Anaerobic Co-digestion of Fresh Maize Leaves with Elephant Grass

Anaerobic co-digestion of maize leaves (ml) with elephant grass (eg) was studied in a single phase digester at ambient temperature (29+3°c). special attention was paid to synergistic and antagonistic effect of co-digestion of the substrates on biogas production in order to establish the best blend. six different treatments were set up based on mixture proportions in digesters labelled a-e. digester a contained 100% maize leaves (100% ml), which served as control. the compositions of other digesters were as follows: digester b contained 90% ml and 10% eg, c 80% ml, 20% eg, d 70% ml, 30% eg, and e 60% ml, 40% eg. the initial ph of the digesters varied from 3.94-4.12 while the final ph ranged from 3.01-10.49. 100% ml produced 520ml of biogas at the end of 20 days of the experiment. digesters b and e had synergistic effects on biogas production with total volume of 870ml and 610ml respectively. however, digesters c and d had negative effects on biogas yield producing 460ml and 400ml. percentage decreases of the two digesters were 11.5% and 23.1% respectively. digester e showed 67.3% higher biogas production compared to digestion of maize leaves alone.