Biomasses, Shell Believes in it!

Over the past 5 years Shell has invested 1.7 billion dollars in 

renewables, and specifically not in wind power or solar, but 

in biomasses in order to find a viable alternative to oil and

continue to produce fuel for internal combustion engines. 

I drawn this information from a short article appeared on Wednesday 18 March 

on the Corriere della Sera (the major italian paper). 

I quote: 

"More specifically looks at alternative fuels to petrol, 

second generation fuels derived from biomasses, ie 

cellulose and non-cereals. It will have to mean something! " 

I do not love Shell or the world they represent, it must be 

noted that where they invest their money, probably, that will be 

the most likely future field of development.

Vetiver biomass: second milling test

This second test was conducted with a forage mill:

as obvious, the machine is too small to chop large

quantities of biomass, but was the only one of

that kind available at the time; there are much

bigger ones. What really counts is that the chopping

is performed on the horizontal axis as compared

to the insertion direction of the biomass.

This fact guarantees a much stronger coherence

if compared to the previous test.

The result was much more satisfactory than the

previous one; next year I'll chop a large quantity 

of leaves and stems with a much larger mill. also 

the timing of the operation will be an interesting 

data to account for.

Vetiver biomass: milling test

First milling test performed in order to obtain 

heater grade chopped biomass:

Just about 30 Kg of biomass have been transformed.

The objective is to find a tool (power or engine) that chops 

leaves and stems down to the correct size for burning in an 

automatic biomass heater.

The point is, besides the size, that the product has to be 

coherent.

No further operations will have to be needed afterwards to 

preserve economicity.

The result of this first test is not completely satisfactory 

because the product presents different sizes. To achieve 

a better result, sieving is necessary in order to discard 

oversize material.

The problem starts with the machine's work: the chopping 

is done on the same axis of insertion of the biomass: this 

makes also the machine prone to choking. The final product 

is part pulverized, part oversize.

Let's move over.

Biomass Calculation

I consider concluded the drying period of the biomasses obtained from the first cut performed at mid July. The total weight of all the biomass cut in the three test sites sums up to Kg 15.

The total length of the hedgerows considered for the tests are in their second year vegetation, are conducted with no irrigation or fertilization and were cut at 30 cm height, the total length of these rows  was  6m.

Therefore the weight per meter of dry mass is 2,5 Kg.

If we apply this data on an hectare consisting of 200 rows, spaced 50cm 

and 100m long the total weight per hectare of the

dry mass obtained is 50 Tonnes.

Biomass for boilers

We're almost there:
the biomass cut during this summer has dried up, soon I'll drop in at tziu Piero's (sardinian honorific title for the elderly) to try out with him the grinder to be used with the tractor.
If the dimensions of the chopped biomass will be about 2 cm, than we'll have the ultimate fuel for biomass boilers.

Biomass, a month later.

I want to show you a shot of the plants I have chosen to assess the weight of the biomass in one growing season; it was taken the 12 of August, 25 days after the first cut. The entire nursery hasn't received a single liter of irrigation water or a minute of rain since spring, nor has received fertilization. It is thriving on groundwater probably at 5 or 6 meters depth, and on the condensation of night humidity that the leaves drive onto the crown.
Consider also that the cut was done with a good month delay on the start of the growing season...

New start for biomass

Just to keep you informed, I wish to show you the regrowth obtained in one week after the cut performed to weight the biomass.

BIOMASS: first cut weight calculation

After an entire month on antibiotics, finally I managed to start the long promised weight calculation of the biomass resulting from the vetiver hedgerows in the nursery.
This calculation has been conducted on non irrigated nor fertilized hedgerows cut at 30cm height.
Today's result has been obtained choosing three sections, each two meters long, far apart from each other to have the certainty of the maximum possible variety of the subsoil within the land's capabilities (acquifer depth, soil type, past cultivation's residues, etc.) averaging then the weights obtained.
The weighted biomasses (accurate to 100g) are only relative to the first cut, therefore the winter vegetation and the spring one relative to rows planted 14 monts ago, so only just adult.
The sites have been individuated in a precise way so that next cuts will only regard the single plants allready considered.
Here is the data:

site 1 - 6.5 Kg
site 2 - 7.7 Kg
site 3 - 9.8 Kg

AVERAGE 8 Kg

EACH METER Kg 4

If we imagine to have 100m long hedgerows 50cm apart, the total weight would be 80.000Kg/ha
of mixed biomass dry and green more or less at 50%

With non irrigated young plants......

