Experimental Investigation and Numerical Modelling of Anaerobic Digestion Process Using De-Oiled Cakes

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 3, 460 - 470

N Senthilkumar , M Yuvaperiyasamy

https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1554884

Abstract

Energy crises emerging due to the depletion of fossil fuels and the management of solid wastes of all categories are the problems that should be addressed in the present scenario. This is done by converting these solid waste materials into valuable energy, reducing fossil fuel dependency. The conversion of solid wastes into valuable biogas is performed through the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. In this work, the solid wastes considered were de-oiled cake (DOC), such as rapeseed cake (RC), neem cake (NC) and ground cake (GC), obtained after removing the oil from the seeds. The anaerobic digestion process is simulated using the Simulink tool of MATLAB. Comparison of biogas produced, digest pH value, and temperature inside the digester were done. Experimentation is also performed with a floating drum digester of a 300-litre gas-holding floating dome made of fibre material. The obtained results are compared with the simulation results, and it is found that the experimental values coincide with the simulation results. The maximum biogas production was obtained experimentally with RC (1.366 litres), followed by NC (0.992 litres) and GC (0.938 litres). The difference among the experimental and simulation results for biogas production is 7.04% for NC, 6.39% for GC and 2.51% for RC. The average pH and temperature maintained inside the digestor for RC is 7.06 and 48.35°C, 7.02 47.46°C for GC, and 7.05 and 46°C for NC. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) is higher for RC (93767.69 mg/L), with a 0.42% variation from the simulation result.

Keywords

Anaerobic Digestion, Numerical Simulation, De-oiled Cake, Biogas Production

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