Nutrient Value of Digestate from Agricultural Biogas Plant in Poland

Abstract

The increase in energy demand creates a need to look for new ways of energy production, as fossil fuel resources are limited and nuclear energy is not always well perceived, thus new directions for fuel production are being sought for. One of them is agricultural biogas obtained in the process of methane fermentation, the by-product of which is digested pulp (digestate), having a fertilizing potential, often underestimated. The purpose of the following study is to determine the fertilizer value of digested pulp coming from a Polish biogas plant. The obtained results of digestate chemical analyzes and available information on mineral fertilizers enabled to estimate the value of digestate from the analyzed biogas plant. Based on the adopted methodology, it has been calculated that the value of the analyzed digestate is 24,9 PLN. It should be emphasized, however, that there are more nutrients in the digestate than just the analyzed nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and therefore its value increases.