Influence of the C/N ratio and hydraulic retention time on biogas yield during anaerobic co-digestion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51252/reacae.v5i2.1557Keywords:
renewable energy utilization, organic waste management, process optimization, methane production, rural bioenergy systemsAbstract
Anaerobic digestion represents a sustainable alternative for organic waste treatment and renewable energy production in the form of biogas. This study evaluated the influence of the carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on biogas yield obtained through anaerobic co-digestion of pig slurry and vegetable organic waste. The experiment was conducted using a 3 × 3 factorial design with three replicates per treatment, considering three C/N ratios (20.5, 21.0, and 22.0) and three hydraulic retention times (30, 40, and 50 days). The results showed that both the C/N ratio and HRT significantly affected biogas production (p < 0.05), achieving a maximum yield of 397.6 mL under conditions of C/N ratio of 22.0 and HRT of 30 days. It is concluded that the combined optimization of these parameters improves process efficiency and provides technical criteria for the design and operation of anaerobic digestion systems aimed at energy recovery from organic waste in rural contexts.
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