Economic performances of anaerobic digestion plants: Effect of maize silage energy density at increasing transport distances

The results show that, for short distances (<3 km), the economic performances are similar for AD plants fed with the whole plant silage and with that from the plant cut at 0.75 m; however, they are substantially better than those of the plant fed with ear silage. Beyond 14 km ear silage becomes more interesting than the whole plant; up to 32 km the plant fed with silage from the high cut is the most profitable whereas, beyond this transport distance, the ear silage is the best solution. The achieved results are interesting for stakeholders and policymakers involved in the biogas agro-energy processes, because they can be useful to reduce the cost of feedstock supply.