Re: GAS-L: Gel Fuel and much more from cattails

[Harmon Seaver <hseaver@cybershamanix.com>]

On Sun, Sep 15, 2002 at 12:35:49AM +0100, David Reynolds-Lacey wrote:
> Dear Harmon,
> 
> Thanks for your comments which are noted and understood. I am aware that cattails are more of a nuisance and may more often require elimination. 

   Well, in most cases, at least on public lands, nobody wants to eradicate
them completely, more like get them back in balance with the bulrushes and other
aquatic species. And certainly from the harvestors standpoint, we wouldn't want
to overharvest, as you said. 
   Cattails are a very important part of the ecosystem, both as animal food and
helping filter nutrients. One of the serious problems we are seeing in lakes and
marshes where the water level is too high is that the plants which are normally
rooted in the bottom have lifted up, forming floating matts, and algae blooms
now block enough sunlight that they can't get started again. So proper
management is essential, but unfortunately the various state DNR and other gov't
bodies in charge don't have the "harvesting" and biofuel aspects in their
equations at this point. Someone coming in to harvest would aid their programs
tremendously, since right now they only method they have that works is to
completely draw down the water and then burn. 
    This is not acceptable to property owners around the waterways, nor to the
public, who want the water level kept up for fishing and other forms of
recreation. So harvesting, especially if done from a barge where no water
drawdown is needed would be a fantastic win-win for everybody.

 > 
> However, I was specifically addressing Daniel's question about the potential "crop" that he has access to and assuming that he would not want to eliminate them entirely in order to maintain continuity of supply and also he did mention that they provided a benefit by filtering polutants in this particular environment. I also pressumed as Daniel had copied your post to this list that his potential use for them would be as biomass for gassification, In which case I was suggesting that he would only need to harvest the tops especially when they were dying, which would make drying easier, thus my tongue-in-cheek reference to coppicing, 
> 
   I guess I didn't see his original post, just your quotes. One other aspect of
harvesting is whether the primary crop is the tops or the roots. Tops are at
their peak a month or two earlier than the roots. Since the tops can also be
used for making ethanol, not just gasification, there is a quandry here. If you
only want to gasify the tops and make ethanol and animal feed out of the roots,
then later would be better. 

> >From what Daniel said about using a tracked vehicle and also about pulling them up by the roots and washing off soil, it was clear that the cattails to which he refered were not floating. Having said that I have to admit that I was not actually aware of the floating characteristic and I thank you for bringing this to my attention.

   What works best if you do a drawdown is a hay chopper to take the tops,
followed by a  modified potato digger. However, except in some situations, I
think no drawdown is the best process. Public opinion could easily stop
harvesting otherwise.

(snip)

-- 
Harmon Seaver	
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com

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