Anaerobic digestion of cattle manure

Although cattle manures have long been used as compost and/or as fuel, these small scale applications are not enough to completely get rid of cattle manures. For this reason, this study focused on the anaerobic digestion of cattle manures. In this context, two reactors were operated with wastes of 5% of solids content. One of the reactors was operated in mesophilic range (35°C) while the other was operated in thermophilic range (55°C). Both reactors were operated at a hydraulic retention time of 20 days and 40 days. The performance of the processes were evaluated in terms of TSS, VSS, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli removals and methane content in biogas.