Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

The biogas production potential from silkworm waste

Małgorzata Łochyńska a,⇑, Jakub Frankowski b
a
Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants, Silkworms Breeding and Mulberry Cultivation Laboratory, Wojska Polskiego 71B, 60-630 Poznań, Poland
b
Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants, Energy Plant Research Laboratory, Wojska Polskiego 71B, 60-630 Poznań, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In view of the increasing demand of organic agriculture, utilization of waste and environmental protec-
Received 16 April 2018 tion, sericulture focuses not only on the cocoon production, but also on other ways that can benefit the
Revised 22 July 2018 farm’s economy. It is necessary to find new sources of income for small-scale farmers not only through
Accepted 8 August 2018
cocoon selling, but also by the multiple uses of by-products. Insect farming technology provides a cheap
Available online 20 August 2018
source of biomass, which may be a good material in biogas production.
Studies showed that the examined substrates, both silkworm breeding waste and caterpillar excreta,
Keywords:
generate a biogas yield comparable to other substrates of agricultural origin, such as cattle, pig and
Bombyx mori L.
Breeding waste
chicken manures. Fermentation of silkworm excreta under mesophilic conditions produces 167.32 m3/
Excreta Mg TS of methane and 331.97 m3/Mg TS of biogas, while fermentation of silkworm breeding waste yields
Biogas 256.59 m3/Mg TS of methane and 489.24 m3/Mg TS of biogas. Moreover, the chemical composition of
Methane fermentation these raw materials was analyzed.
Ó 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction carotenoids, fatty alcohols and sterol glycosides predominated

For ages humans have utilized silk to produce textiles of great
value and beauty. The major domesticated insect, which has been
commercially exploited is the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.),
accounting for the greatest share in total silk production (89%)
(Patil et al., 2009).
The insect breeding is closely linked to the problem of waste,
such as excreta and leaf waste. Small-scale farmers may produce
250–300 kg of silkworm waste, which is equivalent to 2500 kg
farm manure and may be used to fertilize 0.067 ha farmland
(Wenhua, 2001). Silkworm excreta have been successfully used
as a good source of farm manure, due to their content of essential
nutrients for plants.
Literature source reports that silkworm excrement has pharma-
ceutical and food commercial uses. In traditional Asian medicine
excreta have been used as a therapeutic agent to treat infectious
diseases, headache and abdominal pain, as well as lower LDL
cholesterol and blood pressure (Tulp and Bohlin, 2004;
Vimolmangkang et al., 2014). However, limited data are available
on the bioactive compound profile of silkworm feces, although
some interesting substances have been reported so far. The groups
of lipids were identified, while chlorophylls, fatty acids, sterols,
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: malgorzata.lochynska@iwnirz.pl (M. Łochyńska), jakub.
frankowski@iwnirz.pl (J. Frankowski).
(Uzakova et al., 1987; Vimolmangkang et al., 2014). Due to the fact
that silkworms excreta are rich in flavonoids, chlorophyll,
alkaloids, carotenoids and lutein compounds, they show high
antioxidant activity (Xu et al., 2014). Moreover, the high content
of these compounds presents feces as a good source of a natural
colorant for the food industry (Vimolmangkang et al., 2014). In
industrial production 1 kg of chlorophyll is obtained from 200 kg
of silkworm excrement (Wenhua, 2001).
It is obvious that all agricultural waste may be transformed into
biogas. The advantages from transforming organic waste matter
into biogas are numerous. The biogas production is not only a
financial gain, but also the manure is much more homogenous.
Defatted pupae of the mulberry silkworm were already tested as
a feedstock of the biogas production (Viswanath and Nand,
1994), hitherto both of the presented substrates in this article have
not been studied. Insect technology prepares waste mainly as food
residue mixed with excreta. It is a high quality substrate to pro-
duce biogas through an anaerobic fermentation process, since it
ensures a favorable environment for the development and optimal
metabolic activity of bacteria involved in the process. This sub-
strate contains only biodegradable organic matter, its C/N ratio is
around the optimal 15–35 (Mao et al., 2015); additionally, it does
not contain inhibitory compounds, e.g. detergents, antibiotics,
antiseptics, which are toxic to bacteria (Dobre et al., 2014).
However, obtaining an effective hydraulic retention time (HRT)
and biogas production depend not only on the substrate

