Abstract
ABSTRACT Biomass produced in agricultural areas stores energy that can be used, contributing to regional development. Among the widely cultivated agricultural species is oats, destined for the production of not only grains and forage, but also biomass. The objective of this study was to characterize oat biomass in terms of the potential for energy generation considering the genetic and cultivation environment variability. Four field experiments were conducted in the state of Paraná and one in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, with black oat (Avena strigosa) and white oat (Avena sativa) cultivars. At the milky grain stage, plants were collected to quantify the production of shoot biomass and its qualitative variables for energy production and energy potential. Biomass yield varied between cultivars and cultivation sites. The mean higher calorific value was 17.9 MJ Kg-1, varying more between cultivation sites than between cultivars, being inversely proportional to the ash content. The contents of carbon, fixed carbon, volatile materials and nitrogen in the biomass did not vary between oat cultivars. The power generation potential varied widely between cultivars and cultivation sites, from 1557 to 3091 KWh ha-1, influenced mainly by the biomass yield, which overlaps the effects of the variations found in biomass quality. We concluded that oats are a species with high potential for use as an energy product, and the selection of the most productive cultivars regionally is crucial.
Highlights
Biomass is one of the main raw materials used for energy generation on the planet
The characteristics of biomass that most interfere in its calorific value are those related to immediate chemical analysis and elemental chemical analysis (KHAN et al, 2009; CORREIA et al, 2020), which may vary with species, variety and crop management
The calorific value is said to be higher (HCV) when combustion occurs at constant volume and when water formed during combustion is condensed and the latent heat of water vapor is restored
Summary
Biomass is one of the main raw materials used for energy generation on the planet. In Brazil, for instance, it contributes with about 12% of the energy produced (EPE, 2019), mainly using firewood and sugarcane bagasse. A lot of biomass that can be used in energy production is generated as a secondary product of food production (AMBRÓSIO et al, 2017; PIERRI et al, 2019). In some regions, it could fully meet the local energy demand (PIERRI et al, 2016). Calorific power is used to assess the energy potential of the fuel. It is defined as the amount of energy released in the complete combustion of a unit of mass of the combustible material. The lower calorific value (LCV) is the available energy per unit of fuel mass after discounting energy losses with water evaporation
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