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Assessment of biogas production and fertilizer properties of digestate from cow dung using household biogas digester

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Abstract

Morocco is located in the northwestern part of Africa and is one of the Mediterranean countries threatened by the increasing generation of organic waste. Without any treatment or management strategy, these wastes are dumped illegally in large quantities and can affect natural resources. Recently, the anaerobic digestion method seems to be one of the best processes available to treat organic wastes. In the present study, the 15-m3 Puxin digester was used to produce biogas and digestate from cow dung. A total amount of 3500 kg of cattle dung was treated, generating a specific biogas production of 0.163 m3 kg−1 volatile solid. Furthermore, the application of the digestate diluted to 50% as biofertilizer for maize crop showed higher yield (P < 0.05) compared to the NPK fertilizer (45 quintals per ha and 33 quintals per ha respectively, i.e., + 36%) and the control (+ 80%). These valuable results can promote the development of biogas technology in Morocco as well as in similar countries.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the administrative staff of the Campus of Technology, Mohamed First University Oujda, for providing the biogas plant and the land to conduct the experiments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioresources, Biotechnology, Ethnopharmacology and Health, Faculty of Sciences, Mohamed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco

    Hassan Erraji & Abdeslam Asehraou

  2. Training Institute for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency of Oujda (IFMEREE), Oujda, Morocco

    Hassan Erraji

  3. National Centre for Research and Study On Water and Energy (CNEREE), Cadi Ayyad University, 40000, Marrakech, Morocco

    Anas Tallou

  4. Laboratory of Industrial Engineering and Surface Engineering, Research Unit Bioprocess and Biointerfaces, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Beni Mellal, Morocco

    Yahya Rokni

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  1. Hassan Erraji
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Contributions

H. Erraji designed, performed the experiments, and wrote the manuscript. A. Asehraou contributed to the design and supervision of the study. H. Erraji and A. Tallou performed data analysis, interpretation, and writing of the manuscript. H. Erraji performed data and statistical analysis. Y. Rokni revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hassan Erraji.

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Erraji, H., Asehraou, A., Tallou, A. et al. Assessment of biogas production and fertilizer properties of digestate from cow dung using household biogas digester. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-03818-5

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