Silage biogas plant
Half of the European biogas plants operate on maize silage or on a mixture of silage and waste. Maize is specially grown to produce electricity or biogas-to-methane.
It is believed that maize silage for energy occupies land that could be used for food. However, those who express such an opinion forget that in today’s Europe there is an overproduction of food. It is economically more feasible for farmers to produce energy than food, and no one is starving.
In Europe, growing maize to produce silage for energy production is the better financial decision. Across the world, the farmers, who do not have enough food, are usually growing grain.
There are several biogas technologies for maize silage:
CSTR - Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor
HLR - High-load reactors
Fesibility and processing technologies
CSTR - Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor
In CSTR reactors the dry matter (DM) in the reactor is 5-8%. The dry matter is limited by mixers. The organic load is 2-5 kg ODM per m3 of reactor per day. That is why the reactor volume and number of reactors are big. And the capital cost of such reactors are high.
For the operation of a 1,2MW biogas plant 21 000 tons of silage per year are required. With a yield of 40 tons per hectare, the required land area is 525 hectares.
HLR - High-load reactors
In technology with high-loaded reactors the dry matter (DM) in the reactor is 16%. The high-load reactors are loaded 3-5 times as much as CSTR. HLR reactors are small and super-productive. The organic load is 8-15 kg ODM per m3 reactor per day. And the capital cost of such reactors is 1/3...1/2 that of the CSTR. HLR technology is particularly well suited for silage and large-scale projects with electric power above 2.5 MW.
Proposal for a biogas plant 1MW electric power using maize
Proposal for a biogas plant 2,3MW electric power using maize
Proposal for a biogas plant 6,9MW electric power using maize
To calculate a quotation for a biogas plant, please fill out the questionnaire for silage producers.
Looking for a solution for your business?
Contact form
Fill out the form, and we will contact you as soon as possible.