Optimisation of the Co-Digestion of Maize and Grass Silage Influence of the Substrate Mixture on the Biogas Yield

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.