Plainview Growers uses grass pellets as biofuel

At the recent Chesapeake Green Energy Conference in Maryland, Arie Van Vugt, president of Plainview Growers in Pompton Plains, N.J., discussed his company’s use of pelletized Miscanthus x giganteus as a biofuel. Univ. of Md. extension personnel said one reason Van Vugt chose the grass pellets is because wood pellets were not available in bulk.
M. giganteus is a sterile, non-native grass that is considered non-invasive. The grass continues to produce for 15-20 years. After 3 years of field production it produces 15-20 tons per acre of grass.
Plainview Growers has worked with the Audubon Society, which was paying area farmers to grow warm season grasses for birds. The farms producing the grasses are within a 15-mile radius of Plainview. The grass is not touched between June 1 and Sept. 1, after which it can be harvested for pellets. The grass, which needs to be at a moisture level of between 12-18%, is chopped in the field and then processed into pellets at Plainview. The pellets are stored in two 250-ton silos. The company burns about 2,000 tons of pellets annually.
Plainview is in the process of setting up a bio-energy company, Pequest Energy, that will produce grass pellets for other users that are within a 25-mile radius of the facility.