Realistic Energy is a biological silage inoculant tailored for biogas feedstock preservation. It is applied to forage (such as maize, grass, or other energy crops) at ensiling time to ensure that the silage produced is of the highest quality for biogas production. Realistic Energy contains a blend of three highly active strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), both homofermentative and heterofermentative types, which work in synergy to rapidly ferment the sugars in the forage into organic acids (lactic and acetic acid). This fast ensiling action preserves the energy content of the crop, minimises losses, and enhances the digestibility of the silage when it's later fed into the anaerobic digester.
In short, Realistic Energy helps you capture more methane potential from your crops by making better silage – silage that ferments quickly to a stable state and remains stable during storage and feedout.
Enhanced Biogas Potential: Silage treated with Realistic Energy has a higher retained energy content, which translates to more biogas per tonne of forage ensiled. The inoculant ensures that carbohydrates in the crop are preserved as acids rather than lost to spoilage or respiration, directly boosting methane yield when that silage is used.
Faster, More Efficient Fermentation: The specific LAB strains in Realistic Energy ferment the forage rapidly. Within about two weeks, the silage is well-fermented, producing an abundance of lactic and acetic acid. This quick pH drop preserves nutrients and reduces dry matter loss. Quick stabilisation also means you can open the silo/pit sooner if needed, with confidence that the silage is ready.
Improved Methane Production (Higher Acetic Acid Content): Unlike standard silage inoculants which focus only on lactic acid, Realistic Energy’s heterofermentative bacteria produce significant acetic acid, which has been shown to enhance methane generation in anaerobic digesters. More acetic acid in silage essentially serves as a direct substrate for methanogens, potentially shortening digestion time in the biogas plant.
Prevents Spoilage and Heating: The high levels of acetic acid created also prevent reheating and spoilage when the silage is exposed to air during feedout. It inhibits yeasts and moulds that cause aerobic spoilage. This means the silage remains cool and stable on the clamp face, with minimal losses and no mouldy portions – every part of it can be fed into the digester.
Better Fibre Breakdown: By ensuring a thorough fermentation, Realistic Energy can also improve the digestibility of the fibre in the forage. LAB fermentation can break down some cell wall components and make the silage softer and more digestible for the digester microbes. This contributes to higher conversion of silage to biogas.
Reduced Environmental Losses: Preserving silage quality also means less leachate runoff and fewer greenhouse gas emissions (like CO₂, N₂O) from poorly fermented or spoiling silage. So it supports not only performance but also environmental compliance.
Realistic Energy works during the ensiling process:
Competitive Fermentation: When you apply Realistic Energy to fresh chopped forage, you’re adding a large population of beneficial LAB. These bacteria immediately start consuming plant sugars and produce lactic acid (from homofermentative strains) and a mix of lactic + acetic acids (from heterofermentative strains). This rapid fermentation drives down pH quickly, usually to below 4.5 in a matter of days. The quick acidification prevents bad microbes (like clostridia, which cause silage to spoil and lose energy) from growing.
Synergistic Strains: The three strains are selected to work together. The heterofermentative LAB produce acetic acid in notable quantity. Acetic acid is key because while it yields slightly less immediate energy than lactic fermentation, it is far more effective in suppressing yeasts and molds. This ensures long-term stability.
Preservation of Energy: By converting sugars to acids in a controlled way, the energy is preserved in chemical form in the silage rather than lost. For example, without inoculation, some sugars might be oxidised to CO₂ and water by unwanted microbes (a direct loss of carbon that could have been biogas). Realistic Energy curbs that, channeling sugars into acids that remain in the silage.
Aromatic Silage: The specific fermentation profile yields a silage that is aromatic (often a sign of good fermentation – perhaps a slight vinegar odour from acetic acid, which is fine). There's minimal production of butyric acid (undesirable) or ammonia, indicating a clean fermentation.
Digester-Ready: When this well-fermented silage is fed to the digester, several advantages occur:
The silage is already partly “digested” in that polymers have been broken to acids. The AD plant can take those volatile acids and directly produce methane more quickly.
There are fewer preservation chemicals needed (no propionic acid salts etc., since the bacteria did the job naturally).
Because the silage hasn't heated or spoiled, it has more residual sugars and starches for biogas microbes to use.
Prevention of Heating at Feedout: When you open the silo, silage inevitably gets exposed to oxygen. The acetic acid produced by Realistic Energy acts as a natural fungistat: it keeps the silage aerobically stable for longer. You might be able to leave silage in the feeding hopper or at the face without it going bad quickly, giving more flexibility in operations and again no losses to spoilage.
Overall, Realistic Energy’s LAB make sure that from the moment the crop is harvested until it’s fed into the digester, the biomass remains in a high-energy, easily fermentable state.
Realistic Energy is applied during silage making:
When to Apply: Spray it onto forage as it is being harvested or packed into the silo, clamp, or bag. Typically, it's applied via a silage applicator on the forage harvester or a sprayer at the bunker silo.
Dosage: A common rate for silage inoculants is around 1×10^5 to 1×10^6 colony forming units (CFU) per gram of fresh forage. In practical terms, one packet or bottle of Realistic Energy might treat e.g. 50 tonnes of fresh forage. Check the product label for the exact dilution rate – often you mix a certain amount in water to treat a specific tonnage. For instance, you might mix a pouch in 50 litres of water to treat 100 tonnes of crop (0.5 L per tonne application rate).
