The attraction of bioenergy crops as a source of energy are that they can be produced in many

regions, can be converted into high-energy solid, liquid or gaseous forms, and most importantly
has the potential to be a carbon neutral source of fuel.
With the increased focus over the past several years, on growing crops for the bioenergy sector,
dedicated energy crops are now considered to be great sources of biomass for producing
advanced biofuels because of their potential to provide high yields of biofuels per unit of land
even if grown on land that has low productivity for producing conventional crops and with low
fertilizer input application.
Many crops can also sequester more soil carbon per unit of land than conventional crops and
lead to considerably large savings in life-cycle greenhouse emissions relative to oil, coal and gas,
while reducing soil erosion and nitrogen leaching.
Biomass and Bioenergy Off-Take Markets
Mark Abell explains that buyers of biomass crops
can be divided into different tiers, with Tier 1
being those who need raw materials, and Tier 2
representing the sector that requires refined
biomass products. Tier 3 represents industrial
users of refined biomass products, while Tier 4 are
those who produce products made from refined
biomass materials.
In all tiers, there are energy and non-energy
sector uses for biomass crops. Bio-heat and biopower, and biofuel for transportation are all energy
uses, while the non-energy sectors include not
only animal bedding and animal feed but plastics
and

fertilizer

industries,

as

well

as

bio-

pharmaceuticals dyes and pigments.

As new markets for biomass crops continue to develop, with the larger energy markets now
playing catch-up with the supply of biomass crops, as a producer, we have seen many more
options open up in the market place to capitalise on.

Commercial Scale Modelling

Ecotech Alliances research and development team are contributing to the development of
bioenergy crops with efficient modelling and applications that can be applied to large scale
commercial crops. The need to understand the relationship between the environmental
conditions and the growth of bioenergy grasses and crops and how the different environmental
factors control it are an important part of our modelling.
Our models can estimate and predict the yield and stability of crops at various locations and on a
large commercial scale. Obviously you cannot grow these crops everywhere. There are certain
environmental conditions that favour them to grow in certain parts of the world and our modelling
helps to calculate the return on crop yield and return on capital investment.
Pakchong Hybrid Napier Grass
Ecotech Alliance management has been working with an established network of farmers and cooperatives and is encouraging land owners/plantation managers with land availability of at least
200 hectares or more to consider the Pakchong Hybrid Napier Grass as an attractive energy
crop. The Pakchong has been proven to yield higher energy than other types of Napier grass and
is ideal as feedstock for biomass power plants as well as a high protein cattle feed.
The Super Grass was developed by Dr. Krailas Kiyothong,
animal nutritionist and plant breeder of the Department of
Livestock Development in Pakchong, Nakhon Ratchasima
province, Thailand. He developed Napier Pakchong 1 by
crossing the Pennisetum purpureum with Pearl Millet
(Pennisetum glaucum)

This shift toward Napier grass in Thailand has created many opportunities for increased
revenues for Ecotech Alliance and may create business opportunities for Japanese companies
that have invested in Thailand with expertise in biofuels. An example of this is Toyota who has
been working on creating a bioethanol fuel for automobiles from Napier grass, with an eye on
commercializing the technology as early as 2020.

Dedicated Bioenergy Crop Experience

Because

Ecotech

Alliance

and

our

co-

operatives have experience in handling large

volumes

of

biomass

through

dedicated

bioenergy crop experience, and expertise in

propagation

through

crop

planting

and

establishment of projects, we have been

engaged by many clients on a broad basis.
Through this broad experience of Ecotech
Alliances employees and management team
we have the skills necessary to implement
successful dedicated crops or agroforestry
operations:

Screening and selection of types of material to be grown

Agronomic practices and soil characteristic

Means and methods of economical land preparation, planting and cultivation

Probable soil supplementation based on crop and soil, including fertilization applications.

Probable irrigation or drainage requirements.

Best methods for harvesting, delivery, and/or storage.

Ecotech Alliance Pty Ltd

8 Kings Park Avenue,
Crawley,
Perth,
WA 6009
Australia
Tel: +61 (8) 9467 4004
www.ecotechalliance.com