{"id":5833,"date":"2015-06-03T06:27:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T20:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=5833"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:07:03","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:07:03","slug":"the-biofuel-potential-of-elephant-grass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/fuel-2\/the-biofuel-potential-of-elephant-grass\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biofuel Potential of Elephant Grass"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a big fluffy-looking grass that could be one of the answers to dwindling fossil fuel supplies?\u00a0 The answer is Miscanthus<\/i> \u2013 also known as elephant grass.<\/p>\n

\"MIscanthus_Formatted\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Elephant grass (Miscanthus \u00d7 giganteus<\/i>) has been getting a bit of interest from the biofuel boffins since as early as the 1980s. And it\u2019s got a fair bit of promise. It\u2019s not an oil-producing plant but it does make a good feedstock for ethanol.<\/p>\n

Elephant grass is a perennial (plant it once and then it just keeps on going) that grows from rhizomes (that\u2019s big fat roots).\u00a0 It puts out fresh shoots every spring, grows up to 3 metres high in summer. In the autumn, it starts to go to sleep, sending a lot of the nutrients (including nitrogen and carbon) underground to the soil and the roots (and also smothers a few weeds with the shed leaves).\u00a0 This leaves tall stems that are kind of like bamboo standing.\u00a0 These stems are harvested in late winter or early spring before the new leaves start poking up again, and it\u2019s the stems that get used as an ethanol feedstock. \u00a0Then the cycle begins again.<\/p>\n

Now, there are a number of issues that have to be tackled when it comes to finding a good plant source of biofuel. Firstly, there\u2019s the land issue. There\u2019s only a certain amount of arable land in the world, and with the global population growing the way that it is, we\u2019re going to need quite a lot of it to feed us all (we probably also need to do something about the amount of food that gets wasted every year, but that\u2019s another story). \u00a0Then come the issues with water: again, there\u2019s only so much fresh water out there at any one time for people and animals and plants to use, even if the water cycle means that it all keeps circulating. And you\u2019ve got pesticides: if a crop gets a lot of pests eating it, then farmers need to dump on the pesticides, which (a) takes up a lot of resources and (b) puts a whole lot of junk into the soil and water.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an added bonus if a plant used as a biofuel feedstock is pretty easy-care. That way, it doesn\u2019t mean that the farmers use heaps of diesel in the process of ploughing, sowing, harrowing, weeding, fertilising and harvesting.\u00a0 Plants that have other benefits also get big tick marks.<\/p>\n

\"Stems<\/a>

Stems of elephant grass ready for harvest at the end of winter.<\/p><\/div>\n

So how does elephant grass stand up?<\/p>\n

Elephant grass has a high yield per hectare. This means that for every acre of elephant grass planted, you get a maximum of 25 tons of biomass (depending on the exact variety) that converts to over 3000 gallons of ethanol \u2013 better figures than you get for corn grown for biofuel and heaps better than timber.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a food crop for humans or for animals.\u00a0 This means that on one hand, it will take up land that could be used for growing food. On the other hand, it means that it won\u2019t drive up the price of food, like corn grown for biofuel can.\u00a0 It needs a moderate amount of water, but it\u2019s pretty undemanding regarding other inputs.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s a perennial plant, it doesn\u2019t need to be re-sown every year. It also smothers weeds and puts some organic material back into the soil, meaning that you don\u2019t need pesticides and it cuts down on the amount of fertiliser needed for a good crop \u2013 although a wee bit of fertiliser will be needed for best results.\u00a0 All a farmer has to do, more or less, is stick it in, water it and harvest it at the right time.<\/p>\n

And is there anything else that elephant grass is good for? It can be used as a substitute for coal in coal-fired power plants (one US plant breeder claims that 1 acre of elephant grass can power two typical US households for a year).\u00a0 The stems also get used for kitty litter, bedding for racehorses, paper and composites (eco-friendly plastic substitutes). Unfortunately, these aren\u2019t by-products of the biofuel industry. However, the tall green stands does provide cover for wildlife during summer.\u00a0 It can also be used as an ornamental plant \u2013 although it\u2019s a bit on the large side!<\/p>\n

Elephant grass grows reasonably well in the more temperate parts of Australia. In fact, a close relative of M. \u00d7 giganteus<\/i> (Miscanthus sinensis<\/i> \u2013 also known as zebra grass) is considered to be an invasive weed in Victoria and New South Wales. \u00a0Let\u2019s hope the powers that be don\u2019t just spray it off but make the most of it!\u00a0 Elephant grass, however, is a hybrid, so it\u2019s not likely to spread as invasively, as the seeds aren\u2019t fertile.<\/p>\n

Safe and happy driving,<\/p>\n

Megan http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/forex.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a big fluffy-looking grass that could be one of the answers to dwindling fossil fuel supplies?\u00a0 The answer is Miscanthus \u2013 also known as elephant grass. Elephant grass (Miscanthus \u00d7 giganteus) has been getting a bit of interest from the biofuel boffins since as early as the 1980s. And it\u2019s got a fair bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fuel-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5833"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11717,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833\/revisions\/11717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}