PRESSMUD
PRESSMUD
Press mud is a solid residue, obtained from sugarcane juice before crystallization of sugar. Press-mud which is also called as filter-cake is rich in methane which is the major source of biogas
Generally press mud is used as manure in India. It is a soft, spongy, lightweight, amorphous, dark brown to black coloured material. the chemical composition depends on cane variety, soil condition, nutrients applied in the field, process of clarification adopted and other environmental factors. Press mud from sugar factory typically contains 71% moisture, 9% ash and 20% volatile solids, with 74-75% organic matter on solids.
The press mud contains 77% volatile solids, lignin, lipids, cellulose, hemicelluloses etc which favours biogas production. It also has good proportion of nitrogen. This makes it a very good material for generation of bioenergy (methane) by anaerobic Biomethanation. The advantage of using press mud is that the sludge coming out from the digester is a good fertilizer PROM and press mud can be used in combination with other raw materials to increase the efficiency. Other advantages are- it is pollution free, waste reduction, flexible use of biogas etc. Besides these advantages, it has some limitations like it requires the temperature to be maintained to 40˚C and a uniform stirring effort is required.
