Enhanced Biogas Production from the Anaerobic Batch Treatment of Banana Peels

Waste disposal management and the energy crisis are important challenges facing most countries. The fruit-processing industry generates daily several tons of wastes, of which the major share comes from banana farms. Anaerobic digestion (AD) technology has been applied to the treatment of wastewater, animal slurry, food waste, and agricultural residues, with the primary goals of energy production and waste elimination. This study examines the effect of organic loading (OL) and cow manure (CM) addition on AD performance when treating banana peel waste (BPW). The maximum daily biogas production rates of banana peels (BPs) with a CM content of 10%, 20%, and 30% at 18 and 22 g of volatile solids (gvs) per liter were 50.20, 48.66, and 62.78 mL·(gvs·d)−1 and 40.49, 29.57, and 46.54 mL·(gvs·d)−1, respectively. However, the daily biogas yield showed no clear interdependence with OL or CM content. In addition, a kinetic analysis using first-order and cone models showed that the kinetic parameters can be influenced by the process parameters.