Michel Jullian writes:
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?
You're welcome. Soydiesel from soybean crops is a hot item these days,
Michel.
You can have your "Tofu Cake" and motor fuel too. :-)
http://www.soyfoods.com/soyfoodsdescriptions/tofu.html
http://energy.cas.psu.edu/soydiesel.html
Fred
Michel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Sparber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "vortex-l" <[email protected]>
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. :-)
