Effect of Naoh Pretreatment of Bagasse on Its Biodegradation through Anaerobic Digestion

Bagasse the by-product of sugarcane crop, mainly utilized by the sugar industry itself in cogeneration power plant to produce power through cogeneration to full-fill their energy needs and export the excess power generated to the grid. The present study was conducted to analyze the effect of (2%, 4% and 6%) NaOH pretreatment of bagasse at room temperature for 24 hours on the biogas production through anaerobic digestion. NaOH pretreated and untreated bagasse co-digested with cow manure was assessed to optimize the NaOH concentration for enhanced biogas production in batch mode experiments. Analytical techniques such as Field Effect Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to investigate the changes on physical and chemical structures of pretreated bagasse. The 4% NaOH pretreatment resulted in highest biogas production which is 55.3% higher than untreated bagasse.