The accuracy and unit cost of sensors are important factors for a continuous soil moisture monitoring system. This study compares the accuracy of four soil moisture sensors differing in unit costs in coarse-, fine-, and medium-textured soils. The sensor outputs were recorded for the VWC, ranging from 0% to 50%. Low-cost capacitive and resistive sensors were evaluated with and without the external 16-bit analog-to-digital converter ADS1115 to improve their performances without adding much cost. Without ADS1115, using only Arduino’s built-in analog-to-digital converter, the low-cost sensors had a maximum RMSE of 4.79% (v/v) for resistive sensors and 3.78% for capacitive sensors in medium-textured soil. The addition of ADS1115 showed improved performance of the low-cost sensors, with a maximum RMSE of 2.64% for resistive sensors and 1.87% for capacitive sensors. The higher-end sensors had an RMSE of up to 1.8% for VH400 and up to 0.95% for the 5TM sensor. The RMSE differences between higher-end and low-cost sensors with the use of ADS1115 were not statistically significant.

Converting organic waste into energy through anaerobic digestion is gaining popularity day by day. The reactor temperature is considered as one of the most vital factors for the digestion process. An experiment was conducted in the Biogas Laboratory of Green Energy Knowledge Hub at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) to examine the influence of temperature on anaerobic digestion of cow-dung. Laboratory-scale continuous stirred tank reactors with a working volume of 15 L were operated for a 30-day retention time. The reactors were set at 20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, 35 °C, 40 °C and 45 °C, respectively to determine the effect of temperature on anaerobic digestion performance. Different parameters like total solids, volatile solids, pH, volatile fatty acids, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, biogas production rate and methane concentration were examined. Among all the reactors, the reactor at 40 °C temperature produced maximum biogas (312.43 L/kg VS) and methane yields (209.70 L/kg VS), followed by the reactors at 35 °C and 30 °C, respectively. Statistical analysis of the obtained experimental results using Minitab® (State College, PA, USA) showed that the optimum process performance in terms of methane yield and volatile solid degradation is achieved at a reactor temperature of 35.82 °C.

Biogas is produced in Bangladesh mostly through fixed-dome anaerobic digesters, which usually operate without any temperature controller. An experiment was conducted to monitor the seasonal temperature variation inside a fixed-dome type digester and its effect on biogas composition. A commercial-scale digester with a working volume of 350 m³ was used for this study. Three k-type thermocouple sensors were used to monitor the ambient, biogas, and slurry temperatures in real-time. The results showed that the average ambient temperature in the autumn, late autumn, and winter was 29.05, 22.90, and 17.64 °C, respectively. The average slurry temperature in the autumn (30.38 °C) was higher than in the late autumn (29.36 °C) and in the winter (25.76 °C). The highest and lowest slurry temperatures were found to be 31.11 and 24.47 °C, respectively, which indicated that the digester worked within a wide temperature range, establishing both psychrophilic and mesophilic operational conditions. Higher methane concentrations were observed in the autumn than in the late autumn and winter. The CO₂ and H₂S concentrations were higher in the winter than those of in the autumn and late autumn. The electricity generation in the winter was 47.85% and 45.15% lower than in the autumn and late autumn, respectively.

Kitchen waste from hotels and homes is one of the major problems for urban and rural environment and could be one of the best sources of renewable energy by producing biogas through anaerobic digestion. A research work was undertaken to assess the methane potential of kitchen waste at different total solids (TS) content. Kitchen wastes such as spoiled rice, brinjal, potato, papaya, tomato, fish and poultry parts etc., which are easily decomposed, were selected for this study. Batch experiments were set up under ambient temperature. Kitchen waste was added to the batch digester at different TS content (5, 7, 10, 12 and 15%) and sealed for 146 days until the gas production stopped. Substrate characteristics were analyzed before and after the anaerobic digestion. The highest methane yield was 78.12 L/kg VS at 15% TS content followed by 12, 10, 7 and 5%. Different kinetic parameters were determined using a logistic model and the model showed a good fit with the experimental results. After modelling using Minitab®, the optimum TS content for kitchen waste was found to be 14.90%.