Evaluation of triticale anaerobic digestion in a double cropping system: Relation between biomass yield, chemical composition, and biomethane production

• Published in: Biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 1599 - 1612
• Main Authors: Garuti, Mirco, Soldano, Mariangela, Mazzola, Lorenzo, Fermoso, Fernando G., Rodriguez, Antonia J., Immovilli, Alessandra, Dal Prà, Aldo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-11-2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; Anaerobic treatment; Biogas; Biological fertilization; Biomass; biomethane; Cellulose; Chemical composition; Crop production; Cropping systems; Double cropping; Dough; Economics; Energy; Energy crops; Fertilization; Food; Foods; Methane; Principal components analysis; Profitability; Renewable energy; Starch; Tillage; Triticale; Yields
• ISSN: 1932-104X; 1932-1031
• DOI: 10.1002/bbb.2393

For sustainable biomethane production, energy crops should not compete for land against feed and food. In response to this requirement, a set of practices for an innovative way to produce food and biomethane was developed in Italy with the Biogasdoneright™ model, which introduces the double‐cropping system along with digestate fertilization and minimum tillage. Triticale is a promising feedstock as energy crop in such systems. Ninteen varieties of triticale harvested at milk and dough development stages were evaluated. Principal component analysis showed that cellulose content positively affects methane production whereas starch content has only a very weak relation with specific methane yield and methane formation rate. Despite these relations, triticale chemical composition did not influence the profitability of bioenergy production as much as the total biomass solids yields, the total solids concentration at harvest, and the timing of growth. Triticale can be considered a suitable energy crop for biomethane targeting at least 4600 Nm3 CH4 per hectare. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.