AGSC 2014 - Sustainable Agriculture to FUEL (Feed, Unite, Educate & Lead) the Future

ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION OF WATER HYACINTH FOR BIOGAS GENESIS

C.Vijayanand, M.Singaravelu and S.Kamaraj
Department of Bio-Energy
Agricultural Engineering College and Research institute,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
vijayeeeanand@gmail.com
Keywords: biogas, water hyacinth, biomethanation, methane.

INTRODUCTION

experiments were performed.

The rapidly exploding global population and

the expansion of industries create rapid depletion
of natural resources and tremendous increase in
environmental pollution. In recent years attention
has been paid both to the development of
renewable energy resources and to the problem of
environmental pollution. Aquatic plants in general
and water hyacinth in particular have drawn
considerable interest as solutions to the current
problems of energy and pollution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The water hyacinth weed has invaded

approximately all rivers, lakes and dams. The costs
connected with elimination and maintenance control
of water hyacinth are quite considerable. This study
found out that the option of biogas production as a
way of energy exploration using water hyacinth may
not only sustain the energy availability but also
improve environmental sustainability by improving the
social, economic and physical well being of the

Water hyacinth employed in the experiments was

analyzed for moisture, total solids, volatile solids,
organic carbon, total nitrogen, and potassium. The
samples of water hyacinth were size reduced to
accommodate quicker action of mehanogenic bacteria
in the fermentation process. The water hyacinth was
size reduced to particle below 5 mm size. The water
used for 1:1 ratio was taken from ground water
source. The 1:1 ratio of water and water hyacinth were
mixed to form the slurry for fermentation. The
samples were taken for trials in sealed fermentation
flasks in the proportions with a pure cow dung, pure
water hyacinth, and mixtures of both cow dung and
water hyacinth. The biogas production from each
sample was recorded each day, biogas composition
was also analyzed using a multi gas-analyzer to
ensure methane was generated as the result of
fermentation.

environment.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Water hyacinth exhibits prolific growth.

Water hyacinth could be utilized as a source of
methane-rich fuel. Recovery of methane from water
hyacinth is a sound proposition in the current energy
crisis. Since scant data are available in the

The results of the biogas generated from the

trials run and their averages were calculated. The
biogas production is furnished in the table below.

literature on hyacinth gasification, laboratory

Table:1 Biogas production from different compositions of substrates

Samples taken
100 % Cow Dung (control)
100 % Water Hyacinth (control)

400

Biogas production, mL per day

Day Day Day Day Day Day
1
2
3
4
5
6 Day 7
1200 2600 2000 1000 580 140 0
0

50 % + 50 % cow dung and water hyacinth

400

75 % + 25 % water hyacinth and cow dung

25 % + 75 % water hyacinth and cow dung

150

800 1000 500 180

600 1200 800 450 200

400 1000 600 180

600 1100 750 400 120

ISBN : 978-93-83799-05-3

AGSC 2014 - Sustainable Agriculture to FUEL (Feed, Unite, Educate & Lead) the Future

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Trials run with the substrate composition of

50 % water hyacinth and 50 % cow dung
produced showed higher methane production
rate; lower digester residence time are obtained
with groundwater hyacinth. The biogas
produced from this ratio of hyacinth and cow
dung had higher methane content of 70%.

Ali, N, Chaudhary B,L, Khandelwal S,K. 2004. Better

use of water hyacinth for fuel, manure and
pollution

free

environment.

Indian

J.

of

Environment Protection, 24: 297 303.

Kunatsa, T, Mufundirwa, A. 2013. Biogas

Production from Water Hyacinth Case of
Lake Chivero - Zimbabwe A review. Int. J.
of Recent Technology and Engineering,
2: 2277-3878.

INTEGRATED HYDROLOGICAL MODELING OF BARAKAR RIVER BASIN

INCLUDING RESERVOIR OPERATION OF TILAYA AND MAITHON USING
2

ARCSWAT
3

R.* Vinothkumar, Anirban Dhar , I. Muthuchamy , S. Janapriya , V. Navaneethapandian

* 3
,

Department of Soil & Water Conservation Engineering, AEC & RI, TNAU, Coimbatore.

Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

*Corresponding author: kumar.nanthu@gmail.com, Mob. No. 9566962584

Keyword: (Hydrological model, ArcSWAT, Surface Runoff, calibration, validation)

INTRODUCTION
Land and water are the two major resources.
Management of land and water resources is a growing
concern worldwide and especially true for developing
countries like India. The demand for food and energy
necessitates the preservation and improvement of the
productivity
of
these
natural
resources.
Geographically, watershed is a unit of area that
contributes runoff to a common point. Moreover, it
has been accepted as basic unit for planning and
implementation of the protective, curative and
ameliorative programmes. An accurate understanding
of the hydrological behavior of a watershed is
important for effective management.

topographic maps of the area were collected

from National Bureau of soil survey and survey
of India, Kolkota. Monthly surface runoff for the
monsoon months (1997-2001) were collected for
Banha and Karso. Monthly reservoir inflow at
Tilaiya and Maithon for same period was
collected from MRO (Maithon).

The model was calibrated and validated

for the monsoon seasons of 1997-99 and
2000-01 respectively. Model was calibrated
using parameters like Manning n, effective
hydraulic
conductivity,
available
water
content of soil, average Slope Steepness etc.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A distributed parameter model, ArcSWAT
(ArcView Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was
calibrated and validated on monthly basis for the

Barakar catchment (6293 km ) of Damodar river

Basin, India. The Barakar catchment comprises
with Tilaiya and Maithon reservoir catchment. All
hydro-meteorological data were collected from Soil
Conservation Department of Damodar Valley
Corporation, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. Soil map and

The observed and simulated monthly surface

runoff for Banha and Karso during calibration
period. Coefficient of determination was found to
be 0.95 and 0.75 respectively for Banha and Karso.
However, RMSE values were found to be 15.80, and
40.43 mm respectively for Banha, and Karso whereas
the corresponding % deviation was 2.31, and -2.49.
This suggests that the model may not be able to
produce the temporal trend of surface runoff, but its
overall surface runoff prediction performance is

ISBN:978-93-83799-05-3
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