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The Box-Behnken design of experiments and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to optimize thermo-alkaline disintegration of cattle rumen content in order to maximize biogas generation. The impacts of temperature, time, NaOH concentration, and Ca (OH)2 concentration, as well as the individual linear and quadratic effects, were investigated. The optimum pretreatment condition using NaOH was found to be at 80.171oC, 13.086 minutes and 2.505 M (NaOH) while that of Ca(OH)2 was found to be 71.446oC ,19.255 minutes and 2.591M Ca(OH)2.The results from the physiochemical properties such as the pH which was about 6.8, and the structural carbohydrate content which revealed a higher proportion of cellulose when compared to hemicellulose and lignin all show how viable and susceptible the cattle rumen content is in the thermo-alkaline pretreatment and in the production of biogas. For NaOH the degree of degradation was found to be 58.863%, R² value of 95.07%. While that of Ca (OH) 2 the degree of degradation was found to be 51.945%, R² value of 86.91%. The total solid of 10.8±0.15% volatile solid of 89.00±0.5% of the cattle rumen content all show the suitability and feasibility of the thermo-alkaline pretreatment process.
