Production efficiency of Poland farm-scale biogas plants: A case study

Abstract

This paper provides the analysis of results of biogas and methane yield for: maize silage (MS), pig slurry (PS), waste potatoes (WP) and sugar beet pulp (SB). The results show that maize silage is the most energy substrate (among the samples tested), providing a cumulative methane yield from 595 to 631 m-3 Mg VS (VS – volatile solids). The study was carried out in a laboratory scale using anaerobic batch reactors, at controlled (mesophilic) temperature and pH conditions. This paper is Part I of a report of an experiment carried out, in the laboratory scale and in the commercial scale (in parallel) The purpose of the experiment was to verify differences in biomethane yields of the same materials in the two scales. Moreover, this paper is an introduction to a presentation of the method to determine the biochemical methane potential correction coefficient (BMPCC), the details of which will be explained in Part II.