Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

Abstract

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long-term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field-scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm-scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM-ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country.

Soil hydrological properties as influenced by long‐term nitrogen application and landscape positions under switchgrass seeded to a marginal cropland

“…The findings from this study showed that the N rate had a significant impact on soil ρ b in switchgrass plots at each depth. Significant reduction in ρ b with the high N rate at each depth may probably be due to higher biomass yield (Lee et al, ). Further, higher switchgrass root biomass production and residue retention on the soil under high N fertilization can also decrease soil ρ b (Banashree, Satya, Sreyashi, & Bhaswatee, ).…”

Diverse lignocellulosic feedstocks can achieve high field‐scale ethanol yields while providing flexibility for the biorefinery and landscape‐level environmental benefits

“…Industrial biofuel processing facilities have generally focused on using one type of feedstock that is of high quality and is also highly productive. However, there are a number of potential bioenergy feedstocks that can achieve high biomass yields in the eastern United States (Lee et al, ; Sanford et al, ). If a lignocellulosic biorefinery could accommodate multiple feedstocks, there would be many potential benefits for both the biorefinery and the surrounding landscape.…”

“…For the acid amide mix, the ratios for each compound were identical to the ratio of concentrations in 2014 corn stover hydrolyzate (0.4% ferulic acid, 9.8% p-coumaric acid, 34.8% feruloyl amide, and 55.1% p-coumaroyl amide). Xylose consumption was determined by the differences in initial and final extracellular xylose concentrations for each condition relative to SynHXS without the addition of phenolic compounds | 833 high biomass yields in the eastern United States (Lee et al, 2018;Sanford et al, 2016). If a lignocellulosic biorefinery could accommodate multiple feedstocks, there would be many potential benefits for both the biorefinery and the surrounding landscape.…”

Economic comparative advantage of willow biomass in the Northeast USA

“…As reported in Daly et al ., supply estimates of the BT16 include national modeling of eight specific dedicated energy crops, including willow, sorghum, energy cane, eucalyptus, miscanthus, poplar, switchgrass, and pine. For each of the energy crops, a 30 m gridded suitability index (index ranges from 0 to 100) was generated and transformed to actual yields using a curated set of uniformly managed field trials or historical data as described in Lee et al ., Volk et al ., and Daly et al . Actual yields represent the ‘best local variety’ of each crop, assuming uniformly applied best management practices, or, in the case of willow and poplar, the top three cultivars.…”

“…Modeling and Analysis: Economic comparative advantage of willow biomass in the Northeast USA switchgrass, and pine. For each of the energy crops, a 30 m gridded suitability index (index ranges from 0 to 100) was generated and transformed to actual yields using a curated set of uniformly managed field trials or historical data as described in Lee et al, 58 Volk et al, 59 and Daly et al 57 Actual yields represent the 'best local variety' of each crop, assuming uniformly applied best management practices, or, in the case of willow and poplar, the top three cultivars. To obtain a county-level yield average estimate, the yield estimate is summarized using the zonal stats tool within the ArcMAP (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) 10.2.2 spatial analyst toolpak across 3109 counties in the contiguous lower 48 US states.…”