Hybrid Miscanthus For Future Biomass Energy Research ?

Because Arkansas is “prime real estate” for bioenergy crops, the recent announcement of a joint U.S. Department of Energy/University of Arkansas research effort is most welcome, says Chuck West, who along with University of Arkansas-Monticello researchers, is evaluating production systems for switchgrass, several sorghum varieties and cottonwood as cellulosic feedstock.

West’s research group is aiming for “a sustainable ligno-cellulosic feedstock production practice for energy crops.” The group’s four objectives are:

• weed control and establishment practices for switchgrass.
• diseases potentially limiting switchgrass and sorghum production.
• information on the management, productivity and quality of sweet sorghum for sugar and biomass.
• hybrid, giant miscanthus for future biomass research.

Hybrid miscanthus is a plant native to Asia. It grows very tall — “12 feet tall, easily” — and densely with a lot of stems and leaves. In other states, hybrid miscanthus has produced two or three times more biomass per acre than switchgrass. It’s already being cultivated as a biomass crop in Europe.

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Miscanthus Could Offer Long-term Source of Carbon-Neutral Energy ?

Planting crops for biofuel could improve biodiversity in the British countryside as well as helping soften the impact of human carbon dioxide emissions, according to new research.

The paper, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, suggests that crops like coppiced willow or miscanthus grass can support more wild species than traditional arable crops, particularly in the uncultivated margins around the edges of fields. These fast-growing crops are grown to be burned in biomass power stations; because this emits only the carbon that the plants absorbed while they were growing, advocates say it could offer a long-term source of carbon-neutral energy.

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Miscanthus, Switchgrass & Restored Prairie Tested As Potential Energy Crops

On the University of Illinois South Farms, 320 acres are devoted to the largest biofuels research farm in the U.S., growing crops that could be used to produce renewable energy. Last year the farm planted miscanthus, switchgrass, corn, and restored prairie as bioenergy crops. The goal is to compare insect and disease challenges, environmental benefits, economic opportunities and potential energy per acre of each.

Tim Mies, who directs the Energy Farm, said that research at Illinois has already shown that the giant miscanthus grass can produce over double the biomass per acre as corn. "It does this apparently without the need for any nitrogen fertilizer, very few other inputs and it adds significant amounts of organic matter to the soil. So, miscanthus might be a third crop for Illinois, and one particularly suited to marginal land," Mies said.

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Camelina Company Searches For Oilseed Crushing Facility Site

Great Plains - The Camelina Company, the world's leader in camelina production and development, is searching for a site for an oilseed crushing facility in the state of Montana.

With the assistance of a $50,000 grant awarded by the Montana Agriculture Development Council from the Montana Growth Through Agriculture Program, a feasibility study is currently being conducted and a site will be named in the near future.

A low cost feedstock, camelina is well suited for the more arid regions of the Northern Great Plains, requiring low inputs of water, fertilizer and pesticide. It can be planted behind wheat and on marginal lands. It is sustainable, does not compete with other crops and is successful as a rotational crop.