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Cereals and rape meal can be used as AD feedstocks, giving high biogas yields, but as they are expensive commodities they are generally not grown solely for digestion. They can be used to provide a short term yield boost or where they would achieve a low return elsewhere, e.g. poor quality grain.
A database of reported values for methane potentials for a range of European crop materials and residues is available from the University of Southampton Bio-energy and Organic Resources research group website. Here you will also find a useful on-farm energy and emissions calculator which can be used for calculating the energy requirements and GHGs for crop production and potential energy generation using an on-farm AD plant.
However, purposely grown energy crops with high biomass can be grown specifically for anaerobic digestion. You can find the major maize varieties available in the UK on the The Maize Descriptive List, which is run by NIAB and financed by the BSPB.
To discuss growing and using energy crops, please contact The National Non-Food Crops Centre.
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