Bioenergy Crops Other perennial grasses

Grasslands and pastures have been utilized worldwide for forage production. In recent years many species and grasslands have been evaluated for biomass to produce pulp and energy. Many species historically considered “hard grasses” or low palatable biomass with no use for livestock production have excellent performance for biogas, combustion or as feed-stock to be converted into biofuels, thus providing an opportunity to several regions with low competitiveness producing livestock or as a complement for rotations in extensive cereal production areas .

Today, all trends show that perennial grasses will take a critical role as feedstock for biorefineries worldwide. In Europe, Common Agricultural reforms might provide new subsidies for perennials as a way to mitigate the climate change more effectively compared to many other dedicated crops and biofuels and with expected truly low biomass supply costs . C3 and C4 perennial species are viable options from South America to Canada, in Africa and Asia, but also in Northern latitudes in Europe where reed canary grasses or fescues cannot produce high yields because of climatic limiting factors.

Our services include:

Crop modeling and functions development for predictions and GIS based tools in large projects (regional and district scales)
Planting material selection and advice considering ecology and phisiological aspects for specifc sites and uses
Biomass to energy projects development including biogas, combustion and second generation bioethanol technologies
Agronomic and plant physiology research and development and trails monitoring
Harvesting machinery solutions
Environmental impact assessments, carbon markets and life cycle assessments
Biomass characterization and potential management and harvest optimization methods
Certification and standards
Biomass to energy project development
Pulp production from perennial grasses in tropical and temperate climates