Abstract

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has shown to give high biomass yield compared to other crops grown in Sweden, which suggests that it is a potential energy crop. In this study the potential for producing methane through anaerobic digestion was determined for four different harvest times ranging from July to October in the growing seasons 2006 and 2007, in the south of Sweden. After 30 days of thermophilic digestion there was no significant difference in the specific methane yield neither between the years nor between the different harvest times. For hemp harvested in July an initial inhibition of the methane production was observed but the production recovered within time. The measured average methane yield for all the samples was 238 Nm3 per ton VS with an expected true average between 227 and 249 Nm3 based on a 95% confidence interval. The biomass increased during the growth season until September–October. Based on the average harvest yield and methane yield in September for the two years the methane yield per hectare corresponds to 134 GJ per hectare, which is twice as high as ethanol from wheat grain and in the same range as biogas from corn grown in the south of Sweden

Published in

Conference

5th International Symposium on Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Wastes and Energy Crops

SLU Authors

• Prade, Thomas

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Svensson, Sven-Erik

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Renewable Bioenergy Research


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/22864