Energy and economic potential of maize straw used for biofuels production

Abstract

The paper presents the energy and economic comparison of two technologies of maize straw utilization: solid biofuel production (briquettes) and methane fermentation. The research experiments have shown that maize straw is the material which can be efficiently implemented in both technologies. Maize straw usage as briquettes can generate more energy (10.956 GJ Mg−1) than methane fermentation (9.74). In Europe, biogas is used in co-generation units for production of electric and heat energy. Due to higher price of electricity, economic profitability of maize straw usage for biogas production is over twice higher (182 USD) than in case of briquettes production (96 USD).