Utilization of Surfactants for Stimulation of Anaerobic Digestion Process of Potato waste-Cow dung

In an attempt to accelerate the anaerobic digestion process of potatowaste-cowdung, the effect of various surfactants: Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), Tween-80 and TritonX-100 have been investigated. Initially, pH of substrate was very low (4.5 to 5.0) and therefore,1M Calcium hydroxide and Sodium bicarbonate were employed to adjust the pH to 7.5. Biogas production was considerably more by addition of 50 ppm of SLS and TritonX-100 and 100ppm of Tween-80. After 7 days of anaerobic digestion, methane content was highest when 50 ppm of SLS (63.3%) and TritonX-100(62.4%) and 100ppm of Tween-80(66.9%) were added into substrate. TritonX 100 (50ppm) showed a maximum of more than 304.2% increase in total biogas production over control (without surfactant). These surfactants also reduced the level of COD, total solids, total volatile solids and total organic carbon. After 7 days of anaerobic digestion, maximum reduction (over the zero day period) in COD was observed when 50ppm of SLS (31.1%) and TritonX-100 (28.2%) and 100ppm of Tween-80 (26.2%) was added to the substrate.