About usContact

BMP testingMunicipal and green waste, paper and textilessingle study (7 samples)

Plant-fibre and viscose textile wastes (flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, abaca, kapok, rayon) — BMP: 7 studies, mean 303 m³ CH₄/t VS

Textiles from plant fibres and viscose (flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, abaca, kapok) are a group of materials from one study, rich in cellulose.

CH₄ ≈ 51 % (estimate)

Published Updated 3 min readFeedstockData Editorial Team

Illustration: FeedstockData (AI, Google Gemini)

Weighted mean
303m³ CH₄/t VS
Range
160–356m³ CH₄/t VS
Records
7single study (7 samples)
Publications
1source
Temperatures
—of the test

Methane in biogas

Low methane content · ≈ 5.1 kWh/m³ of biogas

estimate from the substrate type The collected studies contain no measurement. The interval follows from the approximate composition (protein from total nitrogen (N 0.2 % DM × 6.25)) and the yields of compound groups according to FNR.

How we calculate it and what the zones mean

Rating for biogas plants

not rated — editorial rating for biogas plants

Not rated: no dry matter or volatile solids in the data. We calculate the rating when the dry matter and volatile solids of the material are known.

Editorial rating per the methodology

Add to the co-digestion calculator CSV data

BMP curves from 7 studies

Weighted mean Individual records

BMP curves: Plant-fibre and viscose textile wastes (flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, abaca, kapok, rayon)Cumulative methane production over time for 7 records and the weighted mean of 303 m³ CH₄/t VS. 7 of the curves are model curves (first-order kinetics).01002003004000510152025303540time [d]m³ CH₄/t VSJin et al. (2022) · 1: 356 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 2: 160 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 3: 295 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 4: 318 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 5: 327 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 6: 333 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Jin et al. (2022) · 7: 334 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)mean303

Dashed lines are a model curve (first-order kinetics, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e−kt)); the end point comes from the publication. All curves are model curves.

Cumulative methane production over the test [m³ CH₄/t VS]. The thick line is the weighted mean of all records (303); dots mark the end values given in the publications. Point at the chart to read values; click a legend item to hide or show a record.

Records and sources

Download CSV
SourceBMP
m³ CH₄/t VS		TemperatureSampleCurve
Jin et al. (2022) · 1 DOI356—Flax textile wasteend point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 2 DOI160—Ramie (Boehmeria nivea)end point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 3 DOI295—Kapok (Ceiba pentandra)end point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 4 DOI318—Hemp (Cannabis sativa)end point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 5 DOI327—Rayon ()end point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 6 DOI333—Abaca (Musa textilis)end point (model curve)
Jin et al. (2022) · 7 DOI334—Sisal (Agave sisalana)end point (model curve)
Weighted mean303arithmetic mean 303, SD 66

Typical composition

Volatile solids (VS)
99.2 % DM (range 98.6–99.7)
Nitrogen
0.2 % DM
C/N ratio
304.6

Median and range of the determinations reported in the publications behind this substrate's BMP records (read from: BCBPD); dry matter: 0 determinations, volatile solids: 6 determinations. C/N was calculated as the ratio of C and N content (% DM) from the same source. No DM in the sources – the calculator has to ask for a value.

Sources: Jin et al. (2022).

The composition of the raw material varies between batches — for plant calculations use an analysis of your own sample. The calculator inserts typical values automatically.

Process properties

  • fibrous
  • slowly degrading
  • physical contaminants
  • carbon-rich
  • editorial classification

Low confidence: the description is based on general characteristics of the substrate group, not on studies of this material. Treat it as a hint to be verified.

Advantages

  • Methane potential in the Substraty.pl BMP dataset: weighted mean 303.4 m³ CH₄/t VS (SD 65.9; 7 records, 1 source).
  • Viscose and cellulose fibres can be digested after treatment (Jeihanipour et al. 2010).

Drawbacks and risks

  • Flax/hemp/ramie fibres are highly crystalline; sisal/abaca contain lignin (Hendriks and Zeeman 2009).
  • Synthetic finishes and admixtures.

Co-digestion — what to combine it with, what to watch out for

Dosing

No source threshold.

Introduce gradually, starting with a small dose and monitoring the process (e.g. FOS/TAC, pH, gas composition).

