Helianthus salicifolius as a New Biomass Source for Biogas Production

Abstract

Renewable energy is becoming a widely discussed topic in the European Union (EU), due to a desire to reduce the negative effects of fossil fuels on climate change and biodiversity. About 60% of the total renewable energy produced in the EU is derived from biomass. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important pathway to convert biomass into biogas and then into bioenergy. Helianthus salicifolius is a perennial plant, whose biomass can serve as a co-substrate in biogas plants. Biomass composition, in addition to the biomethane and biogas potential, were investigated in raw green biomass and silage obtained from Helianthus salicifolius plants grown under different types (mineral and organic) and doses (0, 85, 170 kg N ha−1) of nitrogen fertilization. The biomethane production efficiency from Helianthus salicifolius was recorded for 25 days and found to range on average between 169.4 NL kg−1 VS for raw biomass and 193.2 NL kg−1 VS for silage. It follows from the current study that ensiling increases substrate digestibility and has a positive impact on methane concentration, but the biomethane and biogas production outputs from those substrates did not differ significantly at the end of the process.

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“…In the EU, the technically and economically most important substrate for biogas production is maize silage, which is considered the benchmark in terms of the biomass volume per hectare and biogas produced [5]. However, corn silage is also used as livestock feed, so demands are increasing, leading to a sharp rise in silage prices in the EU market.…”