Determination of biogas potential of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.)

Abstract

Kroz stoljeće neracionalnog korištenja konvencionalnih izvora energije, ljudi su razvili svijest o problemima sadašnjih i budućih generacije. Osim iscrpljivanja neobnovljivih resursa, problem za koji se dugo zna, je i zagađenje okoliša. Uporabom obnovljivih izvora energije (sunca, vjetra, vode i biomase), koji mogu u potpunosti zamijeniti tradicionalne izvore energije, smanjila bi se emisija štetnih plinova u atmosferi. Jedan od obnovljivih izvora energije je bioplin, proizvod biomase. Potencijalni izvor šumske biomase mogao bi biti i divlji kesten (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) čiji je prinos, u sezoni zriobe, 150 – 200 kg po stablu. Sjemenke sadrže više od 40% škroba koji je potencijalna sirovina za proizvodnju etanola. Budući da se iz jedne tone divljeg kestena dobije 48.73 m3 bioplina, možemo zaključiti da plod divljeg kestena nije odgovarajuća sirovina za proizvodnju bioplina te da bi trebalo koristiti drugu biomasu koja ima bolju iskoristivost.During the last centurie of irrational use of conventional energy sources, people have developed awareness of the problems of present and future generations. Apart from the exhaustion of nonrenewable resources, the problem that has long been known is environmental pollution. By using renewable energy sources (sun, wind, water and biomass), which can completely replace traditional energy sources, the emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere could be reduced. One of the renewableb energy sources is biogas, byproduct of biomass. Potential source of biomass in the forest could be also european horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) who´s average crop per season is 150 – 200 kg per tree. Individual seed is made of more than 40% starch, wich is potential raw material for etanol production. Since it is possible to get just 48.73 m3 of biogas from one ton of European Horse chestnut, we can conclude that european horse chestnut seeds are not sufficient raw material for biogas production and therefore different biomass sould be used for better efficienc