Greger, Manfred[University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) > Engineering Research Unit >]
Nov-2012
Venice 2012 Fourth International Symposium on Energy from Biomass and Waste Proceedings
Bilitewski, B.
Clarke, W. P.
Cossu, R.
Matsuto, T.
Nelles, M.
Stegmann, R.
CISA
Yes
No
International
978-88-6265-006-9
Padova
Italy
4th International Symposium on Energy from Biomass and Waste
12th - 15th November 2012
IWWG - International Waste Working Group
Venice
Italy
[en] Co-digestion ; Energy crops ; Biogas yield
[en] In recent years, energy crops have been increasingly introduced as co-substrates in biogas plants due to their high biogas yield potential. The purpose of the current research was to investigate the influence of the mixture of maize and grass silages, added as feedstock, on the specific methane production (SMP) and on the process dynamics. To this end, biological methane potential (BMP) tests were carried out in 500ml reactors with grass and maize silage in mono-digestion and 3 different co-digestion mixtures. For selected mixtures, process dynamics were further investigated in batch anaerobic experiments in 1 litre reactors by measuring different control parameters. A positive correlation was observed between the proportion of grass in the mixture and the specific methane yield due to the higher protein content (a yield up to 6% higher in comparison with mono-digestion of maize). Nevertheless, increasing amounts of grass were also related with slower degradation (lower hydrolysis rate constants) and higher instability during the first days of digestion.