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| Titel |
Nitrous oxide emissions after sewage sludge fertilization of a bio-energy plantation |
| VerfasserIn |
Anna Hedenrud, Christine Achberger, Leif Klemedtsson, Anders Lindroth |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250082459
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The use of sewage sludge as fertilizer after harvest of bio-energy plantations gives rise
to high emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). N2O is a powerful
greenhouse gas with a global warming potential almost 300 times larger than that of
carbon dioxide and an atmospheric life-span of over 100 years. Plantations of e.g.
willow (Salix) and poplar (Populus) species are today grown and used for bio-energy
purposes. They could serve as carbon and nitrogen sinks, thus lowering greenhouse
gas emissions and helping to mitigate a change in climate. However, since N2O is
such a powerful greenhouse gas it can have a large impact on the total emission of
greenhouse gases from a bio-energy plantation. The magnitude of N2O emissions after
fertilization using sludge from sewage treatment plants is therefore important to
investigate.
This study concerns N2O emissions from a conventionally grown bio-energy
plantation of Salix. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of sewage sludge as
fertilizer after harvest, and its effect on emissions of N2O from the soil ecosystem. The
field site is a Salix plantation in south-western Sweden, a representative site in
management practices and abiotic conditions. Emissions of N2O were monitored using
automatic chambers (height 1.05 m, volume 0.2625 m3) and a trace gas analyzer
(TGA100, Campbell Scientific, USA) during approximately one (1) year. After
harvest, N2O emissions from control plots without application of sewage sludge
(non-fertilized plots) were compared to plots with sewage sludge application (fertilized
plots).
Preliminary results show that emissions of N2O were continuously very low throughout
the measurement period, except for peak emissions after harvest and fertilization. These peak
emissions of N2O were observed at both fertilized and non-fertilized plots in connection to
the fertilization events. The results indicate that heavy precipitation could be the
cause of induced emissions of N2O at non-fertilized plots. Some fertilized plots also
showed smaller emission peaks several weeks after fertilization, whereas none of the
non-fertilized plots showed this emission pattern. Annual emissions have also been
calculated for fertilized and non-fertilized plots, and the results will be presented at the
conference. Preliminary results indicate higher annual emissions from fertilized plots. |
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