by Gordon Davidson (The Scotish Farmer) Britain’s hills are alive with suffocating bracken – but a new biofuel project aims to make bracken clearance worthwhile, perhaps even profitable.
Jeremy Oakley, of Oakland Biofuels, explains…
“Maybe it is due to climate change, to the costs associated with management, to the reduced livestock numbers or the shortage of farm labour but bracken, along with a number of other species of biomass with little value, is spreading almost out of control in many areas of the UK.
The spread of bracken can be linked with increasing incidents of wildfires, with virtually singlehandedly wiping out large areas of biodiversity, with causing possible damage to archaeological and environmentally sensitive sites and even with causing toxicity in animals and in rural water supplies. The dense mat of bracken litter building up over many years may even be a contributory factor in rainfall runoff in times of flood and it seems that there is a reported increase in the number of tick borne diseases in both humans and animals.
However, contrary to popular belief it may not be as bad as it sounds and its regular management could give the UK new opportunities in renewable energy, carbon sequestration and even biopharmaceuticals.
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In the uplands of the UK, the biomass of choice is bracken and subsequent tests have shown that this contains the necessary sugars in sufficient quantity for high quality bioethanol production plus it also has other properties that could be used beneficially.
Additionally, as part of its ongoing research, Oakland has confirmed that other low value biomass material including brash, gorse, rushes, sawdust, molinia, rhododendron, japanese knotweed, leaves, verge mowing material and municipal garden waste can all be used in the same way as bracken. The harvesting and use of heather could also produce a significant volume of biomass and remove the reliance on patchwork burning on the grouse moors.
We have identified a method that facilitates the effective control of many upland biomass species by cutting and removing them using low ground pressure equipment from partners in Switzerland. The equipment is capable of operating on steep, uneven, environmentally sensitive and wet terrain and can be operated remotely under certain conditions.
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Oakland has teamed up with a biomass conversion technology developer from the UK that has developed and patented a technology that maximises the production of C5 and C6 sugars – and therefore the yield of bioethanol – from the various feedstocks.
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Likewise the technology capitalises on the production of high grade pure lignin which means, as a result of working with European partners, the project will shortly be able to turn this by-product into green hydrogen for the energy market.
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Recent advances in external technology also allow the project to bolt on a standalone unit to capture the CO2 produced in fermentation and purify it for use in the UK food and drink industries thereby replacing that currently produced from fossil fuels.
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Furthermore, managing the biomass, as opposed to eradicating it, creates ideal conditions for the sequestration of atmospheric carbon as highlighted within a number of current UK University research projects.
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The technology will be a replica of a facility nearing completion in Nottingham and will require 40,000 tonnes of fresh biomass. READ MORE