Hi Fred (your reply-to pb isn't fixed BTW)
Thanks for the very documented enlightenment on air nitrogen fixing plants
(legumes), would there be a problem in using them directly as biofuel
convertible biomass do you think?
Michel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Sparber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "vortex-l" <vortex-l@eskimo.com>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: Farrell responds to Pimentel regarding ethanol
Crop rotation fixes the nitrogen energy problem.
Using hybrid seed I had no problem getting 120 bushel/acre corn planted on
land that grew soybeans the year before.
I doubt the Amish in that northwester Pennsylvania area now, don't sweat
it either.
http://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/texts/readmach/zmaczynski.htm
"The early 20th century produced three methods to "fix" nitrogen, that is,
convert it from an inactive gas in the air to nitrogen compounds that
would be further reacted to produce fertilizers or used directly. Two
methods, the electric arc process and the cyanamid process never proved
important in making fertilizer in the United States though they were of
some importance through the first part of this century. The third process,
the Haber Process, has made a lasting impression on chemical technology
and fertilizers."
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AG152
"All plants must have nitrogen (N) for growth. Approximately 110 million
tons of N are required for the world's annual food production but only 7
million tons are supplied by the fertilizer industry; the rest come from
legumes. Legumes are plants, like peas, beans, soybean, alfalfa, clover,
and aeschynomene, that have special bacteria in their rooting system and
make use of N from the air. The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen gas, and
21% oxygen. There are ~35,000 tons of free N above every acre of land, but
this gaseous form is unavailable to plant or animal life. Fortunately,
nature has provided us with a simple and cheap method of obtaining some of
this N from the atmosphere by the growing of legumes."
"Most, but not all legumes have the capacity to fix N. The quantity of N
fixed depends on several factors, such as (1) the kind of legume, (2) the
effectiveness of the N-fixing bacteria, (3) the soil conditions including
pH and N fertilizer, and (4) availability of necessary plant food such as
carbohydrates, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium
(Ca), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), and boron (B). For example,
estimates of N fixed in a growing season for alfalfa are 100-200 lb/A;
berseem clover, 50-210 lb/A; red clover, 50-200 lb/A; white clover, 50-150
lb/A; hairy vetch, 100 lb/A; and aeschynomene, 50-150 lb/A. In soils that
are well supplied with N fertilizer, there may be little or no fixation
because the plants use available N in the soil and do not encourage the
bacteria to fix more. As a result, the greatest N fixation is obtained in
soils low in available N."
These probably exceed the EPA/s groundwater "nitrate" pollution levels in
soils. :-)
