Mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of aloe peel waste with dairy manure in the batch digester: Focusing on mixing ratios and digestate stability

Anaerobic co-digestion of aloe peel waste (APW) with dairy manure (DM) was evaluated in terms of biogas and methane yield, volatile solids (VS) removal rate, and the stability of digestate. Batch experiments were performed under mesophilic condition (36 +/- 1 degrees C) at five different APW/ DM wet weight ratios (1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1). Experimental methane yield from the mixtures was higher than the yield from APW or DM alone, indicating the synergistic effect and benefits of co-digestion of APW with DM. The optimal mixing ratio of APW/DM was found to be 3:1. The cumulative methane yield was 195.1 mL/g VS and the VS removal rate was 59.91%. The characteristics of the digestate were investigated by the thermal analysis which indicated the high stability in the samples of the co-digestion. The co-digestion can be an efficient way to improve the degradation efficiency of the bio-wastes and increase the energy output. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.