An agro-economic analysis of briquette production from fibre hemp and energy sunflower

Abstract The current study estimated (i) the effect of mineral N fertiliser (NH4NO3), municipal sewage sludge and cattle slurry on hemp cultivar (cv) USO-31 and sunflower cv Wielkopolski above ground biomass yield, (ii) the efficiency of nitrogen recovery of the applied amendments (nitrogen recovery, %), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE, kg kg −1 ) and the profitability (%) of briquette production from hemp and sunflower above ground biomass. A long-term field trial was established in 2008–2011 at Estonian University of Life Sciences (5823′N, 2644′E) on Stagnic Luvisol soil (sandy loam surface texture, C 1.12%, and N 0.12%, pH KCl 5.6). The plants were grown on different N treatments: N 0 (without N), N 100 (mineral N fertiliser NH 4 NO 3 ), sewage sludge from the city of Tartu, and cattle slurry. The applied amount of N for all treatments (with the exception of the N 0 treatment) was 100 kg N ha −1 . The energy sunflower has high potential to produce vigorous above ground biomass in north European conditions. But, it is necessary to continue the field trials with this crop to clarify the biomass yield stability over many years. In point of profitability, the sewage sludge could be used as organic fertiliser for energy crops, because the biomass increase by 1 kg of sludge N was the highest and biomass yield over trial years more stable of the fertilisers tested. In most years 100 kg N ha −1 did not guarantee profitable above ground biomass production of hemp in low fertility soil. Cattle slurry for energy crops with slow initial development is not a promising organic fertiliser.

[1]  M. C. Lobo,et al.  Influence of the application of sewage sludges on soil microbial activity , 1996 .

[2]  Alexandros Kelessidis,et al.  Comparative study of the methods used for treatment and final disposal of sewage sludge in European countries. , 2012, Waste management.

[3]  Iris Lewandowski,et al.  Nitrogen, energy and land use efficiencies of miscanthus, reed canary grass and triticale as determined by the boundary line approach , 2006 .

[4]  J. Maranville,et al.  NITROGEN FERTILIZER RESPONSE AND USE EFFICIENCY FOR THREE CEREAL CROPS IN NIGER , 2001 .

[5]  Maarika Alaru,et al.  Lignin content and briquette quality of different fibre hemp plant types and energy sunflower , 2011 .

[6]  D. Mugendi,et al.  Complementary effects of organic and mineral fertilizers on maize production in the smallholder farms of Meru South District, Kenya , 2012 .

[7]  Z. Meral Ozsoyoglu,et al.  Statistical Databases , 1984, VLDB.

[8]  D. Westfall,et al.  Sewage biosolids cumulative effects on extractable-soil and grain elemental concentrations , 1997 .

[9]  J. García-Gil,et al.  Effects of sewage sludge amendment on humic acids and microbiological properties of a semiarid Mediterranean soil , 2004, Biology and Fertility of Soils.

[10]  B. Stenberg,et al.  Microbiological and chemical changes in two arable soils after long-term sludge amendments , 1999, Biology and Fertility of Soils.

[11]  B. Emmett,et al.  Evidence that Soil Carbon Pool Determines Susceptibility of Semi-Natural Ecosystems to Elevated Nitrogen Leaching , 2006, Ecosystems.

[12]  J. Caradus.  7 – Mechanisms Improving Nutrient Use by Crop and Herbage Legumes , 1990 .

[13]  Sylvie M. Brouder,et al.  Nutrient use efficiency in bioenergy cropping systems: Critical research questions , 2009 .

[14]  U. Schmidhalter,et al.  Short-term and residual availability of nitrogen after long-term application of organic fertilizers on arable land , 2005 .

[15]  J. Groot,et al.  The decomposition of sugar beet residues: mineralization versus immobilization in contrasting soil types , 1997, Plant and Soil.

[16]  Andrea Monti,et al.  Energy crops in rotation. A review , 2011 .

[17]  J. Sims.  Nitrogen mineralization and elemental availability in soils amended with cocomposted sewage sludge. , 1990 .

[18]  A. Dobermann,et al.  Emerging Technologies to Increase the Efficiency of Use of Fertilzer Nitrogen , 2004 .

[19]  M. Klimko,et al.  PROTEINS AND ENZYMATIC SYSTEMS IN THREE VARIETIES OF HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L. , 2001 .

[20]  Rattan Lal,et al.  Hydrologic sources of carbon cycling uncertainty throughout the terrestrial–aquatic continuum , 2005 .

[21]  Thomas Prade,et al.  Effect of harvest date on combustion related fuel properties of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) , 2012 .

[22]  Patrick Hartmann,et al.  Consumer attitude and purchase intention toward green energy brands: The roles of psychological benefits and environmental concern , 2012 .

[23]  W. Rulkens.  Sewage Sludge as a Biomass Resource for the Production of Energy: Overview and Assessment of the Various Options† , 2008 .

[24]  D. Tarrasón,et al.  Differences on nitrogen availability in a soil amended with fresh, composted and thermally-dried sewage sludge. , 2008, Bioresource technology.

[25]  S. Archontoulis,et al.  Growth and biomass productivity of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus, L.) under different agricultural inputs and management practices in central Greece , 2010 .

[26]  J. E Hall,et al.  Sewage Sludge Production, Treatment and Disposal in the European Union , 1995 .

[27]  P. Struik,et al.  Agronomy of fibre hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in Europe. , 2000 .

[28]  W. C. Termeer,et al.  Evaluation of sewage sludge, septic waste and sludge compost applications to corn and forage: yields and N, P and K content of crops and soils. , 2005, Bioresource technology.

[29]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[30]  F. Montemurro,et al.  Quality and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Sunflower Grown at Different Nitrogen Levels Under Mediterranean Conditions , 2005 .

[31]  L. S. Jensen,et al.  Turnover and fate of 15N-labelled cattle slurry ammonium-N applied in the autumn to winter wheat , 2000 .

[32]  Thomas Prade,et al.  Biomass and energy yield of industrial hemp grown for biogas and solid fuel , 2011 .

[33]  K. Sepp,et al.  Assessment of abandoned agricultural land resource for bio-energy production in Estonia , 2010 .

[34]  Thomas Prade,et al.  Energy balances for biogas and solid biofuel production from industrial hemp , 2012 .

[35]  L. Viikari,et al.  Evaluation of annual bioenergy crops in the boreal zone for biogas and ethanol production , 2011 .

[36]  V. Stramkale.  Changes of photosynthesis-related parameters and productivity of Cannabis sativa under different nitrogen supply , 2011 .

[37]  R. Lavado,et al.  Effect of Phosphorus and Nitrogen Fertilization on Sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) Nitrogen Uptake and Yield , 2002 .

[38]  J. A. Ryan,et al.  Field assessment of sludge metal bioavailability to crops : Sludge rate response , 1997 .

[39]  R. G. Menzel,et al.  Methods of soil and plant analysis with special reference to strontium 90 contamination. , 1965 .

[40]  P. Sørensen,et al.  Remineralisation and residual effects of N after application of pig slurry to soil , 2002 .

[41]  S. Smith,et al.  Nitrate dynamics in biosolids-treated soils. I. Influence of biosolids type and soil type , 1998 .