The Impact of Mixing Ratio in the Production of Biogas Using Plantain Peels and Beans Chaff

ABSTRACT

An investigation was conducted to determine the suitability of conversion of the peels of Musa paradisiaca L. (Plantain) and Vigna unguiculata L. (Beans), which hitherto constitute environmental wastes, into biogas. The peels were collected from food vendors, dried and pulverised into chaff. The chaffs were mixed with deionized water in three concentrations of 1:5 (S1), 1:10 (S2), and 1:15 (S3) and digested in 1 litre mini digesters in singles of plantain (P), beans (B), plantain/beans combination1 (PB1), and plantain/beans combination2 (PB2) after inoculation with fresh cow rumen liquor. The anaerobic digestion was done in 37 days. Results showed that the volumes of biogas produced were as follows: 399.68 cm3 (PB1) > 364.44 cm3 (B) > 303.65 cm3 (PB2) > 298.29 cm3 (P). In addition, the 1:5 (S1) concentration gave the highest yields of biogas while the 1:15 (S3) gave the lowest yields across all the groups. However, these results were not statistically significant at α=0.05. It is concluded therefore that these wastes could be converted into resources for biogas production, a form of renewable energy.