Production and Testing of Biogas Using Cow Dung, Jatropha and Iron Filins

Biogas production was investigated in this study as an alternative to wood as fuel using slurries of cow dung (T1), jatropha fruit exocarp (T2), cattle dung and jatropha fruit exocarp (T3) and cow dung, jatropha fruit exocarp with 10 g of iron filings (T4). The 1000 mL of slurry which included 50 mL of inoculum that compensated for the dead or weak micro-organism was made for each sample. At the end of five weeks, the volume of biogas collected from the samples T1, T2, T3, and T4 when added up, gave 77, 154, 145 and 586 mL, respectively. The sample mixture of cow dung, jatropha fruit exocarp, and iron filings (T4), gave the highest yield of biogas production with an average weekly production of 59 mL/kg for four weeks and on the fifth week about six times emission of biogas was obtained. The production rate of the biogas was rapid after the gestation period and the T4 emerged as the most substantial emission of all the samples producing 350 mL/kg on the fifth week.