Switchgrass for producing biofuel

[Ghost in the Machine]

I only learned about switchgrass in this past late spring during a conversation with Bob Sliger, Agriculture Extension Agent for the county. Bob was properly enthused about the potential of switchgrass for ethanol production and explained how cellulose from switchgrass to make ethanol was better than producing ethanol from corn.

“For one, it takes much more energy to produce corn ethanol than cellulosic ethanol,” Bob said. “And the actual biomass yield from switchgrass is much higher than corn, and you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to grow...it’s the crop of the future.

Once you get Bob started talking about switchgrass, all sorts of information, facts, and figures will unfold faster and faster and there’s a tendency to get lost or left behind or both. (Me, I was both.)

I heard more about switchgrass than I could retain in my head but at least I was aware of this plant and the fact that it’s being promoted as one of the best possible sources for biofuel in the years ahead.

http://monroebuzz.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=82&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2334&hn=monroebuzz&he=.com

[greenman3610]

1. actually, researchers have found that a mix might be better

Univ of Minnesota team has been working with a mix of prairie grasses
that require no irrigation or fertilizer, provide more cellulosic product than
switchgrass alone, and actually sequester carbon in their extensive root
systems


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5EE06FDA-E7F2-99DF-3C6DEDB5F5F4518D&modsrc=related_links

Tilman calculates that nitrogen-poor, degraded land planted with a mixture of perennial prairie grasses--such as goldenrod, Indian grass, big blue stem and switchgrass--can actually provide up to 238 percent more bioenergy than the same land planted with only one species. (Switchgrass, when grown alone in the poor soil, returned only one third of the energy of a diverse plot.) In addition, when compared with ethanol from corn grown in fertile soil, he claims his plots can return 51 percent more energy per acre.

The kicker to Tilman's finding: his process is reportedly carbon-negative--meaning the plants can store more carbon in their roots than they will create during their conversion to biofuels or electricity. Tilman says this negativity occurs because prairie grasses have complex root systems underground that typically make up two thirds of the plant total biomass, making them efficient carbon sinks: "When they grow, they have to a lot of carbon to keep their roots alive and to make these very extensive root systems,

[Ghost in the Machine]

3. more from this author...

"What is switchgrass? It’s a native perennial that’s capable of producing around ten to 12 tons of biomass per acre over five to six years, and possibly as much as 15 tons per acre. It’s a half-brother, or at least a cousin, to the tough prairie grass of the Great Plains to our west eaten by the native bison of the American frontier 200 years ago, and to my way of thinking, if it can power a 3,000-pound Dakota buffalo hell-bent for the horizon why can’t it move up and down the road a Dakota pickup that weighs half as much?


But here’s what I really like about switchgrass: it’s one of us.

It’s suited to East Tennessee. It’s disease resistant. It tolerates poor soil. It thumbs its nose at droughts and flooding, it’s low maintenance (plant, weed, stand back, let grow, cut, haul), and it grows head high. Think of hay with a gland problem.

It’s a prolific producer of biomass, a fancy name for cellulose. Cellulose, sugar, yeast, alcohol. No more petroleum. The natural order of things."

[Swamp Rat]

2. Garbanzo bean gas

You'll shoot into the air like a leaky balloon. :D

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Just like a George Jetson car!

[Swamp Rat]

5. We got the wristwatch TV (The iWhatever), but where's my personal jet pack?

:shrug:

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. Yeah, that goddamned Gilligan had one on a deserted island! Where's MINE???

:rofl:

[Ghost in the Machine]

7. kick

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. friday kick