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English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2017</strong><br />
The chopped stover is unloaded onto the silage pile.<br />
Using the telescopic handler, the sugar-beets are chopped into the maize stover.<br />
One of the intriguing questions was: How<br />
much biogas is the mixed silage providing?<br />
To answer this question, Pieper had taken<br />
samples in mid-January and sent them to<br />
the Agricultural Investigation and Research<br />
Institute in Oldenburg [LUFA Nord-West].<br />
The result: The maize stover/sugar-beet<br />
silage yields 559 standard litres of biogas<br />
per kilogramme organic dry matter with a<br />
methane content of 51 percent. In comparison:<br />
The analysed chopped sugar-beets<br />
yield 549 standard litres per kilogramme<br />
organic dry matter, also with a methane<br />
content of 51 percent, and the pure maize<br />
silage of the farm yields 563 to 565 standard<br />
litres per kilogramme organic dry matter<br />
with a methane content of 52.5 percent.<br />
Conclusion: Theoretically, the maize stover/sugar-beet<br />
silage achieves about 99 percent<br />
of the biogas yield of the pure maize<br />
silage from 2016. This means that this biomass<br />
mixture can be highly recommended<br />
as biogas feedstock and as a replacement<br />
for silo maize. However, it must be noted<br />
that about four hectares of grain maize<br />
stover are required to replace one hectare<br />
of silo maize. The reason: Technically, only<br />
about half of the grain maize stover can be<br />
harvested. The other half remains in the<br />
field. It can be used for humus reproduction.<br />
It has been demonstrated that maize stover<br />
supports sugar-beet preservation. In the<br />
method described it became clear that<br />
neither a ground basin nor any other storage<br />
container is necessary for sugar-beet<br />
storage. Stover removal results in a loss of<br />
nutrients which enables the farmers supplying<br />
the stover to spread more of their<br />
own organic fertilizer. Biogas producers<br />
should not pay for the stover. According to<br />
Baye, grain maize underseeded with grass<br />
can earn the “greening premium”. Farmers<br />
that provide the stover should be able<br />
to earn 90-120 euros per hectare this way.<br />
This amount would more than compensate<br />
for the free stover provision.<br />
With the silage distributor, the tractor roller works the chopped sugar-beets into the stover.<br />
photos: Firm Geringhoff<br />
Author<br />
Martin Bensmann (Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH))<br />
Editor, Biogas Journal<br />
German Biogas Association<br />
Phone: 00 49 54 09 90 69 426<br />
e-mail: martin.bensmann@biogas.org<br />
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