Agricultural By-Product: A Source for the Production of Biogas

Abstract

Agricultural by-products, rice husk and maize bran were used anaerobically in this study to produce biogas. The suitability of these substrates as source of biogas and comparative study of the two substrates were investigated. Various analyses were carried out to determine the ash content, moisture content, volatile solids and fixed carbon content present in each substrate. The biogas produced was analyzed using a gas chromatograph and was found to contain oxygen, nitrogen and methane in various proportions. From the results of the analyses, rice husk produced a larger volume of gas than the maize bean, though the maize bran's gas has a higher content of methane than that of rice husk (about 60.90%). The experiment was carried out under mesophilic temperature range and a pH of 6.2 - 7,6.