Kinetic Study
The degradation of substrate in each reactor was assumed to follow a first order rate of decay. Thus,
the cumulative biogas production was assumed to follow the equation (Gunaseelan. 2004):
B = B0(1 -e-kt)
Where B is the cumulative biogas production at digestion time ‘t’ days. B0 is the biogas potential of the
substrate. k is the first order disintegration rate constant (biogas production rate constant). A nonlinear
least-square regression analysis was performed using Polymath 6.0 to determine B0, k, and the
predicted biogas yield. The coefficient of determination (R2) was also obtained from the analysis with
95% confidence level.