In the recent decades, population growth has increased energy consumption level. On the other hand, fossil energy sources are very limited and therefore the need to seek renewable energies as alternatives is inevitable. Agricultural and traditional market wastes can be used to produce biogas as renewable energy. The objectives of this study was to investigate the potential of rice straws and green mustard (Brassica Juncea) to produce biogas and the effect of pretreatment on the biogas production. Vegetable waste of green mustard and rice straws were mixed so that the C to N ratio was 20. Inoculums starter taken from bio-digester effluent was put into an erlenmeyer and water was then added to a total volume of 350 ml. Initial mixture pH was measured and nitrogen was fed to the reactor to get anaerobic condition while the erlenmeyer was isolated. Fermentation was conducted at temperature of 35°C. Volume and pH of the resulting biogas were measured everyday, while the methane content was analyzed every seven days. The fermentation process was observed for 49 days. Experimental results showed that the highest result was obtained from rice straw that was pretreated by adding EM-4 with the average biogas yield of 0,030 L/g VS after 21 days. The highest methane content was obtained after 28 days with a purity of 64,78% from the powdered rice straw. The experimental results showed that the rice straw pretreated with EM-4 addition could increase biogas yield by 188,48%.
Copyrights © 2010