Economic optimization of feedstock mix for energy production with biogas technology in Germany with a special focus on sugar beets - Effects on greenhouse gas emissions and energy balances
Autor/in:Auburger, S.; A. Jacobs, B. Märländer, E. Bahrs
Power production from biogas is quite common in Germany and other parts of the world. German biogas
production, in particular, primarily uses silage corn as feedstock which is unpopular with the society
because of the negative side effects. Sugar beets could be an alternative. This paper maps the aggregated
results concerning the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy balances of power production from
different energy crops at national level based on field experiments and all biogas plants registered in
Germany. The regional feedstock production costs integrated into the objective function of a plant
specific linear optimization model were calculated based on regional production circumstances and
district specific yields. Different scenarios with e.g. a fixed share of sugar beets in biogas plant feedstock
mix as well as yield increases due to biological and technical progress of silage corn and sugar beets were
compared to a business as usual scenario in terms of their effects on GHG emissions and energy balances
of power production. The results demonstrated that the GHG emissions and energy balances depend on
regional production circumstances. Furthermore, forcing sugar beets into feedstock mix resulted in
generally higher GHG emissions and deteriorated energy balances.