Practical requirements

  • Shred: shredding increases the surface available for degradation and speeds it up, but does not necessarily raise the final gas yield (FNR 2010, Ch. 3 “Triturado”).

Sources of the process data

  1. Hagos et al. (2017). Anaerobic co-digestion process for biogas production: progress, challenges and perspectives. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
  2. Weiland, P. (2010) Biogas production: current state and perspectives. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  3. Jeihanipour et al. (2010). A novel process for ethanol or biogas production from cellulose in blended-fibers waste textiles. Waste Manag.
  4. Hendriks, Zeeman (2009). Pretreatments to enhance the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour. Technol.
  5. FNR (2010). Guía sobre el Biogás – Desde la producción hasta el uso (hiszp. wydanie „Leitfaden Biogas”, GIZ 2013)

The co-digestion calculator will assess a specific mixture containing this substrate.

What it is and where it comes from

The entry groups seven textile materials studied in one paper: flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, abaca, kapok and viscose. The first six are plant fibres obtained from stems, leaves or seeds, and viscose (rayon) is cellulose chemically regenerated from wood or other raw materials. Textile waste arises in the production of clothing and in consumption, and the recycling of cellulosic fibres is a topic of the circular economy.

Properties relevant to digestion

Cellulose is a polymer of glucose, so the methane potential is in principle high, but depends on the availability of the fibres to enzymes. Strongly crystalline and oriented fibres (e.g. flax, hemp, ramie) degrade more slowly than viscose, which has a less ordered structure. Some fibres contain lignin or hemicelluloses (e.g. sisal, abaca), which lowers their susceptibility. Finished fabrics contain dyes, finishes and admixtures of synthetic fibres, which do not ferment.

How to read the spread of results

The dataset comes from one study, so the differences between fibres arise from the material, and not from different laboratories. However, the data have a heterogeneous origin: the value for flax was read from the abstract of the study, and the others come from the BCBPD database. The result is affected by chopping (long fibres must be cut or milled), test duration, inoculum and temperature, which was not given for some records. The values should not be transferred to blended fabrics.

In biogas plant practice

Textiles are not a typical substrate; their use in digestion is so far at the research stage. Long fibres wind around agitators and pumps, so they require cutting. In the municipal waste stream, separate collection of textiles applies, and the priority in the waste hierarchy is reuse and material recycling. Digestion may be one of the options considered for fractions that are not suited to those routes.

Methodology in brief

BMP is the amount of methane obtained from volatile solids (VS) in a batch test, given in m³ CH₄ per tonne of VS (numerically the same as NmL CH₄/g VS in the publications) and converted to normal conditions (0 °C, 101.325 kPa). The weighted mean gives each publication a total weight of 1, split equally between its results for the substrate — a paper testing twenty varieties does not outweigh a paper with a single sample. In inter-laboratory programmes the unit is the laboratory (total weight 1), and within it the weight of a test grows with the number of bottles (replicates). Results after pretreatment (e.g. thermal, chemical, enzymatic) are shown separately and are not included in the mean.

Solid lines are curves measured in the tests. Where a publication gives only the final result, we draw a first-order kinetic model, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e−kt): only the end point comes from the publication, and the shape of the curve serves purely as visualisation — do not read the production on a particular day from it. For this substrate k = 0.110 d−1 was assumed (median of rate constants k reported in the sources and/or fitted to the mean measured curves).

The statistics describe the spread of published results — a descriptive compilation, not a meta-analysis or a guarantee of plant yield.

Full methodology and correction policy

Bibliography

  1. Jin, W.; Dai, Z.; Wang, L.; Cai, F.; Song, C.; Liu, G.; Chen, C. (2022). Recycling different textile wastes for methane production: Morphological and microstructural changes and microbial community dynamics. Waste Management 151, 154–162. DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.07.018 DOI
  2. Jin, W.; Dai, Z.; Wang, L.; Cai, F.; Song, C.; Liu, G.; Chen, C. (2022). Recycling different textile wastes for methane production: Morphological and microstructural changes and microbial community dynamics. Waste Management 151, 154–162. DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.07.018 DOI

All sources of the site: bibliography.

Other substrates in the group “Municipal and green waste, paper and textiles”