The Impact of Proximate Composition of Cow Dung on the Rate of Methane Production in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State

Organic loading influences the effectiveness of producing biogas through anaerobic digestion. This study set out to evaluate the proximate composition of cow dung used for methane production in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. The cow dung being the raw material for the production of biogas was obtained from Lafia Abattoir, Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State and transported to the Biochemistry Division of the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, for processing and proximate composition analysis. The result of the proximate analysis revealed that the moisture content of the cow dung was 66.55, the crude protein and crude fibre was 9.50 and 6.23 respectively. Nitrogen was 0.58 while carbon and NFE was 19.88 and 59.66. Calcium and Phosphorus had 0.16 and 0.07. In conclusion, the amount of proximate composition that is found in the cow dung substrate revealed a significant impact on the amount of methane that will be produced from the cow manure through anaerobic digestion. Also, in order to attain high and steady yield of gas production a number of factors like moisture content, crude protein, crude fat, Nitrogen, Carbon, Calcium and Phosphorus must be present in the waste materials used. The study recommends that More attention should be given to animal dung (Cow dung) as feedstock for anaerobic digestion plants that aids in biogas production, more studies be carried out at a larger scale in order to understand the effect of factors studied and other variables so as to determine the most effective environments for carrying out anaerobic digestion from cow dung and food waste.