Anaerobic co-digestion of tannery solid waste: Optimum leather fleshing waste loading

In this study, loading of optimum leather fleshings was investigated with four identical batch reactors with different fleshings and treatment sludge ratios (0:1, 0.25:1, 0.35:1, 0.50:1) to contribute to the state of art of the biogas production from tannery solid wastes. Results showed that lipids-containing leather fleshings boosted the methane production potential. However, H2S inhibition and volatile fatty acids accumulation were the main concern in the anaerobic digestion of these wastes. The modified Gompertz model was applied to the batch tests data to determine the kinetic constants of anaerobic digestion of tannery solid wastes. It was calculated with the model outputs that the ultimate methane production potential and maximum methane production rate in reactors having mixing ratio of 0.35:1 and 0.5:1 (dry basis) were highly similar. 0.35 was found to be an optimum leather fleshing and treatment sludge ratio with a 54% more methane production potential than that of control reactor in this study.