Assessment of biogas production and fertilizer properties of digestate from cow dung using household biogas digester

Morocco is located in the northwestern part of Africa and is one of the Mediterranean countries threatened by the increasing generation of organic waste. Without any treatment or management strategy, these wastes are dumped illegally in large quantities and can affect natural resources. Recently, the anaerobic digestion method seems to be one of the best processes available to treat organic wastes. In the present study, the 15-m(3) Puxin digester was used to produce biogas and digestate from cow dung. A total amount of 3500 kg of cattle dung was treated, generating a specific biogas production of 0.163 m(3) kg(-1) volatile solid. Furthermore, the application of the digestate diluted to 50% as biofertilizer for maize crop showed higher yield (P < 0.05) compared to the NPK fertilizer (45 quintals per ha and 33 quintals per ha respectively, i.e., + 36%) and the control (+ 80%). These valuable results can promote the development of biogas technology in Morocco as well as in similar countries.