Jakarta – Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) student Zel Andesra converted liquid rumen waste into electricity as an alternative to energy source for the community, ITS announced in their website Monday (14/3).
Rumen is the the first and largest stomach compartment of a ruminant, where food is partly digested before entering its reticulum. Rumen waste if often discarded in slaughterhouses and thrown away, causing pollution.
Based on this problem, Andesra, an industrial chemical engineering student initiated an innovation of utilizing liquid rumen waste as an alternative to electrical energy. He said the use of rumen waste in Indonesia is still limited as a bioactivator or reprocessed animal feed.
“According to our research, it turns out that liquid rumen waste can be used as alternative electrical energy,” said Andesra.
Taking advantage of the abundant microbial content in rumen waste, he analyzed how effectively these microbes can generate electricity. By knowing the pH and COD (chemical oxygen demand) content of rumen waste, it can be determined that the waste can generate electrical energy.
As an alternative energy source, utilization of rumen waste is sufficient to supply electricity to farms in an area. “With the cooperation of the breeders, it is not impossible that their daily electricity needs can be met only with this innovation,” he said.
The research succeeded in bringing Andesra to second place in the Paper Skullers Insight ITB 2022 Competition. The short preparation and difficulty in conducting research independently did not dampen his enthusiasm for innovation in the field of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). “Hopefully this research can contribute to reducing the impact of climate change,” he concluded. (Hartatik)