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.08.019
0956-053X/Ó 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570
composition, but also on the organic loading rate (OLR) and appro-
priate process temperature. OLR represents the amount of volatile
total solids fed into a digester per day under continuous feeding.
The process efficiency increases with an increase in OLR; however,
an extremely high OLR inhibits bacterial activity (Mao et al., 2015).
The aim of this study is to test the chemical composition of the
materials and analyze the biogas yield from substrates generated
by mulberry silkworm farming. Moreover, the efficiency of biogas
production under mesophilic conditions is compared with com-
monly used agricultural substrates. The presented study allows
investors and farmers to easily estimate the amount of electricity
and heat available from the sericulture substrate.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Mulberry silkworm breeding
The mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) breeding was carried
out at the Silkworm Breeding and Mulberry Cultivation Research
Laboratory, the Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants, Poz-
nan, Poland. The breeding season started in mid-May 2016. To speed
up the development of embryos the temperature in the breeding
chamber was kept at 27 °C and the humidity at 60–70%. After the
caterpillars hatch, the temperature was reduced according to larvae
development to 22–23 °C during the 5th stage (Łochyńska, 2016). At
the end of May caterpillars began to hatch. The population was kept
in 30 plastic boxes, with 50 specimens per box. For 6–7 weeks larvae
were fed 5–6 times per day with fresh leaves of white mulberry
(Morus alba L.). The breeding conditions were matched to the larvae
development stage, according to the Polish breeding method.
Two substrates were collected for the presented study: the
breeding waste and the excrement of larvae. The waste of silk-
worm breeding was collected once a day during the active eating
stages of the population, from the third to the fifth developmental
stage of caterpillars. The breeding waste consisted mainly of mul-
berry leaf residues, petioles and in the 5th stage of larval develop-
ment – fine mulberry twigs. The waste also contained a low share
of caterpillar excrement. The excrements were collected once a day
by screening the breeding waste through a sieve, from the third to
the fifth developmental stage of larvae.
2.2. Chemical composition analyses
Analyses of the chemical composition of the raw materials were
performed at the Faculty of Wood Technology, the Poznan Univer-
sity of Life Sciences, Poland, according to the PN-92/P-50092 stan-
dard for plant material (Waliszewska et al., 2015). The following
parameters were determined:
- moisture content using the oven-dry (gravimetric) method,
- pH value of the breeding waste and excreta according to PB.40
ed. 7: 2010.
- content of cellulose according to Seifert using a mixture of
acetylacetone and dioxane,
- content of lignin according to Tappi using concentrated sulfuric
acid,
- content of holocellulose using sodium chlorite,
- pentosanes using the trihydroxybenzene method,
- contents of minerals were determined according to the DIN
51731 standards,
- N and C contents were determined according to PN-EN
15104:2011 and PN-EN 15289:2011.
Experimental materials were ground in a Pulverisette 15
laboratory mill, with the analytical fraction of 0.4–0.1 mm being
separated on sieves.
565
2.3. Methods of biogas and methane production
The operating cost of the mesophilic process is much lower and
the process is less sensitive to environmental changes than ther-
mophilic fermentation (Chasnyk et al., 2015). Therefore, the ana-
lyzed substrates were fermented only under mesophilic
conditions, which positively affects profitability of the biogas plant.
The analyses of biogas and methane efficiency were carried out
at the Laboratory of Ecotechnologies, the Institute of Biosystems
Engineering, the Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland. The
physical and chemical analyses were made in 3 replications,
according to the Polish standard system: total solids (TS, dried
mass) content within the Polish standard PN-75C-04616/01 (dry-
ing samples in triplicate for 24 h at 105 °C), and the content of
volatile total solids (VTS, organic dried mass) in accordance with
the PN-Z-15011-3 standard (combustion of samples at 550 °C for
3 h). The inoculum fermentation was also analyzed as the control.
It was prepared by separating the liquid fraction of the digestate
pulp from an operating agricultural biogas plant.
The Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) was tested experimentally,
based on the modified German standard DIN 38414/S8 as well as
the standardized biogas guidelines issued by the Association of
German Engineers in Dresden VDI 4630 (Cieślik et al., 2016;
Dach, 2016). Biogas yield was recorded under standard conditions.
HRT determines the residence time of the substrate in a biofer-
menter and it is the time required to complete the degradation
of organic matter. It is associated with the microbial growth rate
and depends on the process temperature, organic loading rate
and substrate composition (Mao et al., 2015). The optimum tem-
perature varies depending on microorganism groups. Mesophilic
bacteria are stimulated at 35–37 °C, while thermophilic bacteria
require 55–70 °C (Dobre et al., 2014; Mao et al., 2015). In the first
stages of fermentation Bacillus, Bifidobacterium, Pseudomonas and
Clostridium bacteria are the major cooperators (Shin et al., 2004).
In the next phase Syntrophobacter spp. and Syntrophomonas spp.
convert ethanol and volatile fatty acids into acetates, as well as
hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The last stage (methanogenesis)
involves autotrophic and heterotrophic methane bacteria, e.g.
Methanobacterium spp., Methanobrevibacter arboriphilus,
Methanospirillum hungatei, Methanosphaera stadtmaniae,
Methanococcus vannielli and Methanosarcina spp. (Jha et al., 2015).
The experimental biogas production through anaerobic diges-
tion was run in a multichamber biofermenter set. Each individual
glass biofermenter was 2 dm3 capacity. The biofermenters were
placed in water at a controlled temperature (approx. 39 °C); hence,
the tests were conducted under mesophilic conditions throughout
the entire experiment (Dach, 2016; Dach et al., 2014). The fermen-
tation inoculum, which is always added to the analyzed substrates,
as well as the absence of oxygen created the perfect conditions
inside the fermentation chamber to allow the methane production.
Biogas produced in each separate biofermenter was transferred to
cylindrical store equalizing gas reservoirs made from Plexiglas.
Then inverted cylinders were immersed in water. However, the
space between the gas and water was filled with the neutral liquid
barrier, which prevented the dissolution of produced CO2 in the
water (Dach, 2016). The daily biogas production was recorded
every day accurate to 0.01 dm3. According to the respective stan-
dard the criterion for the completion of the experiment was daily
biogas production below 1% of the total production obtained
(Cieślik et al., 2016).
2.4. Energy calculations
The usefulness of selected waste from silkworm farming for
energy purposes was assessed on the basis of the amount of excre-
ment and breeding waste. In addition, knowing the biogas and
566 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570

