Panicum virgatum L. Could Be an Alternative Environmental Friendly Feedstock for Energy Production

International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science

© 2017 by SSRG - IJAES Journal

Volume 4 Issue 1

Year of Publication : 2017

Authors : Kyriakos d. Giannoulis, Dimitrios Bartzialis, Elpiniki Skoufogianni, Ioannis Gravalos, Panagiotis Xyradakis, Nicholaos G. Danalatos

10.14445/23942568/IJAES-V4I1P103

How to Cite?

Kyriakos d. Giannoulis, Dimitrios Bartzialis, Elpiniki Skoufogianni, Ioannis Gravalos, Panagiotis Xyradakis, Nicholaos G. Danalatos, "Panicum virgatum L. Could Be an Alternative Environmental Friendly Feedstock for Energy Production," SSRG International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science, vol. 4,  no. 1, pp. 14-23, 2017. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942568/IJAES-V4I1P103

Abstract:

The investigation of alternative energy sources environmentally friendly is necessary, due to the decrease of fossil fuel reserves, the increased world population needs and the increased CO2 emissions. During the past two decades, researchers started to investigate the case of producing energy through crop production. Switchgrass is a perennial crop of low input requirements and high biomass production, which could produce high amounts of energy per hectare equivalent to oil. A three years field experiment was conducted in case to examine the effects of four nitrogen - fertilization and two irrigation levels, in two different soils, at two different growing stages (vegetative stage and seed mature) on dry biomass yield, calorific value and ash content of switchgrass Alamo variety. It was found that higher dry yield (27-30 t ha-1) reached on the aquic soil while on the xeric remained at lower levels (14-15 t ha-1). In the case of the average calorific value it was observed a slight increase (from 17 to 17.3 MJ/kg) according only to crop maturation, while in the case of the average ash content crop maturation had the opposite effect (5.4 and 4.5%). Therefore, it is really important to refer that switchgrass cultivation is able to produce 466 GJ ha-1 and 1.2 t ha- 1 ashes which can be used for fertilization and its introduction in future land use systems for an environmentally friendly energy production should be seriously taken into consideration.

Keywords:

Switchgrass, calorific value, ash, biomass, energy

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