Determination of bio-methanol as intermediate product of anaerobic co-digestion in animal and agriculture wastes

Many researchers have reported on the end products of the anaerobic digestion process as biogas and methane but the useful intermediate products in the anaerobic digester effluent, such as bio-methanol have typically been ignored. Bio-methanol is an auspicious substitute for fossil fuels with a variety of fuel applications and advantages with regard to the environment, the economy, and consumers. Thus the main objective of this study is to investigate the intermediate product of anaerobic co-digestion of animal and agriculture wastes. The wastes are characterized based on proximate and ultimate analyses. This study was conducted in a room temperature, lab-scale reactor with a fixed retention time. Methanol was analyzed using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was observed that, banana peel (61.51 wt.%) and boiled rice (81.25 wt.%) substrates with cow dung inoculum have the greatest potential for bio-methanol production via anaerobic co-digestion. This study proves that the methanol exists as intermediate product of anaerobic co-digestion. Finally, this study concludes that by enhancing the production of methanol at intermediate phase can reduce the production of methane gas.