratory under the Pagoh Project: Sub-Critical Water Waste Management Solutions K4S0000.7848.4L170, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Funding
The experimental work and data analysis for this project was financially supported in full by Pagoh Project: Sub-Critical Water Waste Management Solutions K4S0000.7848.4L170, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology.
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MAA conducted the experiments in biomethane potential and conducted data analysis.
MG planned and supervised the study.
NMM participated in data analysis.
SAA participated in sample collection and characterization.
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Al-samet, M.A., Goto, M., Mubarak, N.M. et al. Evaluating the biomethane potential from the anaerobic co-digestion of palm oil mill effluent, food waste, and sewage sludge in Malaysia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 67632–67645 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15287-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15287-2