ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF ENERGY CROPS – STATE OF THE ART OF BIOGAS TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT: EU policy has improved the legal framework conditions for energy production from renewable sources. Therefore the number of biogas plants and the application of energy crops increased considerably during the last few years. Still, a big discrepancy can be seen between the theoretically available and the actually utilised biogas potential. An optimisation of the efficiency along the whole process chain from the substrate input over technology, process control, digestate utilisation up to energy conversion is necessary to promote the very promising potentials of biogas. The increased use of energy crops induced adaptations in digester, feeding, and mixer technologies as well as in the process control. A new generation of modern biogas plants is the result of this development. An area-wide monitoring of Austrian farm-based biogas plants assessed the current state of the art. Data on biogas technology, substance and energy flows, economic efficiency, work requirement and management of the biogas plants were collected. From these data, a clear picture on the current state of the art and of the performance of biogas plants can be drawn