Energy Recovery Analysis through Adding Solid Food Waste Pulverizer for the Existing Biogas Plant

In this research work, a biogas plant which is producing biogas from the human waste and been implemented in the backyard of a college hostel is being considered for the objective implementation. The main objective of the project work is to enhance the production of biogas by digesting the food waste too from the hostel mess. Thick or solid food waste are not too easy for the microorganisms to digest as easily, while the carbohydrates and the lipids of the food waste are easily degradable, the proteins are protected from the enzymatic hydrolysis by the cell wall. In order to break the cell wall pre-treatment to be done, a mechanical pretreatment is going to be followed in this research work. The mechanical pre-treatment is being successfully achieved by a pulverizer unit which is designed and fabricated for this work. This unit grinds the solid particles thus increasing the surface area. An increased surface area provides better contact between particles and bacteria, thus enhancing digestion process. From this arrangement, we can obtain more yield of biogas which will be utilized for the process of cooking and thus reducing the dependency on fossil fuel. A detailed investigation report on the influence of this pre-treatment process on biogas is also reported in this paper.