Using invasive species like kudzu as biofuel feedstocks
One of the numerous downsides of economic globalization over the past couple of decades has been the rise of invasive alien species. In nature, ecosystems eventually reach an equilibrium with predatory species evolving to take on native species, each keeping the other in check. Unfortunately, when you drop a species into an ecosystem where it has no natural predators, it tends to run wild. Such has been the case with plants like kudzu and insects like the emerald ash borer (which has devastated ash tree populations in Michigan and elsewhere).With the ongoing debate over food vs. fuel with corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, researchers are investigating alternatives. Ideally, the energy balance of biofuels is maximized by using crops that require a minimum of fertilization, water and cultivation. While the focus has been on crops like switch grass, anyone who has been afflicted by kudzu knows that it grows at incredible rates with minimal inputs. Researchers from the University of Toronto and U.S. Department of Agriculture are investigating whether kudzu can be economically harvested. Kudzu is up to 68 percent carbohydrate by weight and could potentially produce as much ethanol as corn with about 270 gallons per acre. The problem is that much of the existing kudzu now is growing on inaccessible hillsides. Still, kudzu requires much less maintenance than corn so this definitely has a lot of potential.
[Source: Discovery, via EcoGeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wave54 10:01AM (6/30/2008)
Problem is, the high starch levels (68%) are in the 6-foot deep roots. Mechanically harvesting those will tear up hillsides leading to erosion problems. Erosion prevention is the very reason it was first planted in the 1900's. Now it's a predator plant, devouring hillsides, forests and buildings.
"Kudzu - The Vine"
http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/
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kentavos 10:19AM (6/30/2008)
Much less maintenance is an understatement. You can't kill it and most animals won't eat it.
The unique thing about kudzu, besides the fact that it grows at an extreme rate, is that it's a vine and grows up. You could potentially double the size of your yield by acre, by creating a network of trellises.
If you designed the trellises so that the kudzu came off it easily enough, you could speed up the harvesting.
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tomodachi 12:40PM (2/22/2009)
Kentavos, Great suggestion..am working on such on a small scale at the house..except that I'm growing the plants vertically/ above ground in a tire ring on a concrete pad as they don't like ph 8.0 and above. Now that they're growing, I'm adding wires as trellises to make mechanical harvesting easier...Grasses are definitely not the answer for biomass conversion to ethanol/ butanol and hydrogen production...that's just BIG MONEY foot dragging...c.f. YHP Zhang's " Zhang Group" 2008/ 2009 publications @vt.edu ( VA. Tech)...particularly the "Restarting the Hydrogen Economy..." article...and actually livestock prefer kudzu to alfalfa/ clovers..horses especially, and it's better for them...Shurtleff & Aoyagi's one-of-a-kind " The Book of Kudzu...(1977)" is very helpful/ useful. Good job thinking beyond the B&M crowd...Tomo
meme 11:54AM (6/30/2008)
"2. Much less maintenance is an understatement. You can't kill it and most animals won't eat it."
I read about a plan a while back from Chattanooga, TN to use herds of goats (guarded by llamas) to control their kudzu problem. Apparently goats and other livestock love it, and it's actually worked. Of course, all I could think of when I heard this was...
----
Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Kudzu?
(Yes, yes.)
Goat 29!
Why don't you eat that there vine?
Can we afford to ignore
The Chattanooga kudzu?
The vine's eaten bare
And now the whole town is spared.
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UH2L 11:42AM (6/30/2008)
I suppose tearing up hillsides to get at the roots is no worse than mining deeply for oil sands. And then the kudzu could be replaced with non-invasive plants.
I do like the idea of increasing harvest by building upward.
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Bill 11:57AM (6/30/2008)
While the basic idea of consuming an invasive species for fuel is good, I think this has all the makings of an environmental disaster. Because the current locations of kudzu are not amenable to mechanical harvesting, biofuel producers will end up actually _planting_ kudzu on what may be arable land. And once the kudzu gets in there, that land will never be usable for agriculture again, even if the biofuel company goes bust. In fact, it'll likely spread to adjacent land.
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kballs 5:43PM (6/30/2008)
Invasive plants that could be used for cellulosic biofuel:
scotchbroom
blackberries
mesquite
...
Somebody brought up the issue of mechanical harvesting... while that would be an issue for large scale commercial harvesting because the plants grow everywhere and are mixed in with native species, what about individual land owners/stewards clearing their own land and having the biofuel companies "come pick up my piles of plant refuse"? We could also use commercial and residential yard waste and compost services to convert some of the waste into biofuels. At the rate that compost services are growing - including having to put food waste into the yard waste bin instead of the garbage bin, there is no way we can use that much compost, so why not turn it into fuel?
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TommyD 8:09AM (7/01/2008)
bob, chill. Invasive species have risen in the past few decades, even though many have been here for some time (including kudzu). Some of the offending plants, like Purple Loosestrife, is still sold at garden centers! The bigger problem more recently is the insect invaders that are devastating our forests in various ways.Asian long-horned beetle, 1996; Africanized honeybee, 1990; Asian Tiger Mosquito 1985; Cactus moth 1989; and on and on. Here's a good site for more info:
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/
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jchull 3:23PM (7/01/2008)
What about hemp? You can't smoke it and it needs minimal care, it is a weed, it just grows. Hemp is not an invasive, non-native species either.
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sanjay 3:12AM (12/09/2008)
Has any organisation done research on kudzu? Is any investment happening in This field? what is the Level of commercialisation? Is there a report i can get on kudzu? When did the research in to this field start? Is India a leader in this kudzu opportunity? or is it atleast prevalent in India?
Can anybody answer these queries?
sanjay.arunkmar@yahoo.in
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former republican 12:33PM (12/20/2008)
A great candidate for biofuel production is industrial hemp. It grows with very little help, needs no insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. Is harvested with retro fitted wheat harvesting machinery and has many additional uses(25,000+).
It is a wonderful crop rotation candidate for tobacco, corn, cotton, and especially good for wheat. It is non invasive.
The problem is that the DEA has conspired with William Randolph Hearst(paper from timber interests) and Dow Chemical to keep it illegal to grow. It is a non drug cousin of marijuana(google Reefer Madness).
I support allowing U. S. farmers to grow industrial hemp. The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that does not allow industrial hemp to be grown, yet Americans(U.S.) consume more hemp products than anyone else.
Write your congress person and ask them to support H.R.1009, and if your state does not have laws supporting industrial hemp, encourage state reps to allow it to be grown in your state.
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