Ledakowicz S., Pazera A. and Krzystek L.
Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 213 Wolczanska Street, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
When the world in XXI century faces problems with growing energy consumption and reducing fossil fuels it is essential to develop suitable cultivars of crops being renewable sources in order to obtain maximum yield of methane production per hectare, all the more so because in recent years more and more attention has been paid to the usefulness of maize for industrial purposes.
The aim of this paper was to perform Biochemical Methane potential ( BMP) analysis of 33 hybrids of maize in the form of silage in order to select the best cultivars for the biogas production and to determine the efficiency of biogas production per hectare. The results showed that it is important to evaluate the usefulness of energy crops for biogas production in order to obtain the best yields. Significant differences both in the efficiency of biogas production of various hybrids of maize and in methane content were observed, which ranged from 7087 to 15021 m3h-1 of biogas and 41-55% of methane. The most efficient for the production of biogas proved to be hybrids of maturity class FAO 240-250 and 260, all trilinear ones, which showed an average level of green mass yield and dry matter content, approx. 836-860 dt/ha and 270 dt/ha, respectively.