Study of Potential of Erianthus sp. for Biogas Production

บทคัดย่อ

Due to the energy crisis, renewable energy production has been promoted in Thailand such as gasification and biogas production for electric power. Recently, the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy has put emphases on the development of renewable energy from crops such as Napier, rice straw etc. The production of alternative energy plants suitable for growing area would be the way to increase productivity. Therefore, the production of Erianthus sp. (ThE98-242) on a commercial scale was studied. The chemical composition of 6-month old Erianthus sp. showed C, H, N, S and O contents of 45.232, 6.333, 0.678, 0.201 and 47.557%, respectively. This sample could yeild biogas production of approximately 165.46 l/kg along with degradable organic matter of 90% at moisture content of 54.5%, which in total could provide biogas production of 1,636.40 m^3/Rai or electricity generation of 1,963.68 kw-h/Rai. The CH4 and CO2 contents in the biogas were 53.5 and 46.50%, respectively. The Erianthus sp. plated for 7 months with different plant spaces of 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 m yielded dried matter of 4.95, 3.45 and 2.9 Ton/Rai, respectively.