New energy crop giant cane (Arundo donax L.) can substitute traditional energy crops increasing biogas yield and reducing costs

Published Date
September 2015, Vol.191:197–204, doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.05.015

Author 

Luca Corno ^a

Roberto Pilu ^b

Fulvia Tambone ^a

Barbara Scaglia ^a

Fabrizio Adani ^a,,

aDi.S.A.A. – Gruppo Ricicla – Biomass and Bioenergy Laboratory – DiSAA, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy

bDi.S.A.A. – Gruppo Ricicla – Genetic Laboratory – DiSAA, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy

Received 31 March 2015. Revised 7 May 2015. Accepted 8 May 2015. Available online 13 May 2015.

Highlights

• Giant cane is a promising energy crop producing biogas.
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  Biogas lab-scale tests compared giant cane and corn.
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  Because of high biomass production, giant cane produced much more biogas than corn Ha⁻¹.
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  The use of giant cane allows the strong reduction of cost in producing electricity or biomethane.

Abstract

Giant cane is a promising non-food crop for biogas production. Giant cane and corn silages coming from full-scale fields were tested, in mixtures with pig slurry, for biomethane production by a continuous stirred tank lab-scale-reactor (CSTR) approach. Results indicated that giant cane produced less biomethane than corn, i.e. 174 ± 10 N m³ CH₄ Mg⁻¹ TS⁻¹ and 245 ± 26 N m³ CH₄ Mg⁻¹ TS⁻¹, respectively. On the other hand, because of its high field biomass production, the biogas obtainable per Ha was higher for giant cane than for corn, i.e. 12,292 N m³ CH₄ Ha⁻¹ and 4549 N m³ CH₄ Ha⁻¹, respectively. Low energetic and agronomic inputs for giant cane cultivation led to a considerable reduction in the costs of producing both electricity and biomethane, i.e. 0.50 € Nm⁻³ CH₄⁻¹ and 0.81 € Nm⁻³ CH₄⁻¹, and 0.10 € kW h_EE⁻¹ and 0.19 € kW h_EE⁻¹ for biomethane and electricity production, and for giant cane and corn mixtures respectively.

Keywords

Arundo donax

Biogas

CP-MAS ¹³C NMR

CSTR approach

Energy crop

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Supplementary data

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  Corresponding author at: Gruppo Ricicla, DiSAA, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy. Tel.: +39 0250316545; fax: +39 0250316521.

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