Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK 8830 Tjele, Denmark; Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia. Electronic address: Radziah.Wahid@eng.au.dk
  • 2 Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK 8830 Tjele, Denmark
  • 3 Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK 8830 Tjele, Denmark
Bioresour Technol, 2015 Dec;198:124-32.
PMID: 26386414 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.08.154

Abstract

This study investigated the potentials of forbs; caraway, chicory, red clover and ribwort plantain as substrates for biogas production. One-, two- and four-cut systems were implemented and the influence on dry matter yields, chemical compositions and methane yields were examined. The two- and four-cut systems resulted in higher dry matter yields (kg [total solid, TS] ha(-1)) compared to the one-cut system. The effect of plant compositions on biogas potentials was not evident. Cumulative methane yields (LCH4kg(-1) [volatile solid, VS]) were varied from 279 to 321 (chicory), 279 to 323 (caraway), 273 to 296 (ribwort plantain), 263 to 328 (red clover) and 320 to 352 (grass-clover mixture), respectively. Methane yield was modelled by modified Gompertz equation for comparison of methane production rate. Near infrared spectroscopy showed potential as a tool for biogas and chemical composition prediction. The best prediction models were obtained for methane yield at 29 days (99 samples), cellulose, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre and crude protein, (R(2)>0.9).

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.