INTRODUCTION

Worldwide energy consumption and demand are growing up since past 50 years. With the
growth of population, demand for energy is also increasing leading to an uneven supply and
distribution of resources. Therefore, the requirement of sustainable and eco-friendly energy in
India to satisfy the energy demand is inevitable. At present environment is getting affected by
numerous pollutants that pollute land, water, atmosphere and environment. For controlling the
pollution, various measures are taken now a days. More research is being carried out to
identify the method to reduce the rate of pollution and controlling the pollutants. Solid waste
management is one of the major challenges faced by many countries around the world. The
Integrated Solid Waste Management system is a comprehensive waste prevention, recycling,
composting and disposal program. It is based on the concept of reduce, reuse and recycling of
wastes. Solid waste is generated by human activities. Household garbage, leftovers of food
and other wastage that include old house hold items such as papers, plastic wastes, parts of
machineries or any other products that are consumed during every day activities are some
forms of solid wastes. Solid wastes are generated from the beginning of human civilization.
Early men consumed animal products and generated garbage in the form of bones and other
parts of animal slaughtered.
Population growth, modernization, and increasing industrial activities generate
considerable number of different types of wastes from the production process. These wastes
are in the forms of solid, semisolid, degradable, non-degradable and hazardous wastes
leading to atmospheric and environmental pollution. In practice different methods are used
for the disposal of solid wastes. The selection of disposal methods is based on the factors like
characteristics of waste, quantity of waste generated, land availability, economical
consideration etc. Improper disposal of wastes leads to pollution. Populations in some areas
where there is no proper treatment method or living very close to waste dump yard are under
high risk due to micro-organisms in the waste. If there is no proper handling, storage and
disposal of wastes, that leads to movement of leach ate and pollute soil and ground water.
They create an environmental problem like spreading diseases, breading various types of
insect and infectious organisms and foul odor.

Residential areas, Markets, Parks, Public places, Bus & Railway stations, Industries, Commercial
places, Educational Institutions, Construction activities and Agricultural services are the major
sources of solid wastes. The waste generated such as food waste, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles,
leather, yard waste, wood, glass, metals, ashes, special waste (e.g., bulky items, consumer
electronics, white goods, batteries, oil, tires), and household hazardous waste, construction and
demolition materials. Worldwide energy crisis and the environmental problems that the world
is facing today diverted the attention of researchers to the alternative sources of energy
instead of underground fossil fuel. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear to be the
most efficient and effective solutions. Sanitary Landfill, Incineration, Pyrolysis, Composting and
Biogas production (anaerobic digestion) are the various solid waste disposal methods. Among these
disposal methods, anaerobic digestion is the method to achieve two goals both of energy recovery
and sanitary disposal of biomass (biogas production and high nutrient manure). Since, anaerobic
method does not produce leachate, odour, spread diseases, air pollution which are compared with
pyrolysis and incineration methods. Biogas is one of the best available sources to fulfill the energy
demand in the rural areas.

Either biological or thermo-chemical conversion methods can be used to obtain energy from
animal wastes. Fresh wastes have high moisture content (about 80%), making them
unsuitable for most thermochemical processes, and their varied composition and high content
of lingo-cellulosic material makes them unattractive for fermentation to ethanol or other
products. Anaerobic digestion, a biological conversion process, has a number of advantages
for waste conversion. Anaerobic digestion is a microbial process that occurs in the absence of
oxygen. Recently biogas generation from microbial conversion of biogenic organic wastes
under anaerobic condition has become globally fascinating because of its importance as a
method of waste treatment and resource recovery

