Study of Biodegradability of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solids Waste

The present study aimed at assessing the anaerobic digestion process efficiency on the organic fraction of municipal solids waste. Batch mesophilic and thermophilic biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were carried out and the methane potential as well as the biodegradability of all substrates was determined. The experimental studies indicated that the biological biogas production of organic fraction of municipal solids waste in mesophilic (T=35°C) and thermophilic (T=55°C) temperature were 0.450 m3/kg and 0.481 m3/kg respectively. Moreover, the average biogas composition in percentage for the mesophilic and thermophilic case were (CH4: 61.1%, CO2: 38.9%) and (CH4: 62.3%, CO2: 37.7%) respectively. The experimental study showed that the produced volume of biological biogas and it composition of methane in thermophilic case were higher than the produced volume and methane percentage obtained in mesophilic case (T = 35°C). A possible reason for this could be the temperature.