Assessment and Biogas Production from Leftover Food in Main Campus of Ambo University in a Batch Anaerobic Digestion

The objective of this study was to assess and evaluate the biogas yield of food wastes generated from the main campus of Ambo University’s student cafeteria in a batch anaerobic digestion. Food waste from preprocessing and leftover from the student cafeteria were collected and measured. Standard techniques were used to analyze the physicochemical characteristics of the various food wastes, and the barrier solution was used to assess the amount of biogas and methane produced. The daily, weekly, monthly and yearly generated food wastes were: 1,283.02; 8,883.14; 38, 489.06; 204, 448.78kg respectively and the rate of generation of food waste was 0.37kg/capita/day. The moisture content ranged from 3.4±0.78% to 93.11±0.30%; total solids from 6.9±0.30% to 96.6±0.72%, VS of TS 82.1±0.59% to 98.1±0.75%; OC from 45.6±0.33% to 54.5±0.02%, C:N from 33.8% to 20.03±0.3%. The highest average biogas and percentage of methane were measured from FLM (12500±307.16ml and (81.65±2.58%) respectively while, the lowest average total biogas and percentage of methane were from the FPK (8590.33±260.77ml and (67.15±2.47%) respectively. The findings of this study revealed that the high quantity of food waste that was readily available at the study site and that could potentially be converted into high quantity and high-quality bio-methane which could serve two purposes: producing of bio-fuels and reducing environmental degradation from the open disposal of food waste.