[getsmart-l] Willow as Biomass and Sewage waste water as nutrient; they don't say if it cleans the water!!??

[John O'Gorman]

This was also my introduction to The Edge magazine that looks as though it is what Readers' Digest should be.
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/news/464
Fast-growing willows thrive in Whitecourt wastewater
The Edge  http://www.edge.org/ 
February 2007

Print this article 

By Sarah Seinen

 
Willow cuttings Fast-growing willows in a unique biomass project had their first taste of Whitecourt’s treated sewage wastewater last summer and seemed to like it. 

“We’ve had really good establishment so far,” said Richard Krygier, Intensive Fibre Management Specialist with Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service (CFS) in Edmonton. He’s been involved with the project since it began in 2005 under the Canadian Biomass Innovation Network (CBIN).

In June 2006, four CFS staff spent 14 days hand-planting about 36,000 willow and poplar shoots on a two-hectare site just north of Whitecourt, near the town’s wastewater treatment facility.

At the end of September, researchers found that the best willow clone out of five varieties had grown to about 160 centimetres. The other varieties showed good first-year growth as well. 

Even though the poplar shoots did not grow as fast as the willow, other studies indicate that they should catch up, said Krygier.

At the end of three years of growth, when the plants reach about six to eight metres in height, they will be harvested and chipped, and then burned in a power plant or used for research.



 
First year growth height was almost
as tall as researcher Richard Krygier “The purpose of this project is to establish demonstration and research plantings to show the potential of woody crops as biomass feedstocks,” said Krygier. “I see it as a means of increasing the production of biomass for bioenergy and bioproducts while utilizing wastewater that would otherwise be discharged into a river.”

There are numerous CBIN plantings across the country, but the Whitecourt site is the only one that recycles municipal wastewater, nourishing the plants through a system of sub-surface irrigation pipes. Only half of the site is irrigated so researchers can compare yields.

The willow biomass project is a partnership involving the CFS, CBIN, Town of Whitecourt, Alberta Environment, and Geoflow Inc.

Over the winter, researchers will monitor temperatures, do measurements and harvest some samples to determine how much biomass is being produced.

 

Article Date: February 1, 2007
Date Modified: March 27, 2007 10:52:21 
The Edge magazine is published nine times a year and is delivered to forest industry and government contacts in western Canada. The Canadian Forest Service contributes articles each issue to provide other governments, research establishments and forest industry managers with information on CFS research and program activities. 

Try also http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/news/465 , 

http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/news/467 support for sustainable forestry Whether they know it or not 
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/news/469
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20080511/e6d5d4d6/attachment.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 627 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20080511/e6d5d4d6/attachment.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 16149 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20080511/e6d5d4d6/attachment.obj 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 30656 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20080511/e6d5d4d6/attachment-0001.obj