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Abstract: Bioenergy derived from biomass is expected to play a major role in the future energy system. This paper presents the results of two sets of laboratory experiments on biogas generation from the wastes of a rural vegetable market of Bangladesh in a single chamber and a double chamber reactors under daily feed condition. The daily average composition of easily biodegradable wastes of the market was used as the substrate for biogas generation. The major biodegradable wastes were cow dung, cauliflower stick, papaya and potato. The average total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) concentrations of the substrate were found to be 18.90% and 15.10% respectively. The experimental setups were placed in a closed chamber containing a room heater. It was operated at 35oC to maintain a favorable condition for anaerobic digestion of the substrate. In the first setup, 1000 g wastes and 1100 mL inoculum were added initially to the single chamber reactor. In the second setup, the double chamber reactor (bottom interconnection) was initially fed with 1000 g wastes (500 g in each chamber) and 550 mL inoculum was added to each chamber. Both the reactors were operated simultaneously for 67 days. To maintain the hydraulic retention time (HRT) as 40 days, from the 2nd day of operation, each reactor was fed daily with a mixture of 25 g wastes and 27.5 mL of tap water after dispensing 50 mL of slurry from the reactor. The results of the experiments revealed that the temperature varied from 33 to 36oC and it did not affect the rate of biogas generation. For the organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.89gVS/L.d, the daily stable biogas generation rate was 0.32 and 0.25 m3/kg of VS added for the single chamber reactor and the double chamber reactor respectively. The performance of the single chamber reactor was better than that of the double chamber reactor.

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