Energy from biomasses

An interesting piece has showed up on "La Repubblica" tuersday 15th of April 2008:

A research conducted by the University of Massachussets, found a method to produce 2nd generation biofuels, starting from wood chips and agricultural waste using the quick pirolysis method.
At the moment agriculture using this method could contribute in Italy, with the waste it produces, with a total of 3,6 billion liters/year of biodiesel, standing a total need for Italy of about 40 billion/year. Even if we considered half of the fuel produced as energy needed by the industrial process, we still have a theoretical potential of 1,8 billion liters/year of biofuel which accounts for just about half the goal set by the EU, and this without using a single gram of anything may ever enter the human food chain, therefore without touching the economic balances of the third world (and ours too).
This research depicts agriculture's present state, but DOES NOT consider that biomasses can be produced free by phyto depurating wastewaters: If we only considered the use of "technical plants" for the treatment of sewage in at least half of the 8000 councils present in Italy, this final data of biofuel produced would certainly be reductive

Here is the article written by Antonio Cianciullo
The technology exists, now let's find the political will to apply it....

Wastewater, new data

I had left half way the topic of wastewater carring high quantities of pollutin dissolved in it (Nitrates and phosphates).
I would like to pick it up again showing new data, more precise and useful in catering a rough idea on how to dimension the beds that dispose of this water rather than let it penetrate the water table.
Watts Bridge is a far away little community in Queensland, Australia, in there, a small avio field manages their wastewater in a reed bed vegetated with vetiver. Instead of pollute the soil, they produce biomasses.
The Vetiver Network International has helped designing the work.

Here are some numbers: the daily average inlet is 1670 liters the total length of the rows sums up to 80 meters for a total of 400 plants in 100 sq. meters.
The total Nitrogen measured at the inlet is 68 mg/l while at the end of the beds measures 0,095 mg/l
Phosphorus goes from 10,6 mg/l to 0,138 mg/l.

Dispersion wells, full tricameral tanks, careless empting of wastewaters, generate pollution in the watertable that in one way or another re enters the food chain.
Solving this problem does not necessarily have to be a cost; it can be transformed in a resource and generate income: I can't help thinking of bovine stables: they can reuse the wastewaters and lower the costs of their forage using the biomasses produced from vetiver reed beds into a feed base for their cattle, saving money used for producing equivalent weight of more costly forages.

A careful management with frequent cuts will also improve the strong taste that this forage has.

Looks like a clever idea to me.....

To see the work, have a look at this....

Cellulose, finally

The energy that the sun stores in the biomasses, has a huge potential: agricoltural residues and technical plants can partially fix the great crave for energy that modern living creates.
the most immediate way of extracting this energy is certainly the old way: burning.
To dry biomasses below a certain point presents less problems in comparison with other methods.
But, burning for heating poses clear questions about the origins of the fuel we use: even though the CO2 we inject in the atmosphere by burning was allready absorbed by the plants in the first place, other kinds of molecules can be present when the biomasses are derived from water treatment, soil decontamination, sanitary prevention in mining sites. The potentially dangerous chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals cannot be reintroduced in the air; therefore we have to be particularly cautious using biomasses derived from dangerous sites.
Biogas derived from the digestion of vetiver leaves, present other kinds of obstacles: I've noticed in my field work that cut leaves are tough to rot: they dry out and stay on the ground for a long time intact, even though this mulch is perfect, this indicates that the rotting process is slowed down by some substance present in the leaves, exactly what we did not need for biogas.
But Vetiver biomasses, are composed by 45,8% of cellulose, a carbohydrate that can be treated with low heat (about 40°C) and enzymes to produce alcohol with the simultaneous saccarification and fermentation method