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(FB039)
January 28, 2006

The Potential for Grass Biofuel Pellets

Executive Summary
  • A combination of circumstances has opened up unprecedented opportunities for biofuel development.
  • They include higher energy costs, low commodity prices and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The use of switchgrass as an alternative heating fuel is emerging as a solution that addresses all these problems simultaneously.
  • North American farmland has a unique natural capacity for producing grasses that are highly suitable for use as a substitute fuel.
  • The development of new burning systems for pelletized grass has opened the door to cost-efficient use of switchgrass as a heating fuel.
  • In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, the burning of biofuel pellets is far superior to rates for conventional fuels.
  • The economic advantages of widespread conversion to the use of biofuel pellets for thermal energy are considerable.
  • Further development of this nascent industry will profoundly alter North American energy markets in a positive direction.

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    Author's Picture Roger Samson is Executive Director of Resource Efficient Agricultural Production Canada (REAP), a charitable organization working to research and develop ecological solutions to challenges in energy, fibre and food production. He has been working since 1991 on bioenergy development systems that use prairie grasses as densified biofuels and for bioethanol production, and believes perennial grasses are poised to become the largest new renewable energy source for the industrial and developing world. He recently authored a comprehensive paper for Critical Reviews in Plant Science titled: “The Potential of C4 Perennial Grasses as a Global Bioheat Source”. In 2005 Samson was also involved in bioenergy and agro-ecological farming projects in China, the Philippines and West Africa.


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