Poster Presentation 3-40

Energy Production from Zoo Animal Wastes

K. Thomas Klasson and Nhuan P. Nghiem

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

P. O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6226

Telephone: (865) 574-6813; Fax:  (865) 574-6442; E-mail: klassonkt@ornl.gov

Anaerobic digestion of elephant and rhinoceros dung was studied in stationary bioreactors under several conditions.  The digestion was carried out over several months at 37 and 50ºC, with and without nutrient amendments, and with and without application of a starter culture from cow manure.  The moisture content of the collected manure was approximately 80%, and the total volatile solids were 15% (based on wet weight).  The performance of digesters with elephant or rhinoceros dung was very similar with the same amount of gas generation.  The methane content of the biogas ranged from 50­70% (v/v).  The yield of methane was approximately 0.1­0.2 L/g TVS, which was similar to literature values for other types of organic wastes.

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