Technical and Economical Feasibility of Buffalo Gourd as a Novel Energy Crop

摘要

The New Mexico Solar Energy Institute has conducted a two-year investigation into the technical and economic feasibility of using the buffalo gourd plant as an energy feedstock in eastern New Mexico. The studies indicate that buffalo gourd is well suited for root production in eastern NM. Buffalo gourd has been shown to be an excellent feedstock for ethanol production provided necessary pre-fermentation processing (chopping of roots) is performed correctly. A model was created to determine the economic feasibility of growing buffalo gourd in eastern NM. It was determined that the net return to a farmer in eastern NM can be higher planting buffalo gourd than many traditionally grown crops because of buffalo gourd's low water and fertilizer requirements. A clearly defined R&D agenda and commercialization strategy is presented and discussed. Buffalo gourd has been demonstrated to have high potential as an alternative feedstock for ethanol production in eastern NM.