ABSTRACT
Aim: This research aimed to study the ability of microbial consortium from buffalo feces to produce coal bed methane (CBM) in lignite coal through in-vitro technique.Methodology: This study was carried out in 2 stages: In first stage, microbes activated using in-vitro technique, and at second stage volatile fatty acids (VFA) and coal bed methane production were estimated. The nutrition source for inoculum activation was of three types: 100% concentrate: 70% concentrate: 30% grass and 30% concentrate: 70% grass. Biogas digester in laboratory-scale utilized 100 ml serum bottle filled with 70 ml, 98-5 media and 7 g coal. Microbial inoculum was inoculated on digester using a 10 ml syringe and incubated at 39oC. Parameters observed to measure the quality of inoculum were total number of anaerobic microbes, kinetics, and biogas production during fermentation. Complete Randomized Design with two factorial consisted of incubation period as factor A and inoculum dosages as factor B. Results: The activation process of inoculum from buffalo feces was required to produce coal bed methane in anaerobic digestion. During activation process, the microbes from buffalo feces in a mixture of 70% concentrate and 30% grass at 48 hr observation could produce total gas approximately 22.5 ml at 48 hr observation. Addition of activated buffalo feces anaerobic inoculum on the anaerobic digestion as much as 6% produced the highest number of anaerobic bacteria, and VFA accounted for 31 x 1010 CFU ml-1 and 171.7 mM, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest methane production reached 128.61 ml on adding 6% inoculum