Soil carbon and nitrogen cycle modeling for bioenergy crops

Due to the increase in the demands for bioenergy, considerable areas in the Midwestern United States (US) could be converted into croplands for second generation bioenergy, such as the cultivation of miscanthus and switchgrass. Study on the effect of the expansion of these crops on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics is integral to understanding their long-term environmental impacts. We developed a coupled hydrological-soil nutrient model under identical field conditions and different harvest litter input scenarios. Our project simulation shows that there are critical harvest litter amounts for miscanthus (15% of above-ground biomass when harvested), and switchgrass (25%) to sequester significant quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into the soil (up to 9.7 and 7.5 kg C m-2 accumulations in miscanthus and switchgrass, respectively, within the next 100 years), while reducing nitrogen (N) losses (approximately 98 % reduction in soil inorganic nitrogen), unlike corn-corn-soybean rotation. This finding resulted from an increase in the carbon/nitrogen (C:N) ratio of topsoil, deactivating soil microbes.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Woo, Dong Kook

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kumar, Praveen

• soil carbon
• soil nitrogen
• miscanthus
• switchgrass
• bioenergy crop

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Dong Kook Woo

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45373

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45373