methane efficiencies of these substrates the realizable amounts of Table 1

electricity and heat produced by the combustion of biogas from Results of chemical composition analyzes of materials.

those substrates in high-efficiency cogeneration were calculated Component Mulberry leaves [%] Silkworm excrement [%]
using the following formulae: Total minerals (ash) 16.62 13.00
Nitrogen 2.80 3.75
V b ¼ Be  M s ð1Þ Carbon 41.59 42.31
C/N ratio 14.85 11.28
where V b – produced biogas volume (m3), Be – biogas efficiency of Cellulose 18.69 20.24
the substrate (m3/Mg), M s – mass of the substrate (Mg). Hence: Holocellulose 55.97 54.82
Lignin 10.07 14.76
V CH4 ¼ V b  C CH4 ð2Þ Moisture content 7.60 8.70

where V CH4 – produced methane volume (m3), V b – produced bio-

gas volume (m3), C CH4 – methane concentration in produced biogas
leaves. The holocellulose content was comparable with that in
(%).
excrement. This examination has been not carried out to date.
EE ¼ V CH4  RaCH4  gE ð3Þ

where EE – produced energy amount (MWh), V CH4 – produced
methane volume (m3), RaCH4 – methane energy potential ratio
(0.00917 MWh/m3), gE – electrical efficiency of the cogeneration
unit (for this calculation 44% electrical efficiency was assumed for
modern cogeneration units of biogas plants).
EH ¼ V CH4  RaCH4  gT
where EH – produced heat amount (MWh), V CH4 – produced
methane volume (m3), RaCH4 – methane energy potential ratio
(0.00917 MWh/m3), gE – heat efficiency of the cogeneration unit
(for this calculation 45% heat efficiency was assumed for modern
cogeneration units of biogas plants). The result was also expressed
in (GJ):
3.2. Initial parameters of the substrates and the inoculum
Before the experimental determination of biogas efficiency,
physicochemical properties of the substrates were determined
(Table 2). The percentage of total solids in the inoculum was much
lower than in waste from silkworm breeding and silkworm excre-
ð4Þ ment, which reached over 30% FM. The level of volatile total solids
in the substrates was similar for all of them. The lowest content
was determined for the inoculum (71.02% TS) and the highest for
breeding waste (82.81% TS).
3.3. The dynamics of the biogas production process and methane
efficiency

