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Influence of compositional and structural characteristics on food waste for biogas production

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Abstract

Food waste (FW) management by ‘Waste to Energy’ via anaerobic digestion (AD) is essential to reduce its carbon footprint and environmental impact. Present study aims to provide insights in understanding physicochemical characteristics of three different rice-based cooked FW for biogas production through AD. Three FWs used for the study are vegetables with lentils (VFW), leafy vegetables (LFW), and chicken (MFW). From the results, it is observed that total solids and ash content of VFW are higher than LFW & MFW, with oxygen demand being low in VFW. Dominating Functional groups in LFW, MFW, and VFW are complex organic compounds, low-fat compounds, and less complex organic compounds, respectively. Biogas production in VFW was higher overall, followed by MFW, and least in LFW. Correlation coefficient & cluster analysis reveals the significance of oxygen demand, pH, organic carbon, and volatile solids in biogas production. VFW and MFW, being less complex undergo maximum decomposition and produce more biogas (345 and 339 ml/g VSfed, respectively). LFW with high lignocellulose content produces less biogas (182 ml/g VSfed) due to its recalcitrant nature. It is also observed that deconstruction of the complex organic matters (cellulose and lignin) results in generation of more amorphous cellulose that is easily degradable during AD process. Overall, it can be concluded that VFW and MFW are highly suitable due to high degradability and biogas production. Hence, combination of these FWs with and without pretreatment can be used for upgrading biogas generation can be carried out in future studies.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available as the work is part of CNR’s PhD thesis, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

CNR thank the Dean, College of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, as well as the SRM Institute of Science and Technology Directorate of Research, for their financial support in the form of a Research Fellowship. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the SRM Institute of Science and Technology management for their facilities and support. The authors acknowledge Nanotechnology Research Centre, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, 603203, Tamil Nadu, for helping in analyzing samples using XRD, FTIR, and UV-VIS facilities. Authors acknowledge SRM Institute of Science and Technology, SRM Central Instrumentation Facility, Directorate of Research, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, for its HR-SEM facility. The authors also would like to acknowledge The Director, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, Chennai, India for the analysis of C&N using CHNS analyzer. The authors also thank the Associate Director (Campus Life) SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai for providing related data and permission for collecting samples for the study.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 603203, India

    N. R. Cherukuri & P. Parthasarathy

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  1. N. R. Cherukuri
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CNR: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Data curation and Interpretation, Writing- Original draft preparation, Revision and Finalization. PP: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation and Interpretation, Supervision, Writing and Reviewing and Finalization.

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Correspondence to P. Parthasarathy.

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Cherukuri, N., Parthasarathy, P. Influence of compositional and structural characteristics on food waste for biogas production. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 11219–11230 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05004-6

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