Comparative analysis of raw materials of biogas production plant

Sipos, Gyula

Keywords: energy supply, biogas production, „Szarvasi-1” energy grass

Today, among the numerous renewing energy sources biomass is the only renewing energy source in Hungary which is available in sufficient volumes and using them may significantly decrease the country’s energy dependence. In addition, biomass is a re-newing. The activities of biogas plants are based on manure and silo maize. In Hun-gary, the reducing manure volume resulting from the reduction in livestock is supple-mented by the biogas plants with extra silo maize volumes. This study concentrates on the supplementary plant material for biogas. Speaking about alternative energy crops is elementary highlight the “Szarvasi-1” energy grass. The amount of harvested hay of “Szarvasi-1” (calculated in tonnes of methane) is the highest among the plants present in the market today. For this reason “Szarvasi-1” can be efficiently utilized in the biogas production.
The German Landwirtschaftlichen Lehranstalten of Triesdorf compared the rate of utilization of „Szarvasi-1” energy grass and silage maize between 2009 and 2011. The results of the research show that “Szarvasi-1” has the highest value in terms of energy utilization. The results are highlighted? Concerning the dry weight yield: the “Szarvasi-1” clearly exceeded the corn used as reference, concerning the methane production the “Szarvasi-1” energy grass reached the highest level in all tasted plants. Therefore it can replace maize in biogas production in addition to the improvement of food and fodder safety.
Based on the CBA calculation of the cultivation, it can be established that the 10 years projected cultivation of “Szarvasi-1” energy grass as biogas material has a net present value of € 1,055,232 , while in the case of silage maize is EUR 753,993 . Look-ing at the unit cost seems that the cost of “Szarvasi- 1” energy grass is about half of the silage maize.

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