Putrid Potatoes as Biomass Charge to an Agricultural Biomass-to-Biogas Power Plant

The paper presents results on fermentation process of putrid potatoes, which are useless as food, by applying the biomass-to-biogas conversion technology. The experiment was conducted at laboratory scale in the reactor with volume of 140 dm3. It was found that putrid potatoes (putrid in 10 to 20% by volume) can be managed as satisfactory charge to the fermentation tank. However, their potential for biogas generation is worse than maize. The power in biogas from potatoes fermentation in comparison to maize is lower by approximately 35%. Even though the putrid potatoes are not as good as maize for biogas generation in the agricultural biomass-to-biogas power plant, but they do not spoil the fermentation process, thus, they can be added to the fermentation tanks without any risk of either reducing fermentation process capability or killing the methanogenic bacteria.