Description

Anaerobic digestion of animal dung offers several benefits such as reduction of odors, pathogens, and production of renewable energy biogas. In this study, a 1 m3-surface batch biogas digester was designed, constructed, and insulated with sawdust to minimize temperature fluctuations within the digester. The horse dung was collected from the University of Fort Hare Honey dale farm and fed into the batch biogas digester. The horse dung was analyzed for total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), total alkalinity (TA), calorific value (CV), pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N). The optimum total alkalinity, ammonium-nitrogen, and chemical oxygen demand were 6235, 901, and 24230 mg/L, respectively. The study found that horse dung produced biogas yield with an average methane yield of 51% without codigesting it with other wastes. Therefore, horse dung is a good substrate for biogas production, and its use in biogas digesters can reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere leading to climate change.

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