Evaluation of Methane Production of Six Varieties of Date Pulp Waste (Phoenix Dactylifera L.)

• Main Authors: Ikbel Souli, Xiaojun Liu, Thomas Lendormi, Nizar Chaira, Ali Ferchichi, Jean-Louis Lanoiselle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2018-08-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/694

Anaerobic digestion is the biodegradation of the waste materials with the aid of microorganisms which grow in the absence of oxygen. Fruits and vegetable wastes are a good substrate with potential to produce biomethane and are abundantly available. The present study investigated the biogas production of 6 different varieties of date pulp (Phoenix Dactylifera L.) and the possible correlation with their bio-chemical compositions (total solids, volatile matter, lipids, proteins, ash, sugars and polyphenols content). The methane production curves were fitted to the modified Gompertz model to extract the kinetic parameters related to the methane production. The specific methane production potential of the variety Kenichi alone was the lowest with 252 NL CH4∙kg VS-1. However, the variety Deglet Nour had a maximum methane production potential with 334 NL CH4∙kg VS-1. The data were subjected to Pearson correlation test and Principal Component Analysis. Results show that the total sugars contributed the most to the methane potential and the methane production rate, which indicates that date pulps with more total sugars could bring about more and faster methane yield.