Comparative Study on Biogas Production Between Certain Fecal Materials from Farm Animals

The use of faecal materials from selected farm animals for the production of biogas was investigated. The considered farm animals were chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), cattle (Bos taurus) and goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) hence, fresh poultry droppings (PD), cow dung (CD) and goat droppings (GD) were mixed in different PD:CD:GD ratios as 1:0:0, 1:1:1 and 0:1:0 and stored in an anaerobic digester for a retention period of 40days under mesophilic condition. The ratios were denoted as A, B and C, representing mono-digestion of poultry droppings, co-digestion of poultry droppings, cow dung with goat droppings, and mono-digestion of cow dung respectively. Results revealed that the daily biogas yield for samples A, B and C were 0.081, 0.0904 and 0.079mL per gram of feedstock respectively. Hence it was concluded that poultry droppings have higher biogas potential or yield than cow dung when digested individually while the co-digestion of all materials produce higher biogas yield than either of them. Necessary recommendation drawn from the research as well as those for further related studies were made.