Industrial Biotechnology

Project Description

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of orgnic wastes offers advantage of simultanoeuos treatment and energy production in the form of biogas from organic waste. The slurry produced at the end of AD can be used as biofertilizer for crop production. Pakistan is an agricultural country where organic waste (animal and agricultural) is abundanlty produced. Recently the biogas development initiatives have gained renewed interest in Pakistan due to shortfall of energy generation from conventional energy sources particularly in the rural areas. Primarily the substrate used for biogas production in Pakistan is cattle manure. Nevertheless, huge amount of locally produced agro-industrial waste can also be co-digested with cattle manure for increased quality and quantity of biogas but is not yet being utilized. However, there is an extreme shortage of empirical research about the biogas potential of indigenous agro-industrial wastes. Therefore, the primary objective of current research is to determine the empirical potetntial of agro-industrial co-substrates for AD of animal manure both at laboratory and pilot scale. Availability of such data will help in establishing the biomethane potential of locally available organic substrates, improve the perfomance of currently operational biogas plants, and develop guidelines for future biogas development initiatives in Pakistan.

Project Funding

Sr. No.Funding BodyFunds
1 International Foundation for Science 12000 $

Members

  • Dr. Iftikhar Zeb