Application Method: Use a calibrated sprayer or dosatron on the chopper or spreader. Ensure even coverage: the bacteria need to be uniformly distributed for best results. Don't forget when mixing to use only clean, non-chlorinated water.
Make sure to keep the solution agitated (some tanks have a recirculation pump) because bacteria can settle.
Ensiling Best Practices: Realistic Energy works best in well-compacted, quickly sealed silage. So still chop to correct length, pack tightly, cover immediately (preferably with an oxygen barrier film like PASSION AG covers) to create anaerobic conditions for the LAB to work. The inoculant is an aid, not a substitute for good ensiling technique.
If you have multiple crops (grass silage, corn silage, etc.), use it on all where you want better biogas results. It’s safe for any typical silage crop.
Store any unused inoculant in a cool place (or use it all up; once mixed with water it doesn’t keep long, maybe 24-48h max in a cool place, since bacteria will eventually die without substrate).
Realistic Energy typically comes in a concentrated powder or freeze-dried granular form, sealed in a foil pouch or plastic canister. It might be packaged in doses for a certain tonnage (e.g., one pouch per 100 tonnes of forage).
Storage (pre-use): Keep the packets in a refrigerated or cool area until use to maintain viability. Avoid exposure to heat above, say, 40°C, and use before the expiration date since it contains live cultures.
Mixing: When ready to use, mix the packet in water per instructions. Use clean water (free of chlorine or sanitisers, as those will kill the bacteria). If your water is chlorinated, letting it sit overnight or using dechlorination tablets might be necessary.
Handling: The powder can be an allergen if inhaled (it's basically bacteria and carriers). So wear a dust mask when opening and pouring into water. Once diluted, it’s like handling a slightly tangy-smelling water – not harmful, but you wouldn't drink it. If it spills on you, just wash off. It's non-corrosive, so any equipment (plastics, stainless steel) is fine to use.
Use the mixed solution within the same day for maximum viability. Flush your applicator system with clean water after use to prevent any residues from growing or clogging between uses.
Realistic Energy, as a silage inoculant for biogas, provides ROI in terms of improved gas yield and reduced losses:
Higher Methane per Hectare: By enhancing silage quality, you get more methane from the same crop. If you measure biogas potential (BMP tests) on treated vs untreated silage, you'll likely see an increase. For a biogas plant reliant on energy crops, even a 3-5% increase in methane yield can mean a lot more kWh over a year – bringing in more revenue without increasing crop acreage.
Reduced Feedstock Losses: Silage often incurs dry matter losses (typically 5-15%) from harvest to feedout due to inefficient fermentation and spoilage. Realistic Energy can cut those losses significantly (perhaps to just a few percent). The tonnage you ensile is closer to the tonnage you actually feed later. This means you effectively get more usable feedstock for your money (growing/harvesting costs) and for the space you have. That saved dry matter would have cost money to replace if lost.
Avoiding Spoiled Silage Disposal: Every bit of mouldy or spoiled silage is wasted money – you spent to buy it or grow it, but you can't use it for biogas and might even pay to dispose of it. By preventing spoilage, Realistic Energy ensures almost all the silage is usable. Less waste = better ROI on your crop investment.
Process Stability: Silage treated with the inoculant is more stable and consistent in quality. This means your digester sees a consistent feedstock, leading to stable gas production. Stability is money in biogas, as fluctuations can cause inefficiencies or the need for corrective measures. Realistic Energy thus indirectly saves costs on things like anti-foam (because well-fermented silage foams less), or trace additives (because stable feeding causes fewer upsets).
Faster Turnaround: If you can ensile and get a stable silage in 2 weeks (versus maybe 4-6 weeks naturally), in theory you could start feeding it sooner if needed. Or you could double-use a silo if you have short turnaround. It's like improving the logistics ROI of your silage inventory. While many plants have enough storage to wait, the flexibility can save your bacon if you're running low on old silage.
Higher Methane Content in Biogas: If indeed more acetic acid is present, the digestion might produce biogas with a bit higher methane percentage (since acetic acid directly yields methane + CO₂ in a 1:1 ratio, whereas sugars produce more CO₂). Higher methane content can be valuable if you're upgrading gas (less CO₂ to remove) or even in engine efficiency slightly.
To illustrate, suppose you ensile 10,000 tons of corn silage. Without inoculant, you lose 10% to poor fermentation and spoilage – 1,000 tonnes gone. With Realistic Energy, losses drop to 4%, saving 600 tons. Those 600 extra tonnes might produce, say, 6000 m³ of methane (just as an example). That's energy you would have lost. Plus the treated silage gives, say, 5% more methane yield from the remaining 9,400t vs untreated would from 9,000t. In total, you get a substantial extra volume of biogas. The cost of inoculant on 10,000t is relatively small. The value of extra methane far exceeds that cost.
Also, consider the cost of mouldy silage: even having to landfill or compost spoiled feed has a cost. By avoiding that, you're directly saving money.
In summary, Realistic Energy’s ROI comes from maximising the energy harvested from your crop and protecting it until it becomes biogas. It makes your silage a more potent and reliable fuel for your digester, which is a smart investment for any AD operator relying on crops.
Realistic Engergy helps you get the full value out of your digester capacity and feedstock, which, for an asset-intensive operation like a biogas plant, is critical to profitability. Operators who have implemented it typically find that the smooth operation and enhanced gas output quickly justify the additive cost, often with a comfortable margin.