Short rotation willow coppice biomass as an industrial and energy feedstock

In order to increase the yield of short rotation willow coppice cultivated on agricultural land and to improve the biomass quality as an industrial and energy feedstock, particular consideration should be devoted to proper location and to the cultivation of woody plants. This paper presents the yield of five new cultivars of willow coppice and the relationship between the chemical composition of biomass and the plant harvest cycle. The Tur cultivar has been shown to have the highest mean productivity of 21.5 t of d.m. ha(-1) year(-1). In a three-year harvest cycle, the cultivar also gave biomass with the highest cellulose:lignin ratio (2.14). The significantly highest yield of dry biomass from the cultivars under study (20.5 t of d.m. ha(-1) year(-1)) was achieved in a three-year harvest cycle. It was lower by 3.4% on average in a two-year harvest cycle and lower by 17.2% in a one-year harvest cycle as compared to a three-year cycle. As the harvest cycle was extended, the biomass quality in terms of its chemical composition improved. The biomass obtained in a three-year cycle contained the highest amount of cellulose (44.6% of d.m.) and the lowest amount of lignin (21.8% of d.m.). The results indicate that the agrotechnical factors, including the cultivar and the harvest cycle, affect not only the yield, but also the qualitative features of short rotation coppice willow biomass. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.