DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL SCALE BIOGAS DIGESTER AND ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF CHICKEN MANURE ADDITIVE ON THE BIOGAS YIELDP.H. Renuka, B.S. Sridhar and A.R. ShashikalaAbstract Due to the rapid industrialization and urbanization, there is a scarcity of conventional energy resources and a need to look out for alternative energy sources. Biogas is a potential energy source which can be easily produced by using agricultural and domestic house hold wastes like animal wastes and foods wastes. So produced biogas can be used for house hold applications, electricity generation and to run the vehicles. In this research work, an attempt is made to design and develop a fixed dome biogas digester with minimum expenditure to produce biogas from food wastes that is generated at homes and hotels. A fixed dome biogas reactor of 25 liter capacity was designed and fabricated with a gas collecting dome, an inlet and outlet options. Chicken manure was added as an additive to increase the biogas production. The quantity of biogas obtained with and without the additive was compared and tested as fuel for household cooking application. Chemical composition of biogas was determined by using gas chromatography and the same was compared with natural gas composition. It was observed that methane obtained from kitchen wastes in presence of chicken manure was significantly higher than that from kitchen wastes alone. |