LAUSR

ABSTRACT Yam peel (YP), cassava peel (CP), cocoyam peel (CoP) and plantain peel (PP) are common food wastes of the Niger Delta region. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of these wastes with water hyacinth (WH) presents a viable way of both providing renewable energy and cleaning up the environment. AD tests were carried out on the food wastes and WH to determine their biogas potentials. The experiments were carried out under mesophilic conditions at (37 ± 1 °C) over a period of 20 days and the tests were replicated to give an indication of repeatability. The results showed that YP+WH, CP+WH, CoP+WH and PP+WH had specific biogas yields of 0.42, 0.29, 0.39 and 0.38 m3/kg volatile solid (VS), respectively. The yields represented 76, 48, 70 and 69% of their respective theoretical values. Co-digesting the food wastes with WH in a VS ratio of 2:1 reduced the biogas yields of YP, CP, CoP and PP by 16, 22, 7 and 7%, respectively. The drop in gas production was due to indigestible complex molecules in the WH co-substrate. The results indicate that common food wastes in the Niger Delta can be used as feedstock for AD, but co-digesting with WH reduces the biogas yield.