Methane production in low-cost, unheated, plug-flow digesters treating swine manure and used cooking grease.

A co-digestion investigation was conducted using small-scale digesters in Costa Rica to optimize their ability to treat animal wastewater and produce renewable energy. Increases in methane production were quantified when swine manure was co-digested with used cooking grease in plug-flow digesters that operated at ambient temperate without mixing. The co-digestion experiments were conducted on 12 field-scale digesters (250 L each) using three replications of four treatment groups: the control (T0), which contained only swine manure and no waste oil, and T2.