LAUSR

Abstract This study focused on biochemical methane potential (BMP) from recalcitrant abattoir and winery solid wastes, to evaluate the effects of various input parameters on the overall anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) performance. Standard BMP protocols were employed. The parameters evaluated were co-substrate-ratio of abattoir solid (As), winery solid (Ws) and cow blood (Cb) in binary and ternary combinations (1:1, 2:3 and 1:1:3), food-to-microorganism ratio (F/M) (0.5-2) and volatile solids (VS) concentration (5-20 gVSL-1). A combination of zebra dung and ruminal contents served as inoculum. Methane production was simulated by curve-fitting kinetic models. Highest methane yields of 369.56 and 354.13 NmLCH4/gVSadded were obtained from co-digested substrates AsWs and CbWs respectively. All models used showed methane production profiles with over 90% accuracy. An increase in F/M and VS concentration reduced the overall digestion performance. This suggests an improvement in the valorisation of abattoir and winery wastes for full-scale AD plants.