Evaluation of mango, longan and lychee trees pruning leaves for the production of biogas via anaerobic fermentation

Abstract

Pruning fruit trees is improving their full health and harvest. Fruit tree pruning leaves waste to represent an abundant amount of organic materials, and these produced during a short period. The basic fuel properties of lignocellulosic biomass from orchards were evaluated on the following fruit tree leaves obtained from pruning operations. Biomass has become a vital source of renewable energy. Biogas is one the renewable energy which can be produced by anaerobic fermentation of biomass. In this study, mango, longan and lychee trees pruning leaves waste was utilized for biogas production. These leaves were examined on proximate analysis and ultimate analysis contents are considered as carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S). In this study, pretreatment was performed using a sodium hydroxide solution (w/v) at different concentrations as above (1, 2, 3, and 4%). For the best feedstock screening, the theoretical biochemical methane potential was confirmed. Mango leaves biomethane content was higher compared to longan and lychee leaves. Finally, this biomass was suggested further large-scale studies. Digestate from biogas system is a highly valuable nutrient and rich fertilizer.