Production and purification of biogas from poultry dropping at mesophilic temperature

Abstract

Biogas is a mixture of gases produced during the breakdown of biodegradable organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Problems of impurities such as Carbon dioxide (CO₂), Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) and moisture have to be removed in order to improve the quality of biogas. This study aimed at upgrading the biogas produced from poultry dropping. The Poultry Dropping (PD) used as substrate was collected from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) poultry farm. The Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) available in the Agricultural Engineering Laboratory LAUTECH was used for biogas production. The biogas produced was analyzed using Gas chromatography, AGILENT 6890 before and after purification. The produced biogas was purified using chemical absorption. Distilled water, Silica gel and Iron fillings were used as the scrubbers to remove CO₂, moisture and H₂S, respectively. The CH₄, CO₂ and H₂S of biogas production before and after purification were 61.42%, 35.83% and 0.67 %; and 89.81 %, 8.22 % and 0.54 %, respectively. The results revealed that the purified biogas has better advantage for cooking over the raw biogas.