Biogas from Willow Wood at the University of Szeged

A biotechnological process that has been known for a long time and used all over the world has been extended and made more economical and environmentally friendly by the collaborative research groups of the Department of Biotechnology and the Institute of Plant Biology of the University of Szeged. According to the new recipe, willow is also used for biogas production.

Thanks to joint research at the University of Szeged (SZTE) and the Biological Research Center of Szeged, led by academician Dénes Dudits, it has been found that, when placed in biogas reactors, willow biomass is one of the most suitable feedstocks for biogas production, alongside conventional organic waste.

"The aim of the research is to increase the use of green energy production, which is becoming increasingly important due to the growing demand for energy, in an environmentally friendly way and to apply it in the right way," Dr. Zoltán Bagi, the technical leader of the research said. The assistant professor at the Department of Biotechnology at the University of Szeged also stressed that almost all organic materials, such as animal manure, food by-products and waste, carcasses of dead animals and parts of plants, can be used in fermentation tanks to produce biogas. The same is true for organic household waste and sewage sludge. All of these can be used to produce biogas, a renewable energy carrier, using micro-organisms and biotechnological methods. Organic matter cannot be recovered for energy production by other means and can cause a number of environmental and health problems when disposed of in the environment.

"Biogas production involves the biological fermentation of these materials to produce energy and their disposal, with the residue being used as a biofertiliser for nutrient recovery in agriculture. In addition, it can also replace fertilisers, which are a burden on the environment. Most of the raw materials that can be used are considered hazardous waste, but we can also produce a useful product – biogas or biosolids – from materials that would otherwise have to be treated or destroyed at very high cost," Prof. Kornél Kovács, Professor Emeritus of the SZTE pointed out.