Trials for producing biogas feedstock crops on marginal land in New Zealand

Abstract
Substituting fossil fuels with biofuels has been identified as one of the most feasible steps to reduce the agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint in New Zealand (NZ). Renewed interest in purpose-grown biomass crops in this context also stems from concern about the security of rural transport fuel supply and national transport fuel security. This research is on a novel cropping system for producing biogas featuring a closed-loop nitrogen (N) recycling system (termed CLN) for use on NZ marginal land. The biomass conversion technology, anaerobic digestion (AD) enables recycling of N (and other nutrients) captured in the digestate back to cropping land to meet N requirements in place of synthetic fertilisers.