Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
4.4.3. Agrochemicals
Application rates In 2006 the rate r
agrochi
was about 4.0
kg
ai
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
of active in-
gredients, of which 2.8 kg in herbicides [10].
Energy requirements Agrochemicals are made from petroleum products. References
[8, 11, 25-27] indicate values for β
agrochi
ranging from 130 to 430
MJ
LHV
·
kg
−
1
.
It is
ai
fixed at 280
±
75 MJ
LHV
·
kg
−
1
, or 340
±
90 MJ
tot
·
kg
−
1
.
ai
ai
4.4.4.
Others
Irrigation is only performed in areas south of Paris due to sufficient rains and soil humidity
elsewhere. Moreover, only 11% of the surface of these areas requires irrigation. The need
is equivalent to 110 mm of rain. We assume in the future these surfaces not anymore used
for beet culture.
We also neglect contribution from lime application, assuming soils are sufficiently rich
in calcium.
Seed contribution is not included for lack of information.
4.4.5. Overall farm contribution
Diesel consumption for machinery is the main contributor with
7
.
75 GJ
LHV
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
or
9
.
3 GJ
tot
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
.
Next
important
requirement
is
synthetic nitrogen
fertilizer
with 3.4
GJ
LHV
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
of gas or
4
.
1 GJ
tot
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
.
The rest contributes about
1
.
85 GJ
LHV
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
or
2
.
0 GJ
tot
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
.
Farm global consumption rate R
f arm
amounts to
13
.
0 GJ
LHV
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
, or in total
15
.
4 GJ
tot
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
.
Taking int account ethanol yield, 162
GJ
LHV
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
, we have
R
f arm
at about
8.0% of ethanol LHV, or in total 9.5%.
4.5.
Transport and Distribution
Beet fields are assumed in average 25 km away from the factory, as indicated by Téréos
company in its web page for its factory at Origny-Sainte-Benoite in France. It may under-
estimate the distance for other factories for which processed beet is cultivated over larger
area.
Transport is achieved with trucks of 44 t gross weight carrying 25 t of load in the
forward way while returning empty. We assume an average fuel consumption of 38 l per
100 km [14]. Hence the diesel consumption per tonne of load is r
trans
= 0
.
75 l
·
t
−
1
load
. The
load includes some soil left on the beet roots, which amounts to about 25% of the mass of
washed beet.
Taking also into accountβ
diesel
, the transport contribution amounts to 34
MJ
LHV
·
t
−
1
A
or 40
MJ
tot
·
t
−
A
i.e. about 1.9% of ethanol LHV. Ethanol is first transported by train
to refineries where it is blended with gasoline (average distance about 350 km). It is then
distributed either directly to refueling stations or to local storage. About 65% of the blend is
carried to local storage by pipeline (distance about 150 km). Trains are used for 10% of the
