Boosting biogas production and methane yield by using street dust as an additive on anaerobic digestion of cattle manure

Abstract

The addition of additives is one strategy used to boost the biogas and methane yield during the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Many additives were used in AD and reported dramatically increased biogas and methane production. Street dust (SD), which consists of many elements, is a promising AD additive. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of using SD as an additive to the AD of cattle manure. For this purpose, dust samples were collected from the Dilovasi region, where intense industrial activities occur in Turkey, and added as an additive to the AD system at 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 wt% rates. The highest biogas production and biogas yield of 4282.85 mL and 424.89 mL/gVS were obtained at 1.0% concentration in dust sample 3 (SD3), respectively. However, the highest methane yield was obtained at a 3.0% concentration in dust sample 2 (SD2). Moreover, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solid (TS), and volatile solid (VS) removal efficiencies were also evaluated. The highest TS and VS removal efficiencies were achieved at 1.0% concentration SD3 (SD3-1) by 57.45% and 54.24%, respectively, while the highest COD removal efficiency was achieved at 5% SD2 concentration (SD2-3) by 64.46%. The overall results showed that using SD as an additive in AD, the biogas and methane yield compared to the control group.