Evaluating the Efficacy of Using Cow Manure as an Inoculant on Biogas Production from Vegetable and Fruit Market Waste

Greenhouse gas emissions is a progressive issue in today’s world, with factors such as scattered wastes that emits methane as one of the leading causes. Cow manure and scattered market wastes such as fruits and vegetables were used as substrates and inoculum in this study to mitigate the impact of methane secretion in the environment. Cow manure has shown exquisite signs of bacterial growth which aids in microbial activity, this study aims on evaluating its effects of adding it in the anaerobic process of mixed fruits and vegetables. A mixed method is applied in this study using mixed fruits and vegetables (MFV) as substrates and cow manure as the inoculum. Four ratios were created with varying proportions of cow manure and water to test the efficacy of adding it in the biogas production of mixed fruits and vegetables. The cow manure to MFV to water ratios were; 0:2:2, 1:2:1, 2:2:2, 4:2:4. The ratio that yielded the highest methane content was the 2:2:2 ratio, with 100% LEL (Lower explosive limit) and 2.5% methane, the lowest yield of methane came from the 0:2:2 ratio with 0% LEL and 0% methane, showing the effects of adding cow manure to the anaerobic process.