relation: https://khub.utp.edu.my/scholars/13395/ title: Response surface methodology to optimize methane production from mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of oily-biological sludge and sugarcane bagasse creator: Ghaleb, A.A.S. creator: Kutty, S.R.M. creator: Ho, Y.-C. creator: Jagaba, A.H. creator: Noor, A. creator: Al-Sabaeei, A.M. creator: Almahbashi, N.M.Y. description: Oily-biological sludge (OBS) generated from petroleum refineries has high toxicity. Therefore, it needs an appropriate disposal method to reduce the negative impacts on the environment. The anaerobic co-digestion process is an effective method that manages and converts organic waste to energy. For effective anaerobic digestion, a co-substrate would be required to provide a suitable environment for anaerobic bacteria. In oily-biological sludge, the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio and volatile solids (VS) content are very low. Therefore, it needs to be digested with organic waste that has a high C/N ratio and high VS content. This study investigates the use of sugarcane bagasse (SB) as an effective co-substrate due to its high C/N ratio and high VS content to improve the anaerobic co-digestion process with oily-biological sludge. The sugarcane bagasse also helps to delay the toxicity effect of the methane bacteria. Batch anaerobic co-digestion of oily-biological sludge was conducted with sugarcane bagasse as a co-substrate in twelve reactors with two-liter capacity, each under mesophilic conditions. The interaction effect of a C/N ratio of 20-30 and a VS co-substrate/VS inoculum ratio of 0.06-0.18 on the methane yield (mL CH4/g VSremoved) was investigated. Before the anaerobic digestion, thermochemical pre-treatment of the inoculum and co-substrate was conducted using sodium hydroxide to balance their acidic nature and provide a suitable pH environment for methane bacteria. Design and optimization for the mixing ratios were carried out by central composite design-response surface methodology (CCD-RSM). The highest predicted methane yield was found to be 63.52 mL CH4/g VSremoved, under optimum conditions (C/N ratio of 30 and co-substrate/inoculum ratio of 0.18). © 2020 by the authors. publisher: MDPI date: 2020 type: Article type: PeerReviewed identifier: Ghaleb, A.A.S. and Kutty, S.R.M. and Ho, Y.-C. and Jagaba, A.H. and Noor, A. and Al-Sabaeei, A.M. and Almahbashi, N.M.Y. (2020) Response surface methodology to optimize methane production from mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of oily-biological sludge and sugarcane bagasse. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12 (5). ISSN 20711050 relation: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85082558631&doi=10.3390%2fsu12052116&partnerID=40&md5=345f91499c8b73d9b7e8e5bbc651882d relation: 10.3390/su12052116 identifier: 10.3390/su12052116