EH In the course of fermentation of the silkworm excrement and

EHGJ ¼
0; 274
where EHGJ – produced heat amount (GJ), EH – produced heat
amount (MWh) and 1 GJ = 0.274 MWh.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Chemical composition of materials
The pH of the tested materials was recorded in 2016 and 2017.
The breeding waste pH value fluctuated in the range of 6.49–7.25
and the excreta pH was 7.43–8.17. Obtained values are lower in
comparison with previously published data, in which the pH value
was 7.98 for waste including excreta and 8.32 for feces (Patil et al.,
2009). The presented differences in pH values may be the result of
varying nutrients, bioactive compound contents or the presence of
pathogens in white mulberry leaves depending on atmospheric
conditions.
Due to the fact that generally the waste of silkworm breeding
consisted of mulberry leaf residues and a small percentage of larval
excrement, the chemical composition analyses were performed
separately for mulberry leaves and excrement. Results were means
of three measurements and were calculated in relation to dry mat-
ter of the material (Table 1).
The analyses showed that the mineral contents were greater in
the mulberry material in comparison with larval excrement. The
obtained data are comparable with literature reports, in which
basic mineral contents in silkworms feces were tested. It was
shown that the mineral (ash) content was 9.56–16.23% and that
of organic matter was 83.77–90.44% (ElShafei et al., 2014). How-
ever, the chemical composition of manure showed much lower val-
ues: 21.85 g/kg of nitrogen, 370.6 g/kg of carbon, and a higher C/N
ratio of 16.96 (Qirong et al., 1992).
Moreover, the tests demonstrated greater contents of cellulose
and lignin complexes in silkworm excrement than in mulberry
ð5Þ
breeding waste under mesophilic conditions a marked difference
was observed in the dynamics of the biogas production process
from the substrates (Figs. 1 and 2). During the first days of the fer-
mentation process methane production was lower than carbon
dioxide and other gases, which is specific of methanogenesis
(Zhang et al., 2014). However, after the fifth day until the end of
the experiment production of CH4 predominated.
Silkworm waste and its excreta are rich in crude protein and
carbohydrates (Wang et al., 2016). In the first days of the experi-
ment the simple organic compounds of the substrates were rapidly
degradated by the hydrolytic bacteria. Therefore, one distinct peak
of biogas production was noticed in the second day of waste fer-
mentation (Fig. 1). Subsequently biogas and methane production
was continued at a relatively high level until the eleventh day
(Figs. 3 and 4). Such dynamics of the process indicated that after
48 h of fermentation the most readily digestible simple sugars
were used by microorganisms (Ni et al., 2015). On consecutive days
they produced biogas form other substances. Because the substrate
did not contain large amounts of fat (Uzakova et al., 1987), the
dynamic of biogas production decreased until the 19th day, when
the process was finished.
In the case of producing biogas from silkworm excrement two
distinct peaks were observed. Intensive production of biogas was
noticed during the first and sixth day of the process (Fig. 2). The
first peak was due to digestion of readily decomposable simple
Table 2
Methods and results of physicochemical properties for tested substrates.
Substrate Inoculum Silkworm excrement Silkworms
breeding waste
Total solids (% TS) 2.80 31.87 25.67
Volatile total solids 71.02 79.07 82.81
(% VTS)
 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570 567

1.6

1.4
Other gases
1.2 Methane
Volume [dm3]
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time [days]

Fig. 1. Daily biogas production during methane fermentation of the silkworms breeding waste.

1
0.9 Other gases
0.8 Methane
0.7
Volume [dm3]

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time [days]

Fig. 2. Daily biogas production during methane fermentation of silkworm excrement.

