New Polish Oilseed Hemp Cultivar Henola – Cultivation, Properties and Utilization for Bioethanol Production

Abstract

In recent years, the cultivation of hemp for seed has been gaining significant importance. Intensive breeding work resulted in the registration of a new oilseed hemp variety with high seed yield called Henola. Hemp of this variety is characterized by a vegetation period shorter by about a month, almost twice shorter technical length of plants and significantly larger inflorescences than fibrous hemp of the standard variety (Białobrzeskie). This work analyzes the efficiency of the second-generation bioethanol production process derived from the processing of waste biomass remaining after deseeding the panicles of the Henola variety. The research material consisted of biomass samples obtained from three variants of the fertilization experiment carried out at the IWNiRZ Experimental Farm in Stary Sielec in temperate climate conditions. In order to find out about the properties of the raw material, the chemical composition of hemp straw was tested and the bioethanol yield per 1 ha of crops was determined. Henola oilseed hemp straw yield was the lowest (10.6 Mg∙ha−1) in the case of the control and the highest (11.3 Mg∙ha−1) with the use of complex phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen fertilization. The average content of cellulose in the analyzed samples was 35.5%, holocellulose 68%, and hemicellulose 32%. The amount of lignin, in turn, was independent of the type of fertilization. The lowest bioethanol content, in the amount 7.11 g∙L−1, was found in case of hemp fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and the highest content amounting to 9.93 g∙L−1 – for hemp fertilized with phosphorus and potassium, for which the ethanol yield, converted into straw yield was 2.7 m3∙ha−1. The conducted research covers both the identification of pro-environmental solutions in the economy for the management of waste biomass and the implementation of the RED II Directive on the promotion of energy from renewable sources.

Keywords

• hemp straw yield
• chemical composition
• lignocellulosic biomass
• biofuels 2nd generation
• lignocellulosic ethanol