Life Cycle Costs and Life Cycle Assessment for the Harvesting, Conversion, and the Use of Switchgrass to Produce Electricity
Table 3
The estimated reseeding costs per hectare and GHG [30–34].
Reseeding probability 25%
Preharvest machinery operations custom charges
$/ha
gal of diesel/ha
diesel cost/ha
CO2
N2O
CH4
Estimate CO2 equivalent/ha
Airflow spreader (seed and fertilizer)
31.26
1.48 (0.70 L/ha)
5.56
15.90
0.0065
0.00087
17.93
Spraying chemicals
8.28
0.49 (0.23 L/ha)
1.85
5.30
0.0022
0.00029
5.98
Total
39.54
1.97 (0.93 L/ha)
7.41
21.20
0.0087
0.00116
23.91
Operating exp. Price/unit Units
Price/unit
Unit/ha
$/ha
Seed
$7.5/lb ($16.5/kg)
3.71 lb (1.69 kg)
27.80
Fertilizer*
N
$0.31/lb ($0.68/kg)
264.55 lb (120 kg)
82.01
5.05
1.20
1590.94
P
$0.37/lb ($0.81/kg)
74.13 lb (32.62 kg)
27.43
K
$0.23/lb ($0.51/kg)
98.84 lb (44.83 kg)
22.73
Herbicides**
79.8
Pursuit +
$53/gal ($14.00/L)
7.41 oz (0.22 L)
3.06
MSO
$1.75/pt ($3.70/L)
79.07 oz (2.34 L)
8.65
2,4D
$16/gal ($4.23/L)
3.71 pts (1.76 L)
7.41
Total operating costs
179.09 $/ha
Total reseeding costs (10 years at 8% amortization (.14903 factor))
226.04 $/ha
Prorated yearly reseed cost per ha
32.91 $/ha
*The application of nitrogen fertilizer leads to the formation of nitrous oxide emissions from the soil which leads to emission of GHG.
**The emission of GHG from application of herbicide on a field.
