CANADA TO USE SWITCHGRASS AS HEATING FUEL?

Advocated as a source of second generation ethanol, research has yet to crack the mystery of refining Switchgrass into liquid fuel at economic costs.

Roger Samson, executive director, Resource Efficient Agriculture Production Canada (REAP): "It takes up as much energy as it produces…"

Academics who have successfully produced liquid fuel from Swichgrass (and Poplar trees) admit it is an inefficient process and expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. George Huber, researcher, University of Massachusetts-Amherst: "The challenge for chemical engineers is to efficiently produce liquid fuels from biomass while fitting into the existing infrastructure today…"

In Canada, the once-touted weed crop is now rather disregarded by the government.

Samson, REAP: "The federal government doesn't seem to want anything to do with switchgrass…They're betting taxpayer money on other fuel sources."

Without federal subsidies, growers are looking for efficient ways to use it. Turns out it might be a great fuel after all, a heating fuel.

Switchgrass has a variety of advantages over food crops. It is hardy, grows on noncrop land without special attention, grows with too much or too little water and produces 7 times the energy per hectare that corn does.

According to Samson, the grass dries naturally in the Canadian winter and is ready to be compressed into fuel pellets in the Spring. Samson, REAP: "The biggest user of energy — and the biggest contributor of greenhouses gasses to the environment — in this country isn't transportation, it's thermal…Heating our houses and institutions with pellets would reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in huge way."

As a heating fuel, Switchgrass is cheaper than natural gas. Glenn Friesen, business development specialist, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives: "[Switchgrass pellets at $150/tonne] would cost in the range of $7 to $8 per gigajoule…[With natural gas at $17/cubic metre]…an average homeowner would recoup the costs of a pellet stove purchase in three to four years [based on pellet stove price of approximately $3,000]."

So what about transport fuel?

Samson, REAP: "[Switchgrass pellets] can be burned in a power plant to make electricity…So why not use that electricity to power vehicles?"

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Switchgrass: Finally a viable biofuel? Using switchgrass as a source of enegy could take off, supporters say, if we stop thinking of it as liquid-fuel replacement
Jerry Lanton, June 9, 2008 (CBC News)

WHO
Canadian Switchgrass growers; Resource Efficient Agriculture Production Canada (REAP)

WHAT
According to new evaluations, Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a perennial grass widely proposed as a second generation ethanol source, would be more efficiently used as a direct source of heating energy.

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WHEN
Switchgrass, as a perennial, regrows yearly. Left to dry in the fields over the winter, it would be ready for compression into fuel pellets every Spring, leaving the fields open for a new crop.

WHERE
- Switchgrass is native to the North American prairie.
- REAP's farm and research facility is in Ste-Anne-de-Belleville, Quebec.
- Switchgrass in Louisiana after Katrina survived being underwater for 30 days.

WHY
- Switchgrass: (1) perennial native grass; 92) grows extremely quickly; (3) up to 2.2 metres tall; (4) on land not suitable for food crops; (5) yields 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare; (6) burns very efficiently when dried.
- $2.2 billion is presently dedicated to biofuel research in Canada, $500 million is earmarked for "next-generation" projects administered by Sustainable Technology Development Canada (STDC). One Switchgrass project is being considered.
- Switchgrass pellets are like green charcoal briquettes, can be used just like coal and natural gas and yield seven times as much energy per hectare as corn.

Switchgrass grows tall. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Patrice Breton, director of communications, Sustainable Technology Development Canada (STDC): "We look at the viability of any fuel source as far as supply…We want to get beyond the food-versus-fuel debate, and have looked at things like wheat sheaves, corn husks, wood chips and even garbage as a viable energy feedstock."
- Samson, REAP: "Instead of exploring alternatives, they [the Canadian government] are trying to pick winners…And if they are going with things like coal and corn ethanol, I think they're picking the wrong ones."