Utilization of by-products from ethanol production as substrate for biogas production

Results have shown that steam-explosion pre-treatment increased the specific biogas yields of straw and bagasse significantly compared to the untreated material. The utilization of these by-products can contribute to 5% of the total energy consumption and thereby higher energy independence in Brazil. Further efforts in defining the optimum pretreatment conditions with steam-explosion as well as implementing this technology in large scale plants should be made.