• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• Embargo close
• 15. Life on land close
• IN close

The article contains laboratory data comparing the rate of gasification of five types of woody plants—beech, oak, willow, poplar and rose. The gasification rate was determined thermogravimetrically. Carbon dioxide and steam were used as gasification gases. Willow wood was the most gasifiable, whereas rose wood the least.

Abstract Sugarcane is a major crop cultivated globally and the residue left over after the crop harvest and extraction of juice is a good biomass source that can be used for the production of several useful chemicals. The sugarcane bagasse is an excellent substrate for the production of various biochemicals and enzymes through fermentation. Now major interest is focused on the utilization of these residue for biofuel production. The sugarcane crop residue is rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, hence it can be used for the production of bioethanol and other liquid transportation fuels. The present review gives a detailed account of the availability of sugarcane residue and various commercially important products that can be produced from this residue. It also provides recent developments in R&D on the bioconversion of sugarcane crop residue for value added products.

Abstract Natural resources exist independent of human intervention. Although these interventions can and do affect the balance between ecological and biological diversity conditions these resources support, and their use to promote economic development. Currently, the unsustainable use of these resources threatens this balance, calling for more sustainable patterns of natural resource use and conservation. The primary responsibility for ensuring the proper balance lies with governments, leading to various policies and programs to preserve natural resources. The ultimate goal is to make the masses aware of natural assets’ importance and encourage their sustainable use. To successfully implement, however, these government practices require public communication and participation, and the full consideration of public opinion at various levels of governance. A predictive analytics framework is proposed for understanding public opinion on government policies to improve sustainable water governance. An integrated policy initiative to balance water resources use and conservation launched by the Indian government served as a test case for applying the framework in an attempt to accurately classify the opinion polarity related to the policy. The conventional feature extraction is applied to pre-processed datasets to extract the relevant features. Subsequently, swarm-based feature selection is applied to filter out optimal features. Lastly, opinion mining and textual analysis are performed to determine the most relevant water management factors that need immediate attention. The proposed framework serves as a policy evaluation strategy in the water management domain. The paper closes with a discussion of the general applicability of the proposed framework.

A field study was conducted on two texturally different soils to determine the influences of biosolids application on selected soil chemical properties and carbon dioxide fluxes. Two sites, located in Manildra (clay loam) and Grenfell (sandy loam), in Australia, were treated at a single level of 70 Mg ha-1 biosolids. Soil samples were analyzed for SOC fractions, including total organic carbon (TOC), labile, and non-labile carbon contents. The natural abundances of soil δ13C and δ15N were measured as isotopic tracers to fingerprint carbon derived from biosolids. An automated soil respirometer was used to measure in-situ diurnal CO2 fluxes, soil moisture, and temperature. Application of biosolids increased the surface (0-15 cm) soil TOC by > 45% at both sites, which was attributed to the direct contribution from residual carbon in the biosolids and also from the increased biomass production. At both sites application of biosolids increased the non-labile carbon fraction that is stable against microbial decomposition, which indicated the soil carbon sequestration potential of biosolids. Soils amended with biosolids showed depleted δ13C, and enriched δ15N indicating the accumulation of biosolids residual carbon in soils. The in-situ respirometer data demonstrated enhanced CO2 fluxes at the sites treated with biosolids, indicating limited carbon sequestration potential. However, addition of biosolids on both the clay loam and sandy loam soils found to be effective in building SOC than reducing it. Soil temperature and CO2 fluxes, indicating that temperature was more important for microbial degradation of carbon in biosolids than soil moisture.

Citrus is an important horticultural crop of India and is often prone to diseases, particularly under increased temperature scenarios. For developing disease-resistant Citrus varieties, conservation of wild relatives is extremely important. However, our knowledge on temperature tolerance of these wild relatives of Citrus to varied climate change scenarios is extremely limited. Therefore, we determined the climatic niche of six wild relatives of cultivated Citrus species (C. indica Tanaka, C. karna Rafin., C. latipes (Swingle) Tanaka, C. macroptera Montrouz., C. medica L., and C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck.) and identified the geographical areas in India that would remain climatically stable in future through ecological niche modeling (ENM). Raster data on 19 bioclimatic variables with a resolution of 0.04° were used to generate niche models for each Citrus species that delineated their potential distribution areas. Future species distribution predictions for the year 2050 were made using the climate change scenarios from the most appropriate climate models, i.e., IPSL-CM5A-LR and NIMR-HADGEM2-AO with four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). Ensemble of current and future projections was used to identify climatically stable areas for each species. Precipitation-related bioclimatic variables were the key climatic determinants for the modeled distribution pattern. The consensus of current and future projections suggests that most areas with stable climates for the species in the future would be available in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. Efforts for in situ conservation and establishment of germplasm banks and citrus orchards may be encouraged in these identified areas.

