Effect of Organic Loading Rate on the Biogas Production of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch in Semi-continuous Anaerobic Digestion

• Main Authors: , Lukitawesa, , Dr. Ir. M. Nur Cahyanto, M. Sc.
• Format: Theses and Dissertations NonPeerReviewed
• Published: [Yogyakarta] : Universitas Gadjah Mada 2014
• Subjects: ETD
• Online Access: https://repository.ugm.ac.id/130455/; http://etd.ugm.ac.id/index.php?mod=penelitian_detail&sub=PenelitianDetail&act=view&typ=html&buku_id=70877
• Institution: Universitas Gadjah Mada

Performance of anaerobic digestion process of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) in mesophilic condition in Indonesia was not studied well. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of organic loading rate (OLR) on the biogas production from OPEFB. OPEFB was fed semi-continuously into textile biogas digester with 140 L working volume and 100 days HRT at OLR of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 g VS/L.d. Biogas production, gas composition, total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) were analyzed daily. At OLR operation of 0.5 g VS/L.d, the reactor produced 5.5-23.3 L biogas/d had methane and carbon dioxide compositions of and 62.1-69% and 21.7-24.9%, respectively within average steady production rates around 16.1 L biogas/day and methane yield of 0.13 L CH4/g VS added. The average steady biogas production rates increased to around 36.6 L CH4/g VS added as the OLR increased into 1.0 g VS/L.d with slight change in biogas compositions of 56.7-66.2% for methane and 26.9-39.8% for carbon dioxide while biogas yield increases up to 0.17 L CH4/g VS added. The TVFA showed stable conditions around until OLR of 1.0 g VS/L.d and increases at the end of OLR 1.5 g VS/L.d period. The acetic acid composition increased at OLR of 0.5 g VS/L.d then constantly decreases until the OLR of 1.5 g VS/L.d. Meanwhile the pH slightly declined since OLR of 0.5 g VS/L.d then remains stable until the OLR of 1.5 g VS/L.d. Keywords: OPEFB, Anaerobic digestion, Semi-continuous, Mesophilic condition, biogas, methane