Course: BFM 101 Biofuels Fundamentals

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Crop Advantages: Impact on Water and Environment

The leading advantage of cellulose is its abundance. Also, cellulose is not used for food and can be grown in all parts of the North Central Region. Growing grass and woody biomass reduces soil erosion when compared to conventional commodity crop production. Biomass crops generally reduce surface runoff and nitrogen transport and provide for diverse wildlife habitat [3].

“Woody and herbaceous biomass crops are not seen as competing for land with traditional row crops, such as corn and soybeans. Rather, they are perennial crops that can be grown on more marginal lands where erosion is a problem, where soil stabilization is needed, or where the economic returns to the farmer’s labor and capital are low. Once established, maintaining perennial biomass crops requires less input of labor or resources compared with annual cycles of planting and harvesting of traditional row crops,” [2].

Grasses and woody biomass have a high water demand, but are generally grown relying on rainfall, without use of irrigation. Therefore, the cost to groundwater aquifers and surface water resources is low. However, in drought-prone areas production in dry years will be low due to lack of rainfall.

Residue Biomass

It is important to note that a significant amount of biomass is crop residue. Figure 3.4 highlights biomass distribution over the North Central United States in 2005, including agricultural residues (crop and manure), wood residues, dedicated energy crops, and Conservation Reserve Program land (CRP).

For additional information, please view:

Fact Sheet:
Grass & Woody Biomass for Bioenergy

Fact Sheet:
Corn Stover for Bioenergy

Conclusions
Water use in ethanol production includes both consumptive water use for crop growth and water used in processing facilities. Processing facilities have dramatically reduced consumptive water use over the past 20 years. With practices like Zero Liquid Discharge, consumptive use of water in state-of-the-art ethanol facilities can be less than 1.0 gallon of water for each gallon of ethanol. Water embodied in ethanol, or any biofuel, is greatest when the feedstock is grown with irrigation.

Resources by eXtension, Bioenergy & Sustainability, BIOEN3 CC BY-NC-SA 2.5
www.extension.org/pages/63365/bioenergy-curriculum

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Pages (9/9)