This study mainly aimed to investigate the bioproductivity and nutrient cycling processes in plantation forests of bamboo and acacia. In India, multipurpose tree (MPT) species are extensively planted to meet the increasing demand for fuel and industrial wood. The bioproductivity studies of bamboo showed that the total biomass increased with age (2.2 t/ha/year 1) up to six years (297.8 t/ha/year 6) and then decreased (15.6 t/ha/year 10). With acacia, the total biomass increased from 1.8 t/ha/(year 1) to 5.0 t/ha/ (year 3) and 10.9 t/ha/(year 5). In general the biomass increased with increase of diameter and height. Nutrient cycling in the plantation on an annual basis was worked out. A complete harvest of bamboo in 6 years removes 2341 kg/ha of nitrogen, 22 kg/ha of phosphorus, 2,653 kg/ha, of potassium, 1,211 kg/ha of calcium and 1,356 kg/ha of magnesium. A total harvest of above ground biomass of acacia in 3 years removes (kg/ha) 91.74 N, 2.53 P, 73.41 K, 110.45 Ca, 14.06 Mg, and in 4 years removes (kg/ha) 227.47 N, 7.34 P, 181.04 K, 284.15 Ca, and 38.89 Mg.

Abstract The co-pyrolysis of Single-use low density polyethylene (LDPE) and Eucalyptus biomass (EuBm) can be considered as a sustainable waste management technique to produce viable byproducts. This study elucidates the effects of variable temperatures (300–600 °C), residence times (90–150 minutes), and proportions of LDPE (0.25, 0.33 (w/w)) on physicochemical characteristics of LDPE - EuBm char composites. The interference of liquified polymer coating on the surface with degradation of biomass could be the reason for low nutrient extractability of chars synthesized at 300 and 400 °C. These chars were rich in volatile matter (> 68 %) and their pores were filled with partially pyrolyzed products. Interestingly however, substantial changes in properties were observed at 500 °C due to the likely synergetic effect between the feeds. The highest plant-extractable concentrations of major nutrients (Na, K, Ca, Mg, NO3−, PO43-), electrical conductivity (4.73 mS/cm), and cation exchange capacity (50.5 Cmolc/kg) of char were observed at this temperature. The optimization through regression modeling identified 524 °C, 118 min, and 31 % (w/w) of LDPE as optimal process parameters to obtain char suitable for application in soil. Soil incubation test fortified the benefits of char to soil with 3.5 times improvement in soil fertility index at 5 % (w/w) rate of application.

The potential of different agro-wastes like green grass (Cynodon dactylon (L.)), bagasse, algae (Enteromorpha spp.), banana stem and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in combination with cattle dung for methane production by anaerobic digestion have been evaluated. The results indicate that these wastes can be exploited for methane generation in combination with cattle dung. Best results were obtained with green grass when it was combined with cattle dung in the ratio of 1:4.

With the increase in the world's population, demand for food and other products is continuously rising. This has put a lot of pressure on the agricultural sector. To fulfill these demands, the utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has also increased. Consequently, to overcome the adverse effects of agrochemicals on our environment and health, there has been a shift towards organic fertilizers or other substitutes, which are ecofriendly and help to maintain a sustainable environment. Microalgae have a very high potential of carbon dioxide (CO2) capturing and thus, help in mitigating the greenhouse effect. It is the most productive biological system for generating biomass. The high growth rate and higher photosynthetic efficiency of the algal species compared to the terrestrial plants make them a wonderful alternative towards a sustainable environment. Moreover, they could be cultivated in photobioreactors or open ponds, which in turn reduce the demand for arable land. Biochar derived from algae is high in nutrients and exhibits the property of ion exchange. Therefore, it can be utilized for sustainable agriculture by partial substituting the chemical fertilizers that degrade the fertility of the soil in the long run. This review provides a detailed insight on the properties of algal biochar as a potential fertilizer for sustainable agriculture. Application of algal biochar in bio-refinery and its economic aspects, challenges faced and future perspective are also discusses in this study.