Title: Anaerobic digestion of vegetable market waste in India

Authors: Sunil Kumar, Somnath Mukherjee, Sukumar Devotta

Addresses: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Kolkata Zonal Laboratory, I-8, Sector ''C'', East Kolkata, E M Bypass, Kolkata 700 107, India. ' Department of Civil Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India. ' CSIR, NEERI, Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440 020, India

Abstract: A batch digestion study of mixed vegetable market waste was carried out at 5% Total Solid (TS) concentration in a laboratory-scale digester of 10-l capacity. After 41 days, 0.15 m³ of biogas per kg of TS was observed with a maximum gas production rate of 650 ml/h on day 25. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction of vegetable waste slurry was found to be approximately 65%. Degradation of waste was also studied in a solid bed reactor of 100 l capacity at regular intervals. The COD of leachate obtained from solid bed digester ranged between 1500 mg/l and 25,000 mg/l.

Keywords: vegetable waste; solid bed digesters; leachate; COD; chemical oxygen demand; total solid; biogas; India; batch digestion; waste slurry; waste degradation; solid waste management.

DOI: 10.1504/WRSTSD.2010.032525

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 2010 Vol.7 No.3, pp.217 - 224

Published online: 05 Apr 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article