organic compounds, similar to breeding waste. However, the sec-
ond intensive production was a result of degradation of a large
amount of complex compounds (lipids, fatty acids) and metabolic
products of larvae, which are absent in mulberry substrate (Ni
et al., 2015; Motte et al., 2015; Uzakova et al., 1987).
Both of the substrates were decomposed in 19 days (Tables 3
and 4). To compare, an average retention time of 15–30 days is
required to treat waste under mesophilic conditions (Mao et al.,
2015).
Approximately 80% of accumulated methane production was
recorded in the first 10 days of the experiment for each material.
In comparison, the time required for the attenuation of maize
straw silage, one of the most common substrates used in agricul-
tural biogas plants, is 15 days under thermophilic and 17 days
under mesophilic conditions to provide the same percentage yields
(Igliński et al., 2015). Moreover, the HRT for that substrate lasted
11 days longer (Cieślik et al., 2016) than for silkworm excrement
and breeding waste, which were analyzed applying the same mod-
ified German standard. In addition, the investigated retention time
for microalgal biomass fluctuates around 30 days, depending on
the species (Kwietniewska and Tys, 2014), 30–35 days for chicken
manure (Niu et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2014) and 24 days for pig
slurry co-digested with olive pomace oil (Orive et al., 2016).
The fermentation of silkworm waste and its excreta ran
relatively fast, because this feedstock is rich in easily degradated
simple organic matter (Wang et al., 2016). Simultaneously ana-
lyzed substrates contain low amount macromolecular compounds
(Uzakova et al., 1987).
3.4. Energy calculation results
The biogas and methane efficiencies of silkworm excrement and
waste from silkworm breeding were summarized (Table 5). The
realizable amounts of electricity and heat produced by the
568 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570

600

500

Volume [m3/Mg TS] 400

300

200

100

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time [days]
Inoculum Breeding waste Silkworms excrement

Fig. 3. Cumulated biogas production during methane fermentation of analyzed substrates.

300

250
Volume [m3/ Mg TS]

200

150

100

50

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time[days]

Inoculum Breeding waste Silkworms excrement

Fig. 4. Cumulated methane production during fermentation of analyzed substrates.

combustion of biogas from those substrates in high-efficiency
cogeneration were calculated in three variants: for 1 Mg of fresh
mass, total solids and volatile total solids (Table 6).
The advantageous methane yield is mainly caused by significant
contents of biodegradable organic matter in the substrates (Kiran
et al., 2014; Niu et al., 2013). Notwithstanding the biogas and
methane productions during fermentation of waste from silkworm
breeding under mesophilic conditions resulted in a greater effi-
ciency from silkworm excrement by 20 and 12.5 m3/Mg, respec-
tively, in relation to fresh mass of the substrates. Furthermore,
waste was characterized by a 2% higher methane content than silk-
worm excrement. However, both of the substrates were showed a
satisfactory value of this parameter, whereas methane content in
biogas cumulative production reaches 46–57% for chicken manure
(Braeutigam et al., 2014; Lewicki et al., 2016), 52% for maize straw
silage (Cieślik et al., 2016), 53% for bread waste and 68–69% for fish
wastes (Kafle et al., 2013). Moreover, the methane content is com-
parable with that of cattle manure at 50–60% and pig manure at
60% (Dobre et al., 2014).
When comparing biogas and methane efficiencies of analyzed
substrates with maize straw silage, which can be a source of 105
m3/Mg FM of CH4 (Cieślik et al., 2016), both of them gave more bio-
fuel per the same tonnage. Additionally, silkworm excrement
methane efficiency reached the result determined experimentally
for swine slurry (168 m3/Mg TS of CH4) (Dach et al., 2016).
Waste from silkworm breeding was characterized by a higher
energy potential than silkworm excrement. Per 1 Mg of silkworm
excrement fresh mass the produced energy amount was 0.2
MWh and 0.8 GJ of heat. For waste from silkworm breeding those
parameters were by 0.04 MWh and 0.19 MWh higher.
4. Conclusions
The whole process of fermentation ran smoothly, without inhi-
bition. Both of the materials were decomposed in 19 days, while
approximately 80% of accumulated methane production was
achieved in the first 10 days. However, breeding waste was charac-
terized by a higher energy potential than silkworm excrement.
Thanks to the relatively short time of methane production and
the HRT, the high content of dry matter, high methane content,
which significantly increases the calorific value biogas production
 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570 569

Table 3 Table 4
Daily methane production dynamics of silkworm breeding waste. Daily methane production dynamics of silkworm excrement.

The colors intensity represents the quantity of gases production. The colors intensity represents the quantity of gases production.

Table 5
Biogas and methane potential of analyzed substrates.

Sample CH4 content (%) Fresh mass (m3/Mg FM) Total solids (m3/Mg TS) Volatile total solids (m3/Mg VTS)
Cumulated biogas Cumulated CH4 Cumulated biogas Cumulated CH4 Cumulated biogas Cumulated CH4
Excrement 50.4 105.81 53.33 331.97 167.31 419.82 211.59
Breeding waste 52.4 125.59 65.81 489.24 256.36 590.77 309.56

Table 6
Energy potential of analyzed substrates.

