title: Biomethanation of tobacco waste.
abstract: Tobacco is an important cash crop produced in considerable quantities in India. During cigarette manufacturing large quantities of tobacco waste are produced annually and its disposal is a serious ecological problem. In the present study a process for the biodegradation of tobacco waste, under methanogenic conditions, was developed so that environmental pollution can be reduced while producing biogas as a useful energy source. The methanogenic bacterial consortium developed for the anaerobic degradation of tobacco waste without any chemical pretreatment in a single stage digester at 15 days HRT (hydraulic retention time) has been successfully scaled-up to install a 10 m(3) biogas plant. The gas yields (1 kg(-1 TS fed) day(-1)) varied from 169 to 282 depending on the ambient temperatures. The methane content in the biogas produced was 60%. The pH and VFA content of the digested slurry were 6.8 +/- 0.1 and 599 mg litre(-1), respectively. Nicotine, COD and BOD reductions were 75, 60 and 80%, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Tata Research Design and Development Center, 1 Mangaldas Road, Pune 411 010, India.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Meher
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Panchwagh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rangrass
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Gollakota