Demonstration of Co-ensiled Sugar-beet Leaves and Straw for Biogas Production

The project demonstrates different methods of the use of co-silaged sugar beet leaves and straw for biogas production. Sugar beet leaves and straw are both considered waste biomasses according to both the Danish sustainability criterions for biogas production and the R&D strategy for biogas. As it is up to 3 mil tons of straw and 1 mil tons of sugar beet leaves are not utilized for energy production but left unutilized in the fields each year. However, it represents a tremendous resource for biogas production, as approx. 500.000 ton oil equivalents of energy could be produced from it in the form of biomethane. A recent R&D project conducted by DTI-AgroTech “Flexible CHP from Biogas Based on Waste Biomass from Agriculture”1) proved that co-ensiled sugar beet leaves and straw is an excellent substrate for biogas production found in lab- and pilot scale experiments. Next step is this project, which contains a full-scale test and demonstration, in which different methods of producing the silage will be tested and demonstrated, experience documented and efficiently communicated.