1Department of Basic Sciences, School of General Studies,
2Estate Management, School of Environmental Studies,
3Science Lab. Technology, School of Applied Science and Technology,
4Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Polytechnic, P.M.B 13, Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria
5Department of Geography, Environmental and Life Sciences Program Trent University, 444 Dublin Street, Peterborough, Ontario-K9H 3C9, Canada
*Corresponding author email id: davidmide@yahoo.co.uk
Nigeria, the most populous black nation, is confronted with the problem of waste management. Most of the widely used methods of waste management are proving ineffective and there is a need for more scientific and environmentally friendly technologies to meet the challenge headlong. Anaerobic digestion offers such a viable alternative. Batch anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste at different pH values and loading rates was carried out to evaluate the potentials of the process as a means for waste management. A set of nine digesters in a batch mode was used and labelled (A1-A3; B1-B3; and C1-C3). The results showed that digester B2, with loading rate of 400 g/l run at pH 6.5, gave the highest yield of biogas. The yield was 72.62% higher than A1 (200 g/l at pH 5.5) and 11.54% higher than C1 and C3. Furthermore, kinetic study showed that digester B2 had the highest biodegradability, with biogas production rate constant of 0.122/day. Conclusively, anaerobic digestion can be an effective option in treating kitchen waste and generating bioenergy.
Kitchen waste, Sustainable management, Anaerobic digestion, pH, Loading rate
