title: Determination of biogas generation potential as a renewable energy source from supermarket wastes.
abstract: Fruit, vegetable, flower waste (FVFW), dairy products waste (DPW), meat waste (MW) and sugar waste (SW) obtained from a supermarket chain were anaerobically digested, in order to recover methane as a source of renewable energy. Batch mesophilic anaerobic reactors were run at total solids (TS) ratios of 5%, 8% and 10%. The highest methane yield of 0.44 L CH4/g VS(added) was obtained from anaerobic digestion of wastes (FVFW+DPW+MW+SW) at 10% TS, with 66.4% of methane (CH4) composition in biogas. Anaerobic digestion of mixed wastes at 5% and 8% TS provided slightly lower methane yields of 0.41 and 0.40 L CH4/g VS(added), respectively. When the wastes were digested alone without co-substrate addition, the highest methane yield of 0.40 L CH4/g VS(added) was obtained from FVFW at 5% TS. Generally, although the volatile solids (VS) conversion percentages seemed low during the experiments, higher methane yields could be obtained from anaerobic digestion of supermarket wastes. A suitable carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, proper adjustment of the buffering capacity and the addition of essential trace nutrients (such as Ni) could improve VS conversion and biogas production yields significantly.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Boğaziçi University, 34342 Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gizem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alkanok
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Demirel
authors.forename: Turgut T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Onay
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D002244:Carbon; D008460:Meat; D008697:Methane; D009584:Nitrogen; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D059205:Renewable Energy; D014675:Vegetables; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D014866:Waste Products; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen; D008697:Methane
keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas; Digestate; Methane; Renewable energy; Supermarket waste