Cassava plants are grown in abundance in many parts of Tamil Nadu and it is industrially processed into several by-products. A cassava based industry generates about 30,000–40,000 L of effluent from per ton of sago production with COD of 5,000– 7,000 mg L”1. Treating the waste water through anaerobic digestion not only serves as a potential option to solve the energy crisis but also solves pollution problems. About 100 sago industries were surveyed belonging to different sago associations like Salem, Attur, Namakkal, Rasipuram and other parts of Tamil Nadu. The total quantity of biogas that can be generated from the liquid effluent released by the 100 cassava processing industries is 12,627 m3/day. The biogas generated from cassava industries contains 50 – 55% of methane, 40 – 45% CO2 and traces H2S. Presence of CO2 and H2S poses a major problem because (i) it reduces calorific value (ii) they can be detrimental to the thermal conversion device (e.g., corrosion, erosion, fouling) and (iii) they generate harmful environmental emissions. It is therefore important to include the biogas puriûcation steps upstream of its end use. Various technologies have been developed for biogas purification, in that high pressure water scrubbing is a technique seems to be attractive option for sago and starch industries.
Sago, Upgradation of biogas, Methane, CO2 absorptionw
