Improving the Energetic Efficiency of Biogas Plants Using Enzymatic Additives to Anaerobic Digestion

Abstract

This study was carried out to estimate the relevance of biological supplementation in improving the economic efficiency of anaerobic digestion (AD). Three kinds of silages—maize, grass, and igniscum—were initially inoculated with digestate and then supplemented with one of four vaccines containing different bacteria species (APD®, PPT®, JENOR®) or a yeast and mold mixture (HAP®). In addition, each plant silage was fermented without any additives (control A—maize silage, B—grass silage, and C—igniscum silage). The biodegradability process was performed in batch tests at a mesophilic temperature (38 °C). To compare the energetic efficiency of AD, the process kinetics, biogas, and methane production were analyzed. We found that the applied supplementation measures improved biogas production in the case of maize and igniscum (7–62% higher than controls), but decreased the yield of AD when grass silage was fermented (2–34% lower than controls). The greatest increase in methane production (by 79%) was observed when maize silage was digested with the PPT® pretreatment, with 427 Nm3∙Mg−1 VS (volatile solids).