A perennial grass that grows to 13 feet, just needs fertilizer and can be stored in bales could be the next hope for efficient production of ethanol.
At least some scientists believe that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who have been conducting field trials of sterile grass known as Miscanthus giganteus, distant cousin of the rod Grass (Panicum virgatum). In a recently published report, researchers say that biofuel crop demonstrated in field studies, to be much more productive than other crops like corn to produce biomass for ethanol, an alternative to gas.
“By using Miscanthus can produce ethanol much less of the ground currently used in corn,” he said during the presentation of research professor Steven Long, who led the study. His work also appears in the journal Global Change Biology.
The U.S. government aims to produce enough ethanol to replace one fifth of the country’s gasoline consumption, but according to the researchers, using corn or grass stem as raw material, required to occupy about 25% of the land of U.S. currently allocated to growing food. However, to produce the same amount of ethanol with Miscanthus sufficient for 9.3% of the farming area. In the United Kingdom, the grass is sold for energy production.
In the past year, Long led a field study in Illinois to discuss the production of Miscanthus compared with the grass stem, which has aroused much interest in the U.S. as a source of raw material for producing ethanol. The group of researchers noted that the grass Miscanthus can overcome the rod annually producing up to 2.5 times more ethanol feedstock in the same area of cultivation. Like the rod grass, Miscanthus does not need the chemicals, but also according to the researchers, is potentially nine times more efficient at converting sunlight into biomass. Miscanthus also exceeds the corn.
Another point in favor of this crop is that more carbon accumulates in the soil that the corn or soybeans, Long said. “In the context of climate change is important because it means that by producing a biofuel on that land is capturing carbon from the atmosphere to put on the floor.”
