Learn all about biochar–what it is, and how it benefits soils and the climate by sequestering carbon.
Biochar is charred …
U.S. farms and forests have the potential to supply enough biomass to meet the Renewable Fuels Standard and replace more than a third of petroleum use with bioenergy by 2030, according to the U.S. Billion-Ton Update.
The Northeast Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium (NEWBio) is a regional network of universities, businesses, and governmental organizations dedicated to building robust, scalable, and sustainable value chains for biomass energy in the Northeast. Driven by the broad societal benefits that sustainable bioenergy value chains could provide, NEWBio aims to overcome existing barriers and dramatically increase the sustainable, cost-effective supply of lignocellulosic biomass while reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing ecosystem services, and building vibrant communities.
Research finds triploid hybrids of shrub willow yield the highest biomass, leading to improved cultivars for renewable energy.
Research into the genetics and biomass composition of shrub willow shows that triploid hybrids generally outperform diploid and tetraploid hybrids. This …
Farmers growing shrub willow for bioenergy are helped by a BCAP project in New York State that aims to make the biomass crop more financially viable.
The profitable production of switchgrass for biofuel today depends primarily on the price of oil, as well as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
In the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) legislation passed …
The variety of biofuel processing methods and equipment is remarkable, allowing us to transform energy feedstocks into useful solid fuels, liquid fuels, gases, electricity, heat or mechanical work. One of the main barriers to a successful biomass energy industry is the simple fact that most raw biomass is not immediately useful as an energy source. Biofuel crops must be processed in one way or another before they can be a valuable source of energy.
Dr. Timothy Volk has more than 25 years of experience working in the fields of forestry, agroforestry, short-rotation woody crops, bioenergy, and phytoremediation in the Northeastern United States and Africa. He is responsible for a series of research projects focused on the development of shrub willow biomass cropping systems as a feedstock for bioproducts and bioenergy and the use of willow as an alternative cover for industrial waste sites. He is also actively involved in research and development of sustainability …
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a crop once grown for its dye now is grown for its oil in parts of Canada and the United States (50 percent of U.S. acreage is in California). Safflower is drought resistant and can be planted in irrigated and dryland areas as long as soils are well drained. Cool, wet soils delay uniform emergence, and periods of heavy rain can increase disease levels and reduce yields.…
No matter how you store harvested perennial grasses grown for biofuel feedstock, be sure to minimize dry matter losses and maintain uniform physical and chemical properties.
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After-harvest storage methods of switchgrass and other perennial grasses grown for biofuel have a significant effect on the profitability …
