Employment of maize silage in non-liquid fermentation for biogas production

Abstract

This paper deals with the optimization of the anaerobic fermentation process of maize silage using the non-liquid technology. The aim of the paper is to increase the knowledge necessary for more efficient running of biogas stations using batch technology of non- liquid fermentation. The preferable ratio of initial materials, fresh maize silage and maize silage after partial fermentation, was verified within this experiment. Dynamics of the process, especially the quantity and quality of produced biogas has been monitored during the experiment. All the experiments have been done in the batch-system fermentors of volume of 0.48 m3 equipped with an independent and indirect circuit of water heating, the heat has been transferred to the material throught the steel wall of the fermentor. The material has been tested in the mesophilic conditions with the temperature of the 38 °C. The retention time of material in fermentors has been 27 days. The results of our experiments reveal the fact that the maize silage of lower mix ratio produced about 22.8 % more of biogas counted to one kilogram of dry matter than the maize silage of higher mix ratio.

Keywords

• non- liquid substrates
• anaerobic fermentation
• biogas
• maize silage