Enhancement of biomethanation process of Eichhornia crassipes using ferric chloride catalyst

Abstract

Water hyacinth is one of the most significant sources of biomass in tropical regions that can be used to create biogas. This strategy aims to improve the sustainability, precise energy content, and ease of transport of the original biofuel feedstock, as well as to extract gases. An experimental investigation on the biomethanation of water hyacinth took place in a semi-batch digester. Temperature, stirring speed, and catalyst concentration all have an impact on the rate of biogas production. The catalyst has been discovered to primarily boost the rate of biogas production from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). As the catalyst is used here to boost up the biomethanation reaction, the effect of the catalyst on different kinetic parameters is investigated.

The key conclusions of the research indicate that the maximum value of acidogenic cell mass concentration is 0.13 kg/m³d while the minimum value of methanogenic cell mass concentration is 0.014 kg/m³d at 50 ppm catalyst concentration. Moreover, the maximum specific growth rate of the entire process increases as the catalyst concentration rises, reaching a maximum level of 0.312 d⁻¹ at a 50 ppm catalyst concentration. This is proof that using a catalyst can expedite the biomethanation process. As the catalyst concentration increases, so does the overall biomass concentration. Since it increases the precision of the parameter estimates, the simultaneous estimation of the parameters is a crucial part of the estimation process.