Effect of anaerobic co-digestion of waste chicken feather with banana stem juice for production of biogas

Growing demand for alternative sources of energy that are renewable has emerged from the extensive use of fossilized resources of energy and associated problems related to their disproportionate consumption. A key strategy for achieving the world's renewable energy goals is the utilization of waste materials which are biodegradable for the generation of biogas. The primary objective of the present research investigation aimed to determine how adding different amounts of banana stem juice (BSJ) influence the yield kinetics and the generation of biogas during the anaerobic decomposition of chicken feather (CF). The aforementioned investigation used five distinct batch digestion units (designated A-E). Digester A had only CF, while the digester E contained only BSJ. The remaining digesters comprised different mass fractions of CF and BSJ (i.e., 75% CF:25% BSJ, 50% CF:50% BSJ, and 25% CF:75% BSJ). The cumulative biogas generated from the digesters with the corresponding mixtures 100% CF:0% BSJ, 75% CF:25% BSJ, 50% CF:50% BSJ, 25% CF:75% BSJ, and 0% CF:100% BSJ are 224, 560, 572, 622, and 152 ml/20 g of feeding substrates, respectively. The modified Gompertz model revealed that the anaerobic co-digestion of waste CF with BSJ improved the amount of biogas produced (A), the optimal specific production of biogas (mu(m)), and the latency (lambda) compared to untreated CF by 161.01%, 147.30%, and 2.53%, respectively. The experimental studies confirmed that co-digesting BSJ and CF during the biogas generation process led to a considerable reduction in COD (chemical oxygen demand) and an increase in biogas yield.