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ARUNDO DONAX L. (GIANT CANE) AS A FEEDSTOCK FOR BIOENERGY AND GREEN CHEMISTRY
Full text linkArundo donax L. or giant cane is a second-generation energy crop that could be used as a feedstock for bioenergy, i.e. biogas, bioethanol, combustion, and in green chemistry as raw material for several industrial sectors. The genetic characterization of A. donax plants revealed that, because of its asexual reproduction, low genetic variability could be detected between plants; the studies on the inflorescences also confirmed the agamic reproduction of the plant. Nevertheless, it could be speculated that some genetic characteristics could be hereditable and a selection of clones could be carried out. The clonal selection showed to be a crucial factor also for the choice of the propagation techniques and their final costs.
A. donax biomass conservation by ensilage was possible without using inoculum. The preservation of giant cane could be performed by the two most used silage techniques, trench and silo-bag; the silo-bag technique was more efficient in preserving the biogas potential than trench one. The potential biogas production of A. donax silage in comparison to corn silage was tested by simulation of real-scale anaerobic digestion plant with lab-scale trials. The A. donax biogas production was lower than the one obtained with corn due to the chemical characteristics of biomass and the absence of starch but, thanks to the higher biomass yields, achievable biomethane and electric energy referred to the cultivated surface area were much higher than corn and other traditional energy crops
Arundo donax L. : a non-food crop for bioenergy and bio-compound production
No full textArundo donax L., common name giant cane or giant reed, is a plant that grows spontaneously in different kinds of environments and that it is widespread in temperate and hot areas all over the world. Plant adaptability to different kinds of environment, soils and growing conditions, in combination with the high biomass production and the low input required for its cultivation, give to A. donax many advantages when compared to other energy crops. A. donax can be used in the production of biofuels/bioenergy not only by biological fermentation, i.e. biogas and bio-ethanol, but also, by direct biomass combustion. Both its industrial uses and the extraction of chemical compounds are largely proved, so that A. donax can be proposed as the feedstock to develop a bio-refinery.
Nowadays, the use of this non-food plant in both biofuel/bioenergy and bio-based compound production is just beginning, with great possibilities for expanding its cultivation in the future. To this end, this review highlights the potential of using A. donax for energy and bio-compound production, by collecting and critically discussing the data available on these first applications for the crop
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
La canna comune e il mais : simulazione di un impianto reale di digestione anaerobica
No full textLa canna comune o Arundo donax L. è una pianta erbacea largamente diffusa a livello nazionale che ben si adatta a diverse condizioni pedoclimatiche; infatti le sue più evidenti peculiarità sono la forte rusticità e l’adattabilità. Poiché il mondo agricolo è sempre più interessato alla produzione di energia e all’integrazione del proprio reddito mediante nuove filiere bioenergetiche, la canna comune assume un’importanza sempre maggiore per i processi di digestione anaerobica. La coltura di Arundo si caratterizza per l’entità dei costi molto contenuti grazie al fatto che è poliennale (12-15 anni), ha delle rese molto elevate se confrontate con le altre specie coltivate, necessita di pochi input agronomici (interventi irrigui, concimazioni, fitofarmaci...), può essere impiegata su suoli marginali, resiste bene agli stress biotici (malattie, virus, insetti...) ed abiotici (carenze idriche, carenze di nutrienti...).
Per valutare la possibilità di impiegare Arundo donax L. per la produzione di biogas, sono state condotte prove di insilamento ed è stata studiata la sua attitudine ad essere impiegata durante i processi di digestione anaerobica.
I risultati mostrano che la biomassa della canna comune può essere insilata mediante le stesse tecniche impiegate per ottenere l’insilato di mais. Le analisi condotte hanno dimostrato che la biomassa è in grado di conservarsi per lunghi periodi di tempo mantenendo pressoché inalterata la propria qualità e dotazione di acidi grassi.
La prova di digestione anaerobica è stata eseguita confrontando direttamente le biomasse di insilato di canna e di mais, per evidenziarne le principali differenze in un sistema che simula un impianto CSTR. A parità di sostanza secca immessa nel digestore simulato, si è notato che la produzione di biogas da Arundo è quasi il 70% di quello ottenuta da mais. La caratterizzazione chimica dei digestati e l’analisi del gas, hanno mostrato che non ci sono delle differenze particolarmente evidenti tra le due tipologie di biomassa. La minore quantità di biogas prodotto da insilato di Arundo rispetto al mais trova giustificazione per la mancata presenza in tale biomassa di una componente amidacea e di una buona dotazione di zuccheri, substrati importanti per il processo di metanogenesi.
Considerando le produzioni medie di biomassa secca raccolta, pari a 20 t ha-1 per il mais e 45 t ha-1 per Arundo, è possibile stimare che la produzione di metano per unità di superficie sia superiore con la canna comune. Quest’ultima è in grado di produrre più del 30% di metano all’ettaro rispetto al mais; infatti, la resa in termini di biomassa di Arundo è in grado di sopperire alla sua più ridotta produzione di biogas durante la digestione anaerobica
Giant cane (Arundo donax L.) can substitute traditional energy crops in producing energy by anaerobic digestion, reducing surface area and costs : a full-scale approach
No full textArundo donax L. (Giant cane) was used in a full-scale anaerobic digester (AD) plant (power of 380 kW hEE) in partial substitution for corn to produce biogas and electricity. Corn substitution was made on a biomethane potential (BMP) basis so that A. donax L. after substitution accounted for 15.6% of the total mix-BMP (BMPmix) and corn for 66.6% BMPmix. Results obtained indicated that Giant cane was able to substitute for corn, reducing both biomass and electricity production costs, because of both higher biomass productivity (Mg total solid Ha−1) and lower biomass cost (€ Ha−1). Total electricity biogas costs were reduced by 5.5%. The total biomass cost, the total surface area needed to produce the energy crop and the total cost of producing electricity can be reduced by 75.5%, 36.6% and 22%, by substituting corn completely with Giant cane in the mix fed to the full-scale plant
New energy crop giant cane (Arundo donax L.) can substitute traditional energy crops increasing biogas yield and reducing costs
No full textGiant cane is a promising non-food crop for biogas production. Giant cane and corn silages coming from full-scale fields were tested, in mixtures with pig slurry, for biomethane production by a continuous stirred tank lab-scale-reactor (CSTR) approach. Results indicated that giant cane produced less biomethane than corn, i.e. 174±10Nm3CH4Mg-1TS-1 and 245±26Nm3 CH4Mg-1TS-1, respectively. On the other hand, because of its high field biomass production, the biogas obtainable per Ha was higher for giant cane than for corn, i.e. 12,292Nm3 CH4Ha-1 and 4549Nm3CH4Ha-1, respectively. Low energetic and agronomic inputs for giant cane cultivation led to a considerable reduction in the costs of producing both electricity and biomethane, i.e. 0.50€Nm-3CH4-1 and 0.81€Nm-3CH4-1, and 0.10€kWhEE-1 and 0.19€kWhEE-1 for biomethane and electricity production, and for giant cane and corn mixtures respectively
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