Biogas potential from underwood plants
2021
Dubrovskis, V., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia) | Plume, I., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia) | Dubrovskis, D., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia)
Adherence to the principles of sustainable forest management and increasing economic efficiency is one of the most important tasks of forest management. Therefore, new forest products are being developed in the world and also in Latvia, which are in demand in the market and increase the income of the landowner. In many European countries, in addition to growing valuable timber in stands, attention is being paid to the possibilities of developing the cultivation of ground cover plants and undergrowth biomass by creating cultivated plantations under tree crowns. The forest growing cycle is long, timber production per unit area is cyclical, it repeats every 20 years. Regular production of biomass through the cultivation of undergrowth and ground cover plants can ensure regular production of hitherto little-used biomass, which has an additional economic effect. For example, in fertile growing conditions, clearings and young stands are often overgrown with wild raspberries, which are heavily devoted to harvesting and shading future trees. Biomass from caring for young plants can be used for energy. At the same time, due to the reduction of mandatory procurement, cheaper raw materials are needed to survive in biogas plants. In this study, the biogas production potential from three Latvian underwood plants was tested: ferns (filice), thistles (carduus) and wild raspberries (silva amet) leaves and stalks. These plants were treated in 16 laboratory bioreactors at 38 ºC for 40 days under anaerobic conditions. From ferns 0.274 L•gE−1 DOM biogas, 0.06 L•gE−1 DOM methane was obtained. 0.703 L•gE−1 DOM biogas (0.256 L•gE−1 DOM methane) was obtained from thistle and 0.511 L•gE−1 DOM biogas (0.191 L•gE−1 DOM methane) from raspberry leaves and stalks. The study shows that thistle and raspberry leaves and stalks are suitable as a raw material for biogas production. Further research is needed to find out why bacteria make poor use of fern biomass.
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