Reed canary grass as an energy crop

Håkan Örberg

Unit of biomass technology and chemistry

Reed Canary Grass research

at SLU/BTK  Establishing crop

Crop treatment

  Harvesting and transport

  Storage

  Upgrading to Briquettes and pellets

  Combustion

Perennial rhizomatous GrassReed Canary Grass

• A high yield crop in humid areas

• Resistant to diseases and damage by insects

• Establishing by seeding

• Agricultural machineries can be used by harvesting and seeding

Delayed harvest of Reed Canary Grass

• 1. Washing by winter rain gives lower K and Cl contents

• 2. Harvest in early spring time gives dry material . 12-15 % water

• 3.High losses

Regions in screening trails

Röbäcksdalen

Svalöv

Sotkamo

Ylistaro

Jokioinen

Foulum

Braunschweig

Dundee

Dublin

Aberystwyth

Rothamsted

Yield of delayed harvested RCG in Northern EuropeYield of delayed harvest in diff. regions

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Populations

kg DM / ha

North

South

West

Fertilizing kg/ha

• Year 1+2 N P K

• 150 40 150

• Year 3-10/year 80 10 10

• Based on a yield of: 7500 kg/ha

Harvesting studies

• Harvesting methods

• Combination of machineries

• Capacity measurements

• Defining period length of harvest

• Defining yield and losses

• Defining d.m.values

Storage studies

• Different cover methods

• Different stacking methods

• Time consumption

• Cost calculating

Upgrading to pellets or briquettes

• Capacity and quality measurements• Electrical consumption measurements• Optimizing processing parameters:

- Grinding, sieving, steam conditioning

- Die type

System analysis

Bio fuel pilot plant

Conveyor and shredder

Briquette machine

Pellets press

Combustion

• Combustion tests

• Emission measurements

• Ash melting characteristics

• Combustion efficiency

Boiler 150-600 kW

Thank You for listening