Role of Microbial and Organic Amendments for the Enrichment of Methane Production in Bioreactor

Studies were carried out on lab-scale levels for biogas production using two different wastewaters, that is, herbal pharmaceutical wastewater and food processing wastewater. A total of eight methane bacteria were isolated from cattle dung and mass culturing was carried out to study their feasibility in biogas escalation. Optimization of methane bacteria that could increase biogas production was identified. Among the methane bacteria, two species Bacillus sk1 and Bacillus sk2 were found to enhance the biogas production to a maximum level. Gas analysis showed CH4 content of 63% in the case of food processing wastewater and around 67% with herbal pharmaceutical wastewater. Bacillus sk1 was found to be more suitable for both wastewater and biogas production and was found to be 46.4% in food processing wastewater and 43.3% in herbal pharmaceutical wastewater. Amendment of Bacillus sk2 in food processing wastewater produces 39.7% and 30.3% of biogas in herbal pharmaceutical wastewater was observed. Enzyme Bacillidine™ (P-COG-concentrate aqueous base) was also tried but results were not very encouraging. Comparative studies on both the wastewater have been discussed in detail in this article.