Vidhan Singh, T.Swamy, K.G.N.Bosco, S.J.D.Mathew, A.C.2014-08-142014-08-142002Plantation Crops Research and Development in the New Millennium,(Proceedings of PLACROSYM XIV) CPCRI, Kasaragod 2002 p-210-213http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/4825Biogas production from cowdung is well studied. Coconut pith is a highly lignocellulosic material and contains lignin and cellulose in equal quantities and is rich in potash & micronutrients such as Fe, Mn, Zn & Cu. The possibility of utilizing pith for biogas production was studied in the field using 5 Nos 2m3 Khadi and Village Industries design biogas plants. The daily production of biogas in different treatments was monitored. In all the treatments, the production was found to be varying from day to day.The pattern was similar in control and second treatment. The production was less in other treatments . It was observed that when temperature is more than 33°C, the production of gas is constant. Similarly the gas production is low when the temperature falls below 30°C. It was seen that the exponential curve is the the best fit for the data in the first replication. Since sufficient data points corresponding to lower temperature was not available in second replication, the equations were fitted for the range 28-33°C. Also sufficient data was not available toward* the lower side in the second replication and the fit was very poor. The treatment comparison were made within the temperature range 30-33°C. It was found that coconut pith in combination with cowdung gives higher methane content biogas, while alone it does not produce any gas. The best combination was found to be with 80% cowdung and 20% coconut pith. The methane percentage was about 11 % more in the treatment 80% cowdung and 20% coir pith as compared to the control where as in all the other treatments the methane percentage was lower than the control.The modified dual fuel engine installed was running with biogas and it was observed that in 8 hours of operation approximately 10m3 biogas is consumed there by saving 5 liters of diesel. For optimum biogas production the C/N ratio should be in the range of 25-30 and in the case of 80% cowdung and 20% coir pith the C/N ratio was 26.18 and in both the replications the production of gas was higher as compared to the control.enBiogasCoir pithMethaneArticle