Energy crops utilization as an alternative agricultural production
¹Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, CZ16521 Prague 6, Czech Republic; *Correspondence: kolarikova@ftz.czu.cz
²The State Agrarian University of Moldova, Mirceşti 42, Chișinău 2049, Republic of Moldova 3Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Padurii 18, Chisinau 2002, Republic of Moldova
Abstract:
Nowadays an increasing attention is given to the production and use of solid biofuels as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. The common raw material for the production of solid biofuels is a biomass of vegetal origin, which is mainly represented by waste and secondary agricultural products as well as forest or wood residues. Unfortunately, these types of materials do not always meet the quality requirements for the production of biofuels in the form of pellets and briquettes. This is primarily due to the fact that much of the agricultural wastes have low calorific value, high ash content, low density, etc. and at the end all these facts also negatively affects the price of biofuels. In addition, an intensive use of agricultural waste as a raw material for the purpose of biofuels’ production could have a negative impact on soil fertility. Based on abovementioned disadvantages of agricultural biomass, there is a big potential in utilization of alternative biomass such as energy crops. Several energy crops from the same biological family Asteraceae were selected for the research purposes. The main focus of this article is evaluation and comparison of the main solid biofuels’ properties, which were measured according to European and International standards. Assessment of an energy potential of selected crops for the Republic of Moldova is presented here as well.
Key words:
ash content., briquettes, energy crops, gross calorific value, solid biofuel