||Issue Date: 12 / 2007 Elephant Grass for Biomass Energy
Developments in Brazil Elephant Grass or Pennisetum Purpureum at
the Hawaii Ecosystems at Risk project. FOREST & KIM STARR(USGS)
Click image to enlarge. Sugarcane is gradually being edged out
of pole position for biofuel efficiency, as studies by the
Agrobiology Centre at the state Brazilian Agricultural Research
Corporation (Embrapa) are finding that elephant grass has even
greater potential. Its dry biomass, burned in ovens, can
generate 25 times as much energy as the amount of fossil fuel
used to produce it, while sugarcane converted into ethanol only
produces nine times as much. But these two energy balance
leaders face different challenges and must travel down different
paths before they can compete, for instance, as fuels for
electricity generation. Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum)
has only recently captured the interest of large energy
consumers and companies, after decades of scientific research.
It is a cane-like species of grass, brought