Title: Perennial biomass production from marginal land in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Abstract

Abstract Marginal land is considered promising for biomass production. However, understanding on biomass crop growth and total biofuel production from this land type is very limited. This study evaluated potential production of switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) and Miscanthus ( Miscanthus × giganteus ) on marginal lands in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. A soil and water assessment tool model with detailed representation of marginal lands and their suitability for growth of the 2 grasses was setup. Marginal land was defined as cropland and grassland with land capability class from 3 to 8. All marginal lands were included as new land covers in the land use map and were preserved when HRUs were defined. The soil and water assessment tool model was calibrated for flow at 13 sites within the Upper Mississippi River Basin region at monthly scale. The predicted biomass by growing switchgrass and Miscanthus on marginal lands in the study area can produce up to 37% of the 132 × 10 ⁹  L biofuel goal set by the 2010 Energy Independence and Security Act in the USA. The simulated flow was lower when marginal lands were converted to grow perennial bioenergy crops. The results from this study improved our understanding on growthmore » of perennial crops on marginal land and their contributions to biofuel development.« less

Authors:

Feng, Qingyu  ^[1];

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Chaubey, Indrajeet ^[2]; Cibin, Raj ^[3]; Engel, Bernard ^[1]; Sudheer, K. P. ^[4]; Volenec, Jeffrey ^[5]; Omani, Nina ^[6]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Purdue University 225 South University Street West Lafayette IN 47907 USA
2. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Purdue University 225 South University Street West Lafayette IN 47907 USA, Department of Earth Atmospheric Planetary Science Purdue University 550 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette IN 47907 USA
3. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA
4. Department Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Tamil Nadu 600036 India
5. Department of Agronomy Purdue University 915 West State Street West Lafayette IN 47907 USA
6. Department of Earth Atmospheric Planetary Science Purdue University 550 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette IN 47907 USA

Publication Date:

Wed May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2018

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1437321

Grant/Contract Number:  

DE‐EE0004396

Resource Type:

Publisher's Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Land Degradation and Development

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Land Degradation and Development Journal Volume: 29 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1085-3278

Publisher:

Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English