Liquefaction studies and hydrogen production from jackfruit peel waste by using continuous stirred tank reactor

Abstract

In recent days, the utilization and disposal of large quantities of organic solid waste produced by fruit markets, especially jackfruit peel waste pose increasing challenges. anaerobic digestion is a promising treatment method for handling jackfruit peel wastes, with an added advantage of biogas production. in the present research, the feasibility of biohydrogen generation from jack fruit peel waste and the effect of alkaline hydrolysis on the liquefaction and anaerobic biodegradation of jackfruit peel waste are investigated. liquefaction is the process in the solid is converted in to liquid. in the current study, jackfruit peel waste collected from a local fruit market is characterized and the effect of operating variables such as concentration of sodium hydroxide (naoh) (0.1- 0.5n) temperature (50- 200°c), substrate to alkali (1:10 - 1:40) and contact time (10 50 min) on the liquefaction of the waste is studied. moreover, the relative efficiency of thermal, chemical and thermo-chemical processes on the liquefaction of the jack fruitpeel is assessed. the extent of hydrolysis achieved is quantified in terms of the increase in soluble chemical oxygen demand (cods) of the hydrolyzate. batch scale tests are conducted using raw jackfruit peel (control) waste and liquefied jack fruit peel waste as substrates for 60 days in serum bottle reactors to assess the enhancement in anaerobic biodegradability and hydrogen generation potential achieved by the liquefaction of jack fruitpeel waste. the characteristics of the jack fruit peel waste before and after 60 days of batch anaerobic digestion, and the rate of cod degradation are measured. studies on liquefaction are performed for various alkali concentrations ranging from 0.1n-0.5 n wherein the percentage of liquefaction of 50% and 67% is obtained for 0.1n and 0.2 n respectively. likewise for, 0.3 n, 0.4 n and 0.5 n of naoh concentrations, the percentage of liquefaction obtained were 80%, 63% and 32%. these results indicate that 80% as the highest percentage of liquefac