Elsevier

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Volume 65, Issue 8, August 1986, Pages 1129-1133
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Biomethanation of Leucaena leucocephala: a potential biomass substrate

https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-2361(86)90181-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Biomethanation of organic matter is now recognized as a viable alternative for production of energy. Among various biomass sources screened, Leucaena leucocephala, having a high biomethanation rate, has been identified as a potential substrate for large-scale methane generation. During semi-continuous fermentations at 30 °C with volatile solids (VS) ranging from 1.0–2.5 g l−1 at hydraulic retention time (HRT) ranging from 10–18 days, the yield of product gas per gram of volatile solids input was about 0.45-0.601 in the case of L leucocephala and 0.15-0.201 from cow-manure. Mass spectrometric analysis of the product gas from L leucocephala indicated a methane content of 78–80%. Batch fermentation for 80 days with input volatile solids of 40–44 g in a 21 digester resulted in a gas yield of 0.87 l g−1 volatile solids input for L leucocephala and 0.33 l g for cow-manure. The complex degradation of solid organic matter involves multiphase interactions between microbes and their environment; optimisation and separation of predominantly acidogenic and methanogenic species was achieved in a multi-stage digester with separate compartments. This design was used for degradation studies of L. leucocephala, which, from the results presented, appears to be a good candidate for an ‘energy-farm’ for large-scale biomethanation.

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      In their study, they observed that at a solid concentration of 8%, and a 1:1 ratio of leaves: manure, the highest biogas production was obtained. Narayanaswami et al. (1986) investigated the use of L. leucocephala for the production of methane. They revealed that a very high methane production of 78–80% could be achieved from L. leucocephala and hence, they recommended that L. leucocephala could serve as a primary biomass substrate for large-scale biomethane generation.

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