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An EU-funded team of researchers has discovered that grass
can be used to produce energy that doesn't harm the environment.
The BIOREGEN
('Biomass, remediation, re-generation: reusing brownfield
sites for renewable energy crops') project received €1.2
million under the EU's LIFE-Environment research programme.
Led by the Contaminated Land and Water Centre at Teesside
University in the UK, the researchers aimed to show
whether reusing brownfield sites to grow energy crops for
renewable energy is possible. These abandoned or underused
industrial or commercial properties are considered as potential
sites for redevelopment.
The researchers kick-started the project in 2004 and found
that Phalaris arundinacea - commonly known as 'reed
canary grass' - is a great candidate for growth on brownfield
sites and can be developed into fuel for biomass power stations
and even boilers in school buildings.
Reed canary grass is a perennial grass widely distributed
in Europe, North America, northern Africa and Asia. In the
UK, reed canary grass is converted into bricks and pellets.
Experts say that they are not harmful to the environment as
they neither increase greenhouse gas emissions nor fuel global
warming.
Besides reed canary grass, the researchers tested Miscanthus
and switchgrass, as well as four plant types and willow
trees, which are commonly used in biomass power stations,
in various parts of the region.
"We have narrowed the plants down to reed canary grass
because it grows so well on poor soils and contaminated industrial
sites," explained Dr Richard Lord, a reader in Environmental
Geochemistry and Sustainability at Teesside University.
"That is significant because, in areas like Teesside
and many similar ones around the country, there are a lot
of marginal or brownfield sites on which reed canary grass
can be grown," he added.
"Selecting such sites means that the grass can be grown
without taking away land which would otherwise be used in
food production - a key concern for those involved in the
biomass and biofuel sectors."
Once the grass reaches maturity - a process that takes two
years - it is harvested and baled up before its conversion
into bricks and pellets.
"The test burnings have shown that reed canary grass
produces a good, clean fuel without picking up contamination
from the soil," Dr Lord pointed out. "Reed canary
grass has great potential because it offers a suitable use
for unsightly brownfield sites, while producing an excellent
fuel at a time when the world is crying out for new ways of
producing green energy," he went on to say.
"Our research also suggests that the end product is
improved soil quality and biodiversity at the greened-up sites.
We are now examining ways in which we can commercialise this
idea and are already talking to a number of major biomass
power station operators."
Experts say that crops burnt specifically for fuel falls
under the 'renewable energy' category. Carbon dioxide
(CO2) is released into the atmosphere
when the biomass is burnt. When crops are re-grown, the same
amount of CO2 is removed from the atmosphere.
Biofuels are considered carbon neutral because they have no
impact on the CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
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