@article{01K4MT8A7G42QK05X6MX5XECNY,
  abstract     = {{Municipalities bear the responsibility of upkeeping the roadside grass within urban areas. Effectively harnessing the potential of this biomass could provide the community with energy, in the form of biogas, and digestate, a by-product of anaerobic digestion that can serve as a nutrient supply for plants placed around the city to enhance its aesthetic appeal. By adopting this approach, municipalities can become more self-sufficient in energy and fertilizers. In this study, we subjected roadside grass to a pre-treatment via screw pressing to separate the fibres and the liquid stream (referred to as grass juice), which was further digested in a continuous process, yielding a biogas potential of 39.9 Nm(3)/tFM. In addition, the efficacy of grass juice digestate was assessed as a fertilizer for the ornamental plant Viola carrera, which is a plant used for city beautification. Two other roadside grass digestates were also tested, issued from dry anaerobic digestion processes at pilot and large scale. The emergence of fully expanded, structurally intact leaves with consistent pigmentation, characteristic of adequate macronutrient availability, alongside floral development, indicates that nutrients supplied through grass digestates can support vegetative and initial reproductive growth. The obtained results suggest that roadside grass has the capability for simultaneous energy and fertilizer production, and that a first pressing step could enable the expansion of a grass biorefinery concept to include the production of materials from the separated fibres while still producing energy and fertilizers from the juice. While roadside grass digestates show promise as nutrient sources, grass juice digestate currently faces limitations, such as high electrical conductivity and potential allelopathic effects that require further research and process optimization to improve its effectiveness as a fertilizer.}},
  author       = {{Chopda, Rushab and Fernandes De Souza, Marcella and Robles Aguilar, Ana and Meers, Erik}},
  issn         = {{1877-2641}},
  journal      = {{WASTE AND BIOMASS VALORIZATION}},
  keywords     = {{Liquid fraction,Juice,Roadside grass,Biogas,Biobased fertilizer,Green biorefinery,ANAEROBIC-DIGESTION,AVAILABILITY,QUALITY,SILAGE}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{13}},
  title        = {{Biorefining roadside verges : biogas generation and assessment of grass digestates as nutrient sources for urban ornamentals}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-025-03274-4}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

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