Image: VietSeed Vietnam
Vietnam’s Elephant Grass, once termed as the “wait a minute grass’, is a robust perennial grass with low water and nutrient requirements and grows to round 2-4 meters tall, with a high ability to absorb CO2.
Elephant Grass is fast becoming the go-to-crop feedstock globally for Biomass Fuels as it does not compete with other crops for fertile agricultural soil / land with other staple grain and food crops, has resistance to pests and disease while possessing extremely high CO2 absorption capacity. It’s also being developed as Biomass fodder for Green Hydrogen production. With traditional crops becoming more and more scarce and expensive amid global energy crisis- and the recent Asia heat wave- Elephant grass holds promise as for the future of Vietnam’s renewable energy supply chain.
However, another compelling insight of Elephant Grass as a Biomass fuel, are the innovations in growing, harvesting and processing the grass which has opened up new industries in remote agricultural rural communities – expanding prosperity and job creation by planting Elephant Grass for industry – particularly with rising Asia temperatures destroying many crops, and the lack of water.
Many energy experts argue that the utilization of this energy biomass might become an inevitable trend to replace fossil fuels such as coal, but it requires appropriate combustion methods as well as the government’s support in its initial stages.
Having high hope for future possibilities and already possessing a great background in grass and forage research, Viet Seed Co., Ltd (Vietseed) has organized a research group to focus on all aspects of elephant grass cultivation to produce pellets for more than two years.
Elephant grass therefore holds a very potential energy crop in the near future- and as a biomass may possibly be a “super clean” material for producing organic fertilizer serving premium markets.
