Energy yield decline of Sida hermaphrodita harvested for biogas production

M. Von Cossel, E. Lewin, I. Lewandowski and N.D. Jablonowski

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2024, vol. 190, issue PB

Abstract: The perennial and herbaceous plant Sida hermaphrodita L. Rusby (Sida) has been investigated intensively with respect to its use as a solid biofuel for combustion and, to a lesser extent, for continuous biogas production. Since biogas production provides many opportunities for economic farm diversification, this study compared the biogas potential of Sida with common biogas crops silage maize (Zea mays L.) and cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.). To this end biomass samples were collected from a randomized field trial in Southwest Germany during the vegetative stage in five consecutive years starting in 2014. Biogas batchtests revealed constant specific-methane yields of 279 ± 8 LN kgVS−1 for Sida, significantly lower than for maize (335 ± 5 LN kgVS−1) and significantly higher than for cup plant (264.3 ± 3.7 LN kgVS−1). The annual Sida dry matter biomass yields declined significantly by 51% from 2015 (18.2 ± 2.6 Mg ha−1) to 2018 (9.2 ± 4.8 Mg ha−1) as a result of the summer harvest regime. This, in turn, led to a significant decline in Sida's total annual energy yields. Consequently, the average annual Sida energy yield (3549 ± 901 L heating oil equivalents (HOE) ha−1) was significantly lower than for maize (6611 ± 1186 L HOE ha−1) and cup plant (5261 ± 974 L HOE ha−1). These results clearly indicate that harvesting Sida during the vegetative stage for biogas production significantly decreases its energy yield over time. Therefore, Sida can be used economically and ecologically more sustainable for combustion using the dead plant biomass harvested in winter, while cup plant proved competitive to maize for biogas production.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas substrate; Diversification; Cutting tolerance; Methane yield; Perennial biomass crop; Sustainable bioresource; Virginia fanpetals; Virginia mallow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123009279
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:190:y:2024:i:pb:s1364032123009279

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.114069

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().