What Are Energy Crops?

Energy crops are renewable energy, inexhaustible and inexhaustible. In addition to providing unlimited energy development prospects and solving the crisis of energy demand, it can also reduce the production of industrial waste and help protect the environment.

Regarding the definition of energy crops, relevant domestic literature has multiple expressions from different perspectives. For example, all crops that can be effectively converted into energy substitutes can be referred to as energy crops; or energy crops are the general term for a variety of cultivated plants for the purpose of providing fuel raw materials or fuel oil. The director of the Agricultural Experiment Institute of the Taiwan Administrative and Agricultural Committee summarized this concept from the emphasis on the transformability of energy crops. Energy crops refer to the use of crops' endless energy production methods to convert solar energy through photosynthesis. The chemical energy (thermal energy of fuel) of adult plants, which can be converted at normal temperature and pressure, is a very promising and efficient energy production method. ^[1]

Biodiesel is a so-called "clean and safe" new fuel that can be replaced by petrodiesel using renewable resources such as vegetable oil or animal oil. Compared with traditional petrochemical fuels, biodiesel has the characteristics of renewable, easy biodegradation, and low pollution emissions. Therefore, some countries regard biodiesel as the focus of bioenergy development.

At present, the European Union is the world's main region for the development and application of biodiesel. According to relevant materials from the European Union, the development of biodiesel in the EU has both considerations to ensure energy security, and plans to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. About 90% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation industry. according to"

There are many types of biomass energy resources and various utilization technologies. Biomass energy includes crop straw, forestry residues, oil plants, energy crops, domestic waste and other organic waste.

At present, the annual amount of crop straw resources that can be used as energy is about 150 million tons of standard coal, and the amount of forestry residues is about 200 million tons of standard coal. Jatropha curcas, rapeseed, castor, lacquer, The potential planting area of oil plants and energy crops such as Pistacia chinensis and sweet sorghum can meet the raw material demand for bio-liquid fuel with an annual output of 50 million tons. Industrial organic wastewater and livestock farm wastewater resources, in theory, can produce nearly 80 billion cubic meters of biogas, equivalent to 57 million tons of standard coal. According to the current state of biomass energy utilization technology in China, the focus of biomass energy utilization will be on biogas, biomass power generation, and biomass liquid fuel.

In fact, even in the U.S.

In July 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture promulgated the "Agricultural Biomass Energy Development Plan", and proposed that by 2010, a number of agricultural biomass energy demonstration bases should be built. Key technologies in some areas have reached international advanced levels, and industrialization has significantly improved. Agriculture The scope and scale of waste utilization have been significantly expanded, the structure of rural domestic energy use has been significantly optimized, and farmers' income from the agricultural biomass energy industry has continued to increase.

The proportion and status of agricultural biomass energy in the country's energy consumption are constantly rising. By 2015, a number of agricultural biomass energy bases will be established, and the technological innovation and industrial development system will be basically completed. The development and utilization costs will be greatly reduced, and the agricultural biomass energy industry will be initially marketized. Biomass energy industry has become an important field of agricultural development, and it has become increasingly important for promoting farmers' income, improving rural living conditions, and building a new socialist countryside, and has become an important force for ensuring national energy security and protecting the ecological environment. By 201O, the total number of domestic biogas in rural areas will reach 40 million (18 million new), accounting for about 30% of suitable rural households, with an annual production of 15.5 billion cubic meters of biogas; by 2015, the total number of biogas in rural households will reach 60 million. The annual production of biogas is about 23.3 billion cubic meters, and the industrialization of biogas is gradually promoted. In the year, there were 4,000 new-scale biogas projects in large-scale breeding farms and breeding areas, with an annual increase of 336 million cubic meters of biogas; by 2015, 8,000 bio-scale projects in large-scale breeding farms and breeding areas, with an annual output of 670 million cubic meter.

Energy crops face problems

Energy security and food security are two major issues facing humanity. However, China's national conditions are different. There are many people and few people in China. The pressure of food security persists. Therefore, it is impossible for China to develop energy crops at the expense of food security. This requires us to follow a path of biomass energy development with Chinese characteristics . We must always adhere to the basic principle of "not fighting for food with people, not with food." Specifically, we should grasp three aspects:

First, we must strictly control the use of crops such as corn and oil to produce biomass materials.

Second, insist on making full use of straw and livestock and poultry waste to develop biogas, straw gasification and solidification, and partially replace fossil energy.

Third, under the premise of not competing with land for food, moderately develop energy crops and produce biomass raw materials. ^[5]

Energy crop development potential

China still has great potential in utilizing rural waste. China's annual crop straw is 700 million tons, livestock and poultry manure is nearly 3 billion tons, and rural waste is 360 million tons. These are all great potentials for generating material energy. At present, we have explored some successful ways. For example, in the past few years, we have been vigorously developing the rural biogas business in the countryside, treating livestock manure and even domestic waste into energy for production and living. By the end of 2007, the number of rural biogas users had reached 26.5 million, with an annual output of 10.2 billion cubic meters. What is the concept of 10.2 billion cubic meters? It is equivalent to 16 million tons of standard coal, which is equivalent to reducing over 44 million tons of carbon dioxide. This we consider to be the largest and most realistic biomass energy source. ^[5]