SRF/SRC at Teagasc John Finnan
Jan 31, 2016
SRF/SRC at Teagasc
John Finnan
SRF/SRC Teagasc
• Work on this subject commenced in the early-mid 1970s after the first oil crisis
• Initial objective was to identify species which could be harvested at regular intervals
SRF/SRC in Teagasc
• Species trials on low grade agricultural land
• Species trials on peatland
• Agronomy of SRF
• SRF Recovery after harvesting
• Fuel properties –various SRF species
• Storage and Drying of SRF in chip and Whole Stem form
SRF/SRC- Teagasc
SRF/SRC at Teagasc
AFT WILLOW TRIALS
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Plo
t Y
ield
s 1st Harvest
2nd Harvest
3rd Harvest
4th Harvest
Land Limitations
• Poor Agricultural Land (blanket bogs, gley soils)
• Pinus spp proved to be the best performer on these soils
• The performance of broadleaved species was unsatisfactory at most sites
• Betula survived at many locations but gave an unenonomic yield
Trials on Harvested Peatland• Reasonable yields only obtained where
there was at least 0.5m of peat remaining. Very poor yields obtained when plants were sown directly into calcareous marl
• Salix and Populus proved to be the most promising species generally although there was considerable variation among species.
Fuel Properties
Species Bulk Density
(kg/m3)
Fixed Carbon %
Volatiles % Ash %
Fraxinus 224 11.5 87.4 1.1
Populus (F.P)
238 7.8 91.1 1.1
Populus (rap)
220 9.3 89.9 0.8
Salix aquatica
202 10.3 88.8 1.0
Salix dasyclados
231 8.8 89.7 1.7
Salix viminalis
215 9.7 89.3 1.0
SRF Drying Chip&Stems
More Recently
• Low Cost Willow Chip Drying
Willow Variety Trials
Bioremediation
• Measuring nutrient and heavy metal losses to groundwater and surface water
• Stimulus funded project just finished
• Interreg funded project starting with AFBI
Combustion Studies
• With both pelleted material and chipped material