Assessment of unconventional tall grasses cultivation and preparation for solid biofuel

Abstract

The paper provides the research results of unconventional tall grasses: sida (Sida hermaphrodita), cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) and common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.) cultivation and preparation for solid biofuel. These investigations were carried out in the fields and laboratories of the Aleksandras Stulginskis University and the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in 2009-2012. The work of plant cultivation was aimed to assess the impact of nitrogen and liming application on dry matter productivity and the evaluation of the technological process for biofuel production. The four years of field investigations revealed that growing conditions and 120 kg·ha-1 nitrogen rate had the highest impact on common mugwort and cup plant dry mass (DM) productivity. The use of 6.0 t·ha-1 CaCO3 liming material had a positive effect on cup plant productivity, only. For the assessment of unconventional tall grasses preparation for solid biofuel the methodology of solid biofuel preparation for unconventional bioenergy plants was approved, and the technique for plant chopping, milling, pressing, and determination of plant chaff, mill and pellet quality was selected. There were presented research results of unconventional tall bioenergy plants chaff and mill physical-mechanical properties – moisture content, bulk density and in justice of use the drum chopping and hummer milling equipment prepared chaff and mill fractional composition. The average calorific value of these plants was determined, which is varied from 17.2 to 18.7 MJ·kg-1.