Sample Variants Produced energy amount (MWh) Produced heat amount (MWh) Produced heat amount (GJ)
Excrement Per 1 Mg FM 0.20 0.22 0.80
Per 1 Mg TS 0.61 0.69 2.52
Per 1 Mg VTS 0.78 0.87 3.18
Breeding waste Per 1 Mg FM 0.24 0.27 0.99
Per 1 Mg TS 0.94 1.06 3.87
Per 1 Mg VTS 1.14 1.28 4.67
570 M. Łochyńska, J. Frankowski / Waste Management 79 (2018) 564–570
from silkworm waste and its excreta is more efficient in compar-
ison to common used agricultural manures.
Acknowledgments
This paper was prepared as a result of the realization of the pro-
ject entitled: ‘‘Maintaining a unique Polish breeding of the mul-
berry silkworms varieties” financed by the Polish Ministry of
Science and Higher Education (contract number 205710/E-198/
SPUB/2015/2).
References
Braeutigam, P., Franke, M., Ondruschka, B., 2014. Effect of ultrasound amplitude and
reaction time on the anaerobic fermentation of chicken manure for biogas
production. Biomass Bioenergy 63, 109–113.
Cieślik, M., Dach, J., Lewicki, A., Smurzyńska, A., Janczak, D., Pawlicka-Kaczorowska,
J., Boniecki, P., Cyplik, P., Czekała, W., Jóźwiakowski, K., 2016. Methane
fermentation of the maize straw silage under meso- and thermophilic
conditions. Energy 115, 1495–1502.
Chasnyk, O., Sołowski, G., Shkarupa, O., 2015. Historical, technical and economic
aspects of biogas development: case of Poland and Ukraine. Renew. Sust. Energy
Rev. 52, 227–239.
Dach, J., 2016. Energetic and economic efficiency of agricultural biogas plant
working with different substrates. J. Res. Appl. Agric. Eng. 61, 72–76.
Dach, J., Boniecki, P., Przybył, J., Janczak, D., Lewicki, A., Czekała, W., Witaszek, K.,
Rodríguez Carmona, P.C., Cieślik, M., 2014. Energetic efficiency analysis of the
agricultural biogas plant in 250 kWe experimental installation. Energy 69, 34–
38.
Dach, J., Koszela, K., Boniecki, P., Zaborowicz, M., Lewicki, A., Czekała, W., Skwarcz, J.,
Qiao, W., Piekarska-Boniecka, H., Białobrzewski, I., 2016. The use of neural
modelling to estimate the methane production from slurry fermentation
processes. Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 56, 603–610.
Dobre, P., Nicolae, F., Matei, F., 2014. Main factors affecting biogas production – an
overview. Rom. Biotechnol. Lett. 19, 9283–9296.
ElShafei, G.M.S., ElSherbiny, I.A.A., Darwish, A.S., Philip, C.A., 2014. Silkworms’ feces-
based activated carbon as cheap adsorbents for removal of cadmium and
methylene blue from aqueous solutions. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 92, 461–470.
Igliński, B., Buczkowski, R., Cichosz, M., 2015. Biogas production in Poland – Current
state, potential and perspectives. Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 50, 686–695.
Jha, M.N., Jha, S., Chourasia, S.K., 2015. Agroecology of agromicrobes. In: Benkeblia,
N. (Ed.), Agroecology Ecosystems and Sustainability. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA,
pp. 81–102.
Kafle, G.K., Kim, S.H., Sung, K.I., 2013. Ensiling of fish industry waste for biogas
production: a lab scale evaluation of biochemical methane potential (BMP) and
kinetics. Bioresour. Technol. 127, 326–336.
Kiran, E.U., Trzcinski, A.P., Ng, W.J., Liu, Y., 2014. Bioconversion of food waste to
energy: a review. Fuel 134, 389–399.
Kwietniewska, E., Tys, J., 2014. Process characteristics, inhibition factors and
methane yields of anaerobic digestion process, with particular focus on
microalgal biomass fermentation. Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 34, 491–500.
Lewicki, A., Kozłowski, K., Pietrowski, M., Zbytek, Z., 2016. Methane fermentation of
chicken droppings. J. Res. Appl. Agric. Eng. 61 (4), 28–30.
Łochyńska, M., 2016. Guide for the Mulberry Silkworm Breeders. Recommendations
Regarding Breeding Methods and the White Mulberry Cultivation. IWNiRZ,
