Abstract—Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has become a viable way
to manage agricultural waste and produce renewable energy
simultaneously. Cow dung is a particularly notable feedstock in
this expanding field of study because of its high organic content,
accessibility, and dual use as an energy source and animal waste.
This study examines the effectiveness of using controlled
anaerobic digestion to produce biogas from cow dung. The
justification for using cow dung is due to it will assist the cattle
industry developing a circular economy by lowering greenhouse
gas emissions, enhancing waste management techniques, and
promoting decentralised power systems. The performance of the
AD process was assessed through the analysis of Total Solids (TS),
Volatile Solids (VS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and
Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA). Initially in the digestive process, a
significant rise in VFA levels suggested that hydrolysis,
acidogenesis, and acetogenesis were all actively proceeding. After
40 days of digestion, biogas tests showed a methane content of up
to 60%, indicating that methane generation peaked during the
methanogenesis period. Significant drops in TS and VS (between
92% and 99%) provided further verification of the high level of
organic matter decomposition. Furthermore, 96.4% COD
removal was achieved, highlighting the effective breakdown and
conversion of organic material into CO₂ and CH₄, which are
components of biogas. These results demonstrate the energy and
environmental advantages of anaerobic digestion as a green
waste-to-energy technology and support the feasibility of using
cow dung as a feedstock for biogas generation.
Keywords—anaerobic Digester, biogas, cow manure, total
solids, volatile solids
Cite: Zainab Elkahlout, Fares AlMomani, Arjumand Bano, and Kashif Rasool, "Anaerobic Digestion of Cow Manure for Biogas Production," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 86-93, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).