The potential for biomethane from grass and slurry to satisfy renewable energy targets

A biomethane potential (BMP) assessment of grass silage yielded 107 m(3)CH4 t(-1). Long term mono-digestion of grass silage can suffer due to a deficiency in essential nutrients; this may be overcome by co-digesting with slurry. Mono-digestion of slurry achieved a low yield of 16 m(3)CH4 t(-1). BMP assessments at a range of co-digestion ratios indicated methane yields were between 4% and 11% lower than the values calculated from mono-digestion. This paper suggests that co-digestion of the majority of slurry produced from dairy cows in Ireland with grass silage quantities equivalent to 1.1% of grassland on a 50:50 volatile solids basis would generate over 10% renewable energy supply in transport (RES-T). The industry proposed would equate to 170 digesters each treating 10,000 t a(-1) of grass silage and 40,000 t a(-1) of slurry from dairy cows.