Anaerobic Digestion of Banana Wastes for Biogas Production

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the main economic activities for Kenyans; the wastes from agriculture are minimally used. Among the crops grown in Kenya is the banana and produces about one million tonnes of bananas yearly, mostly for local consumption, of which the banana herb produces the fruits once in a lifetime, thus the stem becomes waste afterward. The waste from the banana plant includes leaves, stems, peduncles, peels, and rejected fruits. The banana waste is organic and thus is suitable for anaerobic digestion in which the solid digestate has suitable nutrients to be used as fertilizer. Batch fermentation at the mesophilic temperature range was carried out in triple determinations, this also applied to the blank sample. After the batch test was complete, the pH of the fermentation residue was measured electrochemically using a pH meter. The COD of the residue (both Solid and liquid) was also determined. Analysis of the biogas produced by gas chromatography enabled the methane part of the gas to be calculated.