Poznan, p. 93. ISBN 978-83-928618-7-4 (in Polish).
Mao, C., Feng, Y., Wang, X., Ren, G., 2015. Review on research achievements of
biogas from anaerobic digestion. Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 45, 540–555.
Motte, J.C., Watteau, F., Escudié, R., Steyer, J.P., Bernet, N., Delgenes, J.P., Dumas, C.,
2015. Dynamic observation of the biodegradation of lignocellulosic tissue under
solid-state anaerobic conditions. Bioresour. Technol. 191, 322–326.
Ni, B.J., Batstone, D., Zhao, B.H., Yu, H.Q., 2015. Microbial internal storage alters the
carbon transformation in dynamic anaerobic fermentation. Environ. Sci.
Technol. 49, 9159–9167.
Niu, Q., Qiao, W., Qiang, H., Hojo, T., Li, Y.Y., 2013. Mesophilic methane fermentation
of chicken manure at a wide range of ammonia concentration: stability,
inhibition and recovery. Bioresour. Technol. 137, 358–367.
Niu, Q., Hojo, T., Qiao, W., Qiang, H., Li, Y.Y., 2014. Characterization of
methanogenesis, acidogenesis and hydrolysis in thermophilic methane
fermentation of chicken manure. Chem. Eng. J. 244, 587–596.
Orive, M., Cebrián, M., Zufía, J., 2016. Techno-economic anaerobic co-digestion
feasibility study for two-phase olive oil mill pomace and pig slurry. Renew.
Energy 97, 532–540.
Qirong, S., Zhenguo, S., Ruihe, S., 1992. The characteristics of mineralization of
nitrogen in organic manure and its relation to chemical composition of organic
manure. J. Nanjing Agric. Univ. 15, 59–64.
Patil, B.R., Singh, K.K., Pawar, S.E., Maarse, L., Otte, J., 2009. Sericulture: an
alternative source of income to enhance the livelihoods of small-scale farmers
and tribal communities. Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative. A Living from
Livestock Research Report 09-03, pp. 1–26.
Shin, H.S., Youn, J.H., Kim, S.H., 2004. Hydrogen production from food waste in
anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic acidogenesis. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy
29, 1355–1363.
Tulp, M., Bohlin, L., 2004. Unconventional natural sources for future drug discovery.
Drug Discov. Today 9, 450–458.
Uzakova, D.U., Kolesnik, A.A., Zherebin, Y.L., Evstigneeva, R.P., Sarycheva, I.K., 1987.
Lipids of mulberry leaves and of mulberry silkworm excreta. Chem. Nat. Compd.
23, 419–422.
Vimolmangkang, S., Somkhanngoen, C., Sukrong, S., 2014. Potential pharmaceutical
uses of the isolated compounds from silkworm excreta. Chiang Mai J. Sci. 41,
97–104.
Viswanath, P., Nand, K., 1994. Anaerobic digestion of silk industry wastes.
Bioresour. Technol. 49, 273–276.
Waliszewska, B., Pradzynski, W., Zborowska, M., Stachowiak-Wencek, A.,
Waliszewska, H., 2015. The diversification of chemical composition of pine
wood depending on the tree age. Ann. WULS - SGGW, For. Wood Technol. 91,
182–187.
Wang, M., Sun, X., Li, P., Yin, L., Liu, D., Zhang, Y., Li, W., Zheng, G., 2014. A novel
alternate feeding mode for semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of food
waste with chicken manure. Bioresour. Technol. 164, 309–314.
Wang, X., Zhang, J., Li, Y., Liangyu, P., Tang, T., 2016. The status of quantitative
analysis and utilization of various components in silkworm excrement. Sci.
Sericulture 42, 918–925 (in Chinese).
Wenhua, L., 2001. Agro-ecological Farming Systems in China (Man and the
Biosphere Series). Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of
China (Published by UNESCO Paris).
Xu, L., Wang, C., Liu, C., Liu, J., Xiang, W., 2014. Antioxidant activity and total
flavonoids of silkworm excrement extract. J. Curr. Res. Sci. 2, 264–267.
Zhang, C., Su, H., Baeyens, J., Tan, T., 2014. Reviewing the anaerobic digestion of food
waste for biogas production. Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 38, 383–392.