About the project
According to Finland’s bioeconomy strategy, biogas-based value chains should be developed by building biogas plants in connection with agricultural operations. However, this poses a challenge from the perspective of greenhouse cultivation. Not all plant parts produced as byproducts of cultivation are suitable for use as feedstock in biogas production with current technology. If cucumber and tomato plants produced as byproducts of greenhouse cultivation, as well as used growing media, could be utilized as raw materials for biogas, this would directly support the goals of Finland’s bioeconomy strategy. However, this would require a new type of biogas reactor, as well as the use of residual products from biogas production as growing media in greenhouses.A reduction in the use of energy peat by 2030 will have both indirect and direct impacts on the availability of peat as a growing medium in greenhouse production. The production of growing peat is not economically viable on its own without energy peat. The project will test a new type of biogas reactor and a cost-effective gas purification process, which will enable the use of challenging raw materials such as byproducts from greenhouse cultivation.
Project goal
To investigate the use of peat substitutes as raw material for biogas production and the processing of digestate from biogas reactors into growing media. Indirect objectives of the project: 1. To investigate the harvesting chains, biogas potential, and nutrient content of common reed, which supports the efficient utilization of biomass and the prevention of eutrophication in waterways. 2. To assess the potential for growing reed canary grass in areas freed up from peat production, which supports the restoration peat lands. 3. Investigate the suitability of different growing media, such as reed, reed canary grass, and chicken manure, as feedstocks for biogas production in a new type of biogas reactor developed in a recently completed project. This will be implemented using a pilot plant. 4. Serve as a preliminary study and demonstration on the basis of which companies can proceed with further development.
Andreas Willfors
Project Leader