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What
is Miscanthus?
Miscanthus
is a tall perennial grass that has been accepted as a good high yield biomass
crop for use in Europe during the past 5-10 years. It is sometimes confused
with elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and has been called both
"elephant grass" and "E-grass". Most of the miscanthus
cultivars proposed as a commercial crop in Europe are sterile hybrids
(Miscanthus x giganteus) which originated in Japan.
A number of ornamental varieties of miscanthus are also known to exist under
various common names. Miscanthus can be harvested every year with a sugar
cane harvester and can be grown in a cool climate like that of northern
Europe making it ideal for Ireland. Like other bioenergy crops, the harvested
stems of miscanthus may be used as fuel for production of heat and electric
power, or for conversion to other useful products such as ethanol.
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Burning
Miscanthus as a Home Heating Fuel
Miscanthus has the potential to supply a major part of the biomass renewable
energy sector needs in the future, however, there are some problems related
to burning miscanthus in standard wood chip and wood pellet boilers.
The ash produced when burning Miscanthus melts at a much lower temperature
than ashes produced when burning wood. As a result if you burn miscanthus in
a typical wood chip/pellet boiler it will be treated as if it is wood and
burn at much higher temperatures than it should be. These high temperatures
cause the ash to melt and then form a hard crust in the burning chamber
– otherwise known as clinker.
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