Feasibility of Anaerobic Digestion of Potato peels for Biogas as Mitigation of Greenhouse gases Emission Potential

Processing of round potatoes (Solanum tuberosum (L.) into chips in Tanzania and particularly Dar es Salaam city is a growing business that attract low wages employees and unemployed occupants. Proliferation of chips vendors with low knowledge, poor attitude and practice towards environment have resulted into poor management of potato peels waste which are haphazardly disposed of thus causing unhealthy environment, health risks and dilapidated infrastructure. In this paper, the contribution of potato peels to emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) was analyzed for Dar es Salaam city adapting the UNFCCC baseline scenario model. Based on the 2012 city population of 4.37million with 5.6% growth rate, peels generation and GHGs emission potential have been quantified and projected for 20 years. The global warming potential as CO2 equivalent cumulatively stands at 2 kilotons of peels to 1 ton GHGs emission. Field investigation to assess feasibility of using the peels for biogas production as mitigation measure for the GHGs emission was conducted. Availability, quantitative and qualitative attributes of the peels for the biogas production in Dar es Salaam are hereby presented.