Energy and CO2 emissions associated with mechanical planters used in biomass plantations

Abstract

Until now, SRC has been studied from many points of view (economic sustainability, environmental impact, harvesting systems, etc.), but few studies of the actual planting operations have been carried out. The objective of this study was to evaluate the energy input and CO2 emission were evaluated during very Short Rotation Coppice (vSRC) planting. The analysis was performed considering different planter types and tree species (poplar, willow and black locust).This work showed that the energy input and CO2 emission of vSRC planting is linked to different planter types and, consequently, to the type of planting material used (rods, cuttings and rooting plants). Among the combinations tested, rods planters showed the lowest value for energy consumption (356 MJ ha−1) and CO2 emission (31 kg ha−1) compared to universal planters type (1028 MJ ha−1 and 92 kg ha−1). No difference between tree species was observed in this experiment. Results highlighted that the energy input required by the planting operation is only 1.7% of the total energy input of the vSRC.