Design and development of food waste to biogas converter system

Abstract

The valorisation of food waste via anaerobic digestion has shown to be a promising option for tackling waste accumulation and achieve energy security. In this study, a lab scale and a pilot scale anaerobic digester, with food waste as the feedstock and palm oil mill effluent (POME) as the microbial inoculant, were evaluated for their biogas production. For the lab scale study, the effect of different food waste to POME ratio, ranging from 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1, on the biogas production were investigated for a period of 7 d. From the experimental work, the ratio of food waste to POME at 2:1 gave the highest biogas yield of 0.14 L. For the pilot scale study, a digester was designed based on a daily electricity demand of 9.5 kW of an eco-park. With the use of the Pro Engineer Software, it is estimated that a digester with a volume of 4.27 m3, handling capacity of 200 L of food waste daily, and a hydraulic retention time of 15 d, can generate sufficient biogas to meet the electricity demand for the eco-park.