Developments in SRC Willow R & D in
Northern Ireland, UK
Alistair R. McCracken & Linda Walsh
Northern Ireland has been
involved in SRC willow R & D
since the mid- 1970s
NORTHERN IRELAND
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Less than 6% tree cover
Imports >95% of its energy
Strongly agricultural
Maritime climate (wet and cool)
Very good growth potential
A green patchwork of
small, irregular fields
N. Ireland
ca. 1000 ha SRC willow
ca. 86,000 ha forestry
Why Salix (willow) ?
• Native
• Pioneer species
• Ease of propagation:
Preformed root initials
(adventitious roots)
• Ease of coppicing
• Vigorous juvenile growth
Genotype evaluation
•  Swedish Breeding Programme (Lantmännen Agroenergi AB)
•  European Breeding Programme (formerly at Long Ashton: now at
Rothamsted Research)
•  US Breeding Programme (Prof. Larry Smart)
N. Ireland Trial
US genotypes:
European / Swedish genotypes
US Trial
•  Only four (out of 13) genotypes had good
growth potential and did not suffer
excessively from potato leaf hopper
–  Nimrod
–  Terra Nova
–  LA970253
–  LA980451
Rust (Melampsora epitea)
Plant genotype
mixtures
7 ha trial (two blocks) using mixtures with 20, 15,
10 and 5 components planted at three densities
Mixtures
•  Delay onset of rust
•  Slows build up of disease
•  Significantly reduces impact of disease
•  Reduces impact of beetle damage
•  Helps sustainability following frost
•  Increases yields
Mixtures give increase in yield
Plant genotype mixtures
Use at least SIX genotypes
THREE from Sweden
THREE from European programme
Plant in random / short runs
Willow beetle
Phratora vulgatissima
SRC Willow harvesting
•  Direct chip
•  Whole stem harvesting
•  ‘Biobailer’
SRC Willow harvesting systems
Direct harvest and
chip
Requiring forced
air drying
Rod harvester
Requiring
specialist
chipping
equipment
Deterioration of stored wood chip
Pattern of drying
with forced air under-floor system
6 ha Miscanthus and novel biomass crops
Research into biomass drying and storage
Renewable Energy Centre with advanced
biomass heating and electricity generation
Solar panel water heating for dairy parlour
Research into
Anaerobic digestion
of manures
Research into Bio-remediation of farm dirty water
CHP Biogas
350 Kw Biomass
150 Kw Biomass
Performance of Biomass Fuels
Boiler heat output and ash
Energy from willow wood chip
•  SRC willow wood chip dry
matter has approximately
19 MJ kg-1
•  This is 45% of the energy of an
equivalent volume of light fuel
oil
•  One hectare produces
equivalent of ~ 3,300 – 5,700
litres of heating oil per year
3000 litres of oil year-1
8.02 t CO2 year-1
Wood:
7 Kg CO2 per GJ
Heating oil:
79 Kg CO2 per GJ
Burning wood
chip will reduce
CO2 emissions by
90%
South West College
(Omagh Campus)
South West College (Omagh Campus)
Carbon Trust Report (January 2007)
Utility
Electricity
Fuel Oil
LPG
Willow
(biomass)
Total
energy
Purchased Energy
Cost
CO2
emissions
(t)
kWh yr-1
%
£ yr-1
%
1,150,180
34.0
72,344
52.1
494.6
1,1529,724
45.3
51,976
37.4
397.7
75,967
2.2
4,606
3.3
16.0
625,000
18.5
10.000
7.2
0
3,380,871
100
138,926
100
908.3
Carbon sequestration by SRC Willow
•  Non-harvested above-ground biomass
(stumps)
•  Below-ground biomass (coarse and fine
roots)
•  Inputs to soil organic matter
Using willow as a multi-functional crop
•  Bioremediation of effluents and sludges
Trial site
Culmore WWTW
Soil water
Soil Water - Ec
Case Study
Linwoods Food Processor
Produce
26,000 m3 effluent / year
Tankered to WWTW 11km away
3,000 round trips yr-1 = 66,000 Km
Food Processor Effluent to SRC Willow
Pictures from Rural Generation Ltd
Carbon savings
•  Transport (66,000 km)
–  17 t CO2 yr-1 (400 g Km-1)
•  Effluent treatment
–  3 t CO2 yr-1
•  Production of wood chip (10 t ha-1 yr-1)
–  180 t CO2 yr-1 (wood chip = 500,000kWh)
•  Total C savings approximately
200t yr-1
Conclusions
•  SRC willow is ‘coming of age’
•  Contributes to Renewable Energy targets
•  Contributes to GHG emission targets
•  NI technologies are transferable
Thank
You