Enhanced biogas production through co-digestion of tapioca starch wastewater and duckweed in a continuous stirred tank reactor
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Abstract
This study investigates the biogas production performance of co-digesting duckweed with tapioca starch wastewater (TSW) in a laboratory-scale continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Duckweed, with its rich nutrient composition, represents an underutilized biomass resource for renewable energy production in Thailand, where the tapioca starch industry constitutes a significant economic sector. The experimental setup utilized a 3-liter CSTR operated at mesophilic conditions (35°C) with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 28 days. Initial mono-digestion of TSW at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.31 gCOD/L-d resulted in a specific methane production of 0.28 NL-CH4/g COD removed (NL = liter of gas at 273 K and 1 atm). Subsequent co-digestion with duckweed (1.0 g dry weight per liter of TSW) under identical operational conditions, enhanced methane production to 0.35 NL CH₄/g COD removed—corresponding to a 1.3-fold increase in specific methane production yield. These findings demonstrate that co-digestion of duckweed with TSW significantly enhances methane yield compared to mono-digestion of TSW, offering a promising approach for simultaneous wastewater treatment and renewable energy generation in Thailand's tapioca processing industry.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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