Abstract:
India’s economic growth is contributing to a massive increase in the generation of solid
waste. Approximately 55 million tones of Municipal Solid Waste is generated annually by urban
areas in India. Over 59% of homes in urban India use Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) supplied in
portable cylinders for their cooking needs.
However, due to our country’s dwindling petroleum reserves and increased costly imports of
petroleum, non conventional energy resources are slowly gaining importance. The use of biogas
using kitchen waste as feedstock can help solve the problem of energy deficit and at the same
time, allow the safe disposal of kitchen waste which is often unscientifically dumped or
discarded.
Our institute canteen (AIKTC) utilize several LPG cylinders and also generates large amounts of
kitchen waste. The kitchen waste generated has high calorific value and moisture content; hence
it can be anaerobically digested. The biogas produced can be used to supplement the fuel
requirements of the campus kitchens that generate the kitchen waste. This study consists of
carrying out survey, characterization of kitchen waste and exploring it’s potential to be used for
biogas production.
