Citation Information

  • Title : Energy production study of crops with biofuel potential in Argentina.
  • Source : Central theme, technology for all: sharing the knowledge for development. Proceedings of the International Conference of Agricultural Engineering, XXXVII Brazilian Congress of Agricultural Engineering, International Livestock Environment Symposium - ILES V
  • Publisher : International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR)
  • Pages : unpaginated
  • Year : 2008
  • Document Type : Journal Article
  • Language : English
  • Authors:
    • Hilbert, J.
    • Huerga, I.
    • Donato, L.
  • Climates:
  • Cropping Systems: Canola. Maize. Sorghum. Soybean.
  • Countries: Argentina.

Summary

The present study is focus on the final energy balance of bioenergy production in Argentina using soybean, sunflower, rapeseed, corn and sorghum as feedstocks. The balance considers the difference between the energy contained per unit and the amount used for its generation in all the different steps from sowing to final destination. For direct energy consumption costomaq software was employed using local fuel consumption forecast for each field labor. Particular attention is paid to the energy consumption in the agricultural steps considering the distinctive no till system spread out in Argentina that has a very low energy input. Direct and indirect energy were considered in the different steps of bioethanol and biodiesel generation. Industrial conversion consumption was based on international literature data. Comparisons were made between tilled and no till practices and considering or not the energy contained in co products. Results indicate a balance ranging from 0.96 to 1.54 not considering the co products. If co products were introduced the balances ranged between 1.09 and 4.67.

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