Due to lacking income perspectives in the dairy cow sector a
considerable part of the grasslands will no longer be used for
fodder production in the near future. Extensive, species-rich
grasslands on poor sites are mainly affected by this development.
The conservation of these ecologically valuable areas with their
important functions in terms of nature and species protection as
well as their aesthetic value is a necessity but can only be
achieved in the long term with new economic sustainable utilisation
concepts.
The utilisation for energy production provides an interesting
alternative, which does, in contrast to many other bioenergy crops,
not compete with food production for limited agricultural land.
However, conventional energy recovery techniques show some major
limitations regarding the biomass from extensive grassland, which
are caused by high fibre contents In the case of anaerobic
digestion and by high ash contents in the case of direct
combustion.
The IFPS procedure is aimed at maximising the efficiency of
extracting energy from biomass. Through mechanical dehydration the
grassland silage is separated into a readily digestible press fluid
with low fibre contents and a press cake with low ash contents
suitable for solid fuel combustion. The power generated from the
biogas production of the press fluid is fed into the grid, while
the waste heat is used year-round to dry the press cake. The latter
is then available as solid fuel suitable for storage and
sale.
The objectives of this project are to:
- optimise the IFPS procedure for biomass from ecologically
valuable grassland regarding the dehydration including
pre-treatments and
- to quantify important parameters of the IFPS procedure like
energy and economic balances, CO2 saving potentials and impacts on
the vegetation.
Contact:
Felix
Richter
