Helsinki, Finland
December 3, 2007
Source:
University of
Helsinki via
Checkbiotech
By Virve Pohjanpalo
Bioenergy is hoped to help solve
the energy crisis. Researchers in the fields of the Viikki
Research Farm are seeking ways to turn these dreams into
reality. Professor of Crop Science Pirjo Mäkelä and Fred
Stoddard, university lecturer, are standing ankle-deep in clay.
Autumn-withered maize stalks are rustling around them. Amidst
the Finnish field and forest scenery, it seems slightly unreal.
The south coast of Finland is at such northerly climes that
maize plantations are a rare sight even at the Research Farm.
Looking up at the maize, Stoddard is enthusiastic about the
success of the maize plantation. They are not testing any
genetically modified varieties that are so much debated in
Europe now, nor are they trying to find the best maize variety
for cold latitudes. This is yet another brouhaha: the bioenergy
hype that makes Mäkelä and Stoddard sigh. People are wasting
valuable farmland to grow raw material for energy – sometimes
even edible produce is used for the purpose.
Flowers in the dumping ground
“Plants for bioenergy should only be cultivated in areas that
are unsuitable for food production,” says Fred Stoddard.
“It is often impossible to cultivate edible plants in polluted
soil, but our research plants seem to do well with the heavy
metals in the soil,” Pirjo Mäkelä says. She is not only talking
about areas damaged by pollution accidents. The researchers at
Viikki are very interested in the acid sulphate soils that occur
naturally in Finland and contain heavy metals. There is also
ongoing research in Viikki into transforming former dumping
grounds into bioenergy plantations.
Another big issue is whether bioenergy plantations could be used
to enliven the vacating countryside. There is plenty of fallow
land in Finland and the rest of Europe.
“We need a cultivation culture where farmers grow plants both
for bioenergy and food production. At the same time, the ‘waste’
produced by food production should be exploited more
efficiently,” Stoddard says, beckoning towards the nearby lupin
field.
Pleasing the bacteria
The lupin is a member of the legume family, which means that it
hosts bacteria in its roots. These bacteria have the ability to
take nitrogen gas out of the air and convert it into a form of
nitrogen usable to the host plant. High in protein content,
lupin beans are nutritious – as well as good raw material for
silage – and the rest of the plant can be used for bioenergy.
In America, for example, only the grains of maize are currently
used, and often in a very inefficient way for ethanol
production, Stoddard says. It will be far better when we can use
the entire biomass of the plant, each part for its best possible
purpose.
Several other legumes are hiding between the maize rows,
including faba beans, vetch and clover. “The faba bean has
traditionally been grown with maize in China. Our experiments
show, however, that maize could also have more suitable
partners. Faba beans obviously curb maize growth, whereas
together with Persian clover the maize really flourishes,”
Stoddard says.
The mixed cultivation of a legume and a grass seems particularly
reasonable in the production of biomethane, which is based on
fermentation. “Together the two plants create a nutritious mass
where the bacteria necessary for methane production thrive,” he
says.
All that buzz
One of the blind spots in the current bioenergy hype is the
fertilisers used for bioenergy production, Mäkelä and Stoddard
say. In Germany, for example, huge amounts of chemicals are
thrown on maize fields.
“It is fundamentally absurd and very inefficient. We must find a
way to improve the input-output relationship. When studying the
kinds of legumes that best suit maize, reed canarygrass or other
grasses, we always respect ecological sustainability,” Stoddard
says.
Mäkelä and Stoddard together with their colleagues have tested
the cultivation of around one hundred plant combinations.
According to early results, the best perennial couple is reed
canarygrass with goat’s rue or white clover. “Goat’s rue also
cleanses oil-polluted soil, which makes it an excellent plant
for cultivation,” says Mäkelä, referring to the research results
of her colleague Kristina Lindström’s team.
Varieties grown for bioenergy production must always be studied
with an open mind, the researchers say. Hemp oil, for instance,
is very healthy and hemp fibre can be used in many ways in the
textile industry. And the lacy phacelia, growing abundantly in
Viikki, provides pollination services for the entire region:
“The whole world worried about the mass destruction of bees last
summer, but they all just swarmed around our lacy phacelia
fields,” Stoddard says with a grin. “I could hear the buzz in my
office.”
But the happy buzzing is not a sign of a mission accomplished.
Cultivation tests will continue in Viikki next summer, and there
will be plenty to do in winter. Having found the best plant
combinations, the researchers are now developing the easiest and
most energy-efficient cultivation practices to suit them.
Fossil fuels produce new atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the
idea behind bioenergy is to absorb the existing carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere. “The profitability calculation must include
the entire cultivation process with direct and indirect carbon
dioxide streams,” Stoddard says.
Copyright © 2007
University of Helsinki.
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