ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION OF JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (HELIANTHUS TUBEROSUS)

The current trend in the field of biogas is to build smaller plants than before. Linked to this is the possibility of using smaller agricultural areas in less accessible locales with low-quality soil. Agricultural biogas plants utilize mostly corn silage. For maize the specific production of biogas can be around 0.500-0.550 m(3) . kg(-1) and the methane content in the material is more than 55%. In these areas, it is necessary to consider other crops, which would be suitable to worse conditions. One option is the Jerusalem artichoke, which might yield biogas in a manner comparable with maize. The average production of biogas from the Jerusalem artichoke silage was 0.437 m(3) . kg(-1), the average concentration of methane was 53.00%. To compare the quantity and quality of biogas from the Jerusalem artichoke, the Nation-wide Reference Laboratory of Biogas Transformations at Mendel University has carried out anaerobic fermentation tests.