Open AccessEnhanced biogas production from coffee pulp through deligninocellulosic photocatalytic pretreatment
Author(s) -
Corro Grisel,
Pal Umapada,
Cebada Surinam
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
energy science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.638
H-Index - 29
ISSN - 2050-0505
DOI - 10.1002/ese3.44
Subject(s) - biogas , photocatalysis , pulp and paper industry , renewable energy , anaerobic digestion , environmental science , pulp (tooth) , waste management , bioenergy , biofuel , methane , chemistry , engineering , catalysis , medicine , biochemistry , electrical engineering , organic chemistry , pathology
Production of biogas utilizing agricultural wastes is one of the most demanding technologies for generating energy in sustainable manner considering environmental concerns. However, though the agricultural wastes are available in abundance, the technologies used for the production of biogas such as biological and thermochemical processes are not very efficient. In the present article, we describe a process for the production of biogas from coffee pulp utilizing Cu/TiO 2 as an efficient photocatalyst in its solar photocatalytic pretreatment, producing biogas of high caloric value at enhanced rate. The pretreatment process enhances the coffee pulp–cattle manure codigestion, producing increased amounts of methane, propane, and other combustible components of biogas. The photocatalytic pretreatment was performed using 10%Cu/TiO 2 as photocatalyst, bubbling air as oxidizing agent, and solar radiation as light source. The process enhances the degradation rate of lignocellulosic components of coffee pulp, consequently increasing the biogas production through anaerobic codigestion. The mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of lignocelluloses has been discussed. The results presented in this work indicate the photocatalytic pretreatment is a useful process to increase biogas generation from lignocelluloses‐rich natural wastes.