BIOMETHANATION OF TOBACCO WASTE

Tobacco is an important cash crop produced in considerable quantities in India, During cigarette manufacturing large quantities of tobacco w aste are produced annually and its disposal is a serious ecological pr oblem. In the present study a process for the biodegradation of tobacc o waste, under methanogenic conditions, was developed so that environm ental pollution can be reduced while producing biogas as a useful ener gy source. The methanegenic bacterial consortium developed for the ana erobic degradation of tobacco waste without any chemical pretreatment in a single stage digester at 15 days HRT (hydraulic retention time) h as 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 depend ing on the ambient temperatures. The methane content in the biogas pro duced 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 redu ctions were 75, 60 and 80%, respectively.