Free, online crop radius calculator available from Ceres; calculates land required for biomass for bioenergy plants

In Florida, energy crop developer Ceres highlighted its free, web-based crop radius calculator for calculating the radius of land required for biomass around a prospective bioenergy processing plant in a company update at the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit . The calculator features sliders controlling three variables: amount of biomass required per day, the percentage of acres dedicated to biomass, and the local yield of biomass per acre.

Ceres product manager Walter Nelson also highlighted advances at Ceres in the development of switchgrass, sorghum, sweet sorghum, miscanthus and energy cane. He noted that advantages for sweet soghum include low water usage; the high yields and easy scale up with switchgrass; the cold, wet climate tolerance of miscanthus and the wide adaptation and low water use of sweet sorghum.

Nelson said that the “perfect energy crop” would have: High biomass yields, disease and pest resistance, was a perennial/multi year crop, had deep roots and drought tolerance, and could tolerate cold, as well as higher salt and aluminum concentrations.

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