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Overwintered Switchgrass Makes Superior Pellet Fuel
Forget about making ethanol from switchgrass, says Roger Samson. He says a better use would be pellets made from spring-harvested switchgrass that's cut in the fall and left in windrows.
"Building a plant to process 100,000 tons of switchgrass into ethanol would cost $300 million," says Samson of Quebec-based Re
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Overwintered Switchgrass Makes Superior Pellet Fuel ENERGY Miscellaneous 31-3-25 Forget about making ethanol from switchgrass, says Roger Samson. He says a better use would be pellets made from spring-harvested switchgrass that's cut in the fall and left in windrows.
"Building a plant to process 100,000 tons of switchgrass into ethanol would cost $300 million," says Samson of Quebec-based Resource Efficient Agricultural Production Canada (REAP-Canada). "A plant to process the same quantity into pellets would cost just $7 million and would yield twice as much energy."
The one problem with burning switchgrass is that it can be corrosive to stoves. REAP-Canada thinks it has the answer to this problem, too.
Cutting the grass in the fall and letting it overwinter leaches potassium and other chemicals back into the soil without significantly reducing the mass. This leaves grass for pellets that will burn clean similar to wood pellets and can be burned in any wood or coal-fired boiler.
"We lose 95 percent of the potassium and have plant material that's 12 to 14 percent moisture," says Samson. "It's difficult to get it under 18 percent in the late fall."
Samson estimates production of four tons per acre on marginal crop ground. However, production of various switchgrass varieties is still being evaluated. He says the market for switchgrass pellets is growing quickly in eastern Canada, but he sees an even bigger market for exporting the pellets to Europe. In Ontario, greenhouses and other energy users are converting to the fuel as it becomes available. Samson works closely with Ontario producers to help them establish the crop and then finds markets for the pellets. One of those uses is home heat. Samson heats his home with switchgrass pellets, and it costs him $1,200 compared to $1,400 for natural gas or $1,925 for fuel oil.
While neither the U.S. nor Canada is supporting switchgrass energy production like they do ethanol, a cross border partnership is developing, "We are using American cubing and pelleting equipment and Canadian boiler technology," explains Samson.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, REAP-Canada, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Box 125 Maison Glenaladale, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 3V9 (ph 514 398-7743; info@reap-canada.com; www.reap-canada.com).
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