Vetiver System - Vetiver Grass Technology Applications

Vetiver Grass is an absolute unique plant for many reasons, but its most impressive characteristics are that it can be grown successfully in virtually every country with a warm to hot climate, and for a large range of different applications covering a number of critical sectors relating to the environment.  Here is a list of these applications with links to some short photo presentations which helps put this plant into perspective.  Note "high resolution images are also available - click on button near bottom of table.

THE VETIVER_ SYSTEM -- OVERVIEW
VETIVER_ SYSTEM AND CLIMATE CHANGE
ABOUT VETIVER - THE PLANT	PROPAGATION & PLANTING
AGRICULTURAL USES	FORAGE AND BIOMASS
ON FARM SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION	LANDSCAPING
LAND REHABILITATION	MINE REHABILITATION
MINE REHABILITATION LARGE SCALE APPLICATIONS	COASTLINE STABILIZATION
BRIDGE PROTECTION