Biogas refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence
of oxygen. Biogas originates from biogenic materials and it is a type of biofuel. It is
produced by the anaerobic digestion or fermentation of biodegradable materials such as
animal dung, biomass, manure, sewage, kitchen and municipal wastes. The major
constituents of anaerobic fermentation are methane and carbon oxide. The composition of
biogas varies depending on the origin of the anaerobic process. Landfill gas typically has
methane concentration around 50% while advanced waste treatment techniques can produce
biogas with 55-75% methane or higher using in situ purification methods. There is an
increasing campaign for cleaner burning fuel in order to safeguard the environment and
protect man from the inhalation of toxic substances. The greenhouse effect and global
warming have been on the increase in the recent times. In order to protect man and his
environment, biogas and other alternative energy sources that are more eco-friendly are
globally encouraged .Fossil fuels like coal, crude oil and natural gas have played a great role
in the global energy supply since the era of industrial revolution, however, the increasing
worldwide awareness ,their negative environmental impact, continual price hike and gradual
depletion have awakened the drive environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources
like biogas. The importance attached to biogas is due entirely to the presence of methane in
the gas. It is the major constituent of the gas making up (45–80%) of the biogas produced. It
is a member of the alkane or paraffin series of hydrocarbons with a general formula C nH2n+2. It
has a molecular formula of CH4, with a molecular mass of 16 g. It is also called a marsh gas
because it is formed by anaerobic decomposition of vegetable matter in swampy land. Coal
miners know it as fire damp because mixtures with air are combustible. It is a major
constitute of natural gas and coal gas. Methane is a gas at room temperature with a boiling
point of −16 °C and a melting point of −180 °C. It is a colourless, odourless, and tasteless
gas, it has a density of 0.65 g/dm3 at 20 °C, and is therefore less dense than air. It has
an upper flammability limit of 15% by volume of air, and a lower flammability limit of 50%
by volume of air. Methane, the major end product of anaerobic digestion can be used directly
for energy, converted to methanol, or, when partially oxidized, to synthesized gas, a mixture
of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Synthesized gas then can be converted to clean alternative
fuels and chemicals. Biogas plants can also improve sanitation, and the residue is useful as a
fertilizer. Biogas is a robust fuel that can be used to supply heat, electricity, process steam and
methanol.

Livestock operations produce millions of tons of animal wastes yearly, which if left to
decompose by themselves will inject large volume of methane into the atmosphere, cause
ground water contamination, ammonia leaching, not to mention bad odors. Treating manure
by anaerobic digestion gets rid of the environmental threats and produces bio-energy at the
same time. Producing biogas from animal dung has two-fold advantage, one is to have
farms that grow their own energy by using readily available farm waste to power the farm,
the other is to eliminate the environmental threat of methane, a greenhouse gas considered 22
times worse than carbon dioxide. It has been shown that a farm with population of 20-30
cattle will generate about 225kg of dung per day which is capable of producing biogas the
will run a diesel generating set for 4-5 hours. (Kamen, F. L et al, 2018). Biogas production
has advanced so much in many countries in the world like India, China, Middle East,
Germany, Britain and United States
 Although, cattle dung has been recognized as the chief raw material for biogas plants, other
materials like poultry litter and agricultural waste can also be used. Cow dung can be defined
as the undigested residue of consumed food material being excreted by herbivorous bovine
animal species. Being a mixture of faeces and urine in the ratio of 3:1, it mainly consists of
lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses. It also contains 24 different minerals like nitrogen,
potassium, along with trace amount of sulphur, iron, magnesium, copper, cobalt and
manganese. The indigenous Indian cow also contain higher amount of calcium, phosphorus,
zinc and copper than the cross-breed cow (Garg and Mudgal 2007; Randhawa and
Kullar 2011). Cow dung harbours a rich microbial diversity, containing different species of
bacteria (Bacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp.), protozoa and yeast
(Saccharomyces and Candida) (Nene 1999; Randhawa and Kullar 2011). Sawant et al. (2007)
have isolated many different bacterial genera such as Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter
aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Kluyvera spp., Morgarella morganii, Pasteurella spp., Providencia alcaligenes, Providencia
stuartii and Pseudomonas spp. from cow dung.

Biogas production is carried out in an airtight cylindrical tank called biogas digester Cow
dung is mixed with equal volume of water and made into slurry and fed through the inlet of
the biogas unit. The digestion proceeds at 37°C with sufficient amount of nitrogen and
phosphorus. The production of biogas sets around 15-25 days, under anaerobic conditions.
Production of biogas accomplished in 3 stages namely Hydrolysis, Acetogenesis and
Methanogenesis. Hydrolytic fermentative stage is the first one. In this step, several microbes
secrete different enzymes, which cleave the complex macromolecules into simpler forms.
Organisms that are active in a biogas process during the hydrolysis of polysaccharides
include various bacterial groups such as Bacillus, Clostridium, Cellulomonas. Second stage is
the Acetogenic stage. In this stage through various fermentation reactions, the products from
hydrolysis are converted mainly into various organic acids (acetic acid, propionic acid,
butyric acid, succinic acid, lactic acid), alcohols, ammonia (from amino acids), carbon
dioxide and hydrogen. Facultative anaerobes and hydrogen producing bacteria
Example: Acetovibrio cellulosolvens, Bacteroid cellulosolvens are involved. Last step is the
Methanogenic stage. In this step, obligate anaerobic methane producing bacteria produce
Methane gas as the major end product along with Carbon dioxide, Hydrogen and traces of
other gases. Methanogenesis has six major pathways, each converting a different substrate
into Methane gas. The six major substrates used are Carbon dioxide, Formic acid, Acetic
acid, Methanol, Methylamine, and Dimethyl sulphate. The methanogenic bacteria
include Methanococcus voltae and Methanobacterium formicum .

Goat manure (GM) is another excellent raw material for anaerobic digestion because of its
high total nitrogen content and fermentation stability. Goats manure is famous for increasing
the water holding capacity of the soil, among other uses. Bird manures are very high in
nutrients, especially nitrogen because urine is contained in the droppings. They are more
acidic than most manure sources, so are particularly good for acid-loving plants. Duck
manure is an excellent fertilizer for your plants. Duck manure has a higher quantity and
quality compared to other poultry manure and it is safe to use directly on plants. You can also
use it in compost or as a liquid fertilizer. The duck manure was analysed and the chemical
composition is 52.5% Moisture, 0.95% Nitrogen, 0.54% Phosphorus and 0.37% Potassium.
There are several factors such as biogas potential of feedstock, inoculums, nature of substrate,
pH, temperature, loading rate, hydraulic retention time (HRT), C:N ratio, volatile fatty acids
(VFA), inhibitory substances, Organic loading rate(OLR) etc. influence the biogas
production (Gashaw, 2014; Dioha, Ikeme, Nafi, Soba, & Yusuf, 2013).The efficiency of the
digester can be enhanced by optimizing each factors and thus synergizing the overall process
of anaerobic digestion. The optimum operating temperature is 32- 35°C, pH range lies
between 6.5- 7.2, C/N ratio of 25:1, TS should be 7-9%, co-digested substrate has potential to
enhance biogas by 25- 100% as compared to mono-digested substrate.

Pre-treatment changes the chemistry of the substrate thereby making it readily available to
the micro-organisms for treatment. Agitation aids the digestion process without letting the
slurry from settling down. Inoculum helps to reduce the start-up time of the digester helping
it generate the biogas at a faster pace than usual. OLR is directly dependent on the amount of
volatile solids loaded in the digester. OLR also depends on the type of feedstock as the
different feedstock has different characteristics, hence different rate of biodegradability.
Biogas will play a crucial role to help mitigate the energy crises and climate change issues
hence enhancement and upgradation technologies in biogas to convert it to BIO-CNG plugin
models which are economically viable source of energy generation can prove to be
revolutionary in the energy starving nations which can come to rescue the developing and
under developed countries of the world. (Shilpa S. Bhajani, Dr Sanjay L. Pal)
Only 25% of the feedstock is converted into biogas, meaning that we will have plenty of
effluent after the volatile solids are exhausted. We can use the digestate as a fertilizer. This
type of fertilizer is more nutritious than raw manure because it has a high concentration of
nitrogen. It is also much easier for crops to absorb it than raw manure. The digester converts
over 80% of the nitrogen in the waste into ammonium nitrate, which is much higher than the
25% and 50% found in deep litter and slurry respectfully. This form of nitrogen is much
easier for plants to utilize. However, ammonia is prone to leakage, so you should put the
waste that you do not intend to use immediately in an airtight container. You can also press
the substrate to remove excess water before drying and conditioning it to produce fertilizer
pellets. Biogas digesters improve the sustainability of livestock farming by generating cow
dung gas. It allows farmers to save on energy costs for both household and farm
management. For instance, dairy farmers can use methane from cow dung to process milk
while poultry farmers can use it to incubate eggs. The processing of biogas from cow manure
also lowers the amount of methane our farm releases into the atmosphere by converting most
of it into carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is 25 times less damaging to the ozone than
methane. The waste from the digester produces less stench than that from raw manure.

Biogas is to be considered a renewable source of energy. Biogas plants are easy to set up and
require minimum capital investment on a small-scale basis. Biogas is a modern source of
energy for cooking and lighting. Biogas has a positive influence on both climate change and
the environment. Cheaper Technology because it can be used to produce electricity and
heating purpose. Cooking on biogas is faster and easier than cooking on charcoal or
firewood. Easy to produce organic fertilizer. It reduces the greenhouse effect. It is to be
considered non-polluting in nature. Reduces Landfills, hence, decreased soil and water
pollution. Reduce cooking fuel expenses by as much as 90%. Reduce household waste. The
use of biogas slows down deforestation and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Job
opportunities are created in these plants.