Diversification and Environmental Impact Assessment of Plant Biomass Energy Use

This paper studies energy and environmental indicators of biomass in the form of vegetables as input resources, i.e. Virginia mallow, Miscanthus (x) giganteus, Jerusalem artichoke, prairie cordgrass, barley straw, wheat straw, rye straw, corn straw, rapeseed straw, meadow hay, and pine shavings. The study involved the measurement of physical and chemical properties, including the heat of combustion and calorific value of the input resources under consideration. It has been proven that pine shavings have the highest calorific value and that the heat of combustion amounts to 19.20 MJ.kg(-1) for calorific value and 17.85 MJ.kg(-1) for heat of combustion with moisture content of 7.23%. The measurement of ash content has been the one of the main aims of the study. Jerusalem artichoke has posted the highest value at 14.69%, and pine shavings the lowest at 0.85%. An eco-balance of environmental impact of respective input resources has been developed by means of the El environmental input indicator.