Harvesting of cotton residue for energy production

The possibility of collecting cotton stalks in Greece and using them for energy production was investigated. The production and properties of cotton stalks were studied and a system for collection of the aerial part is proposed as a feasible solution to avoid wet conditions under the local climate. A successful method for collection and packaging of the residue was applied, using conventional but highly advantageous equipment, offering reduced investment cost and use of existing machinery. The energy required to harvest cotton stalks was measured by an instrumented tractor. The tractor was able to measure the developed forces between tractor and implement, the power absorbed through the PTO, as well as tractor velocity and fuel consumption. The energy consumed for the operation was calculated and when compared to the energy of the biomass collected gave a positive balance. The work proved the feasibility of harvesting cotton stalks using conventional machinery giving the possibility to collect energy material with a total energy content of 500,000 tons of oil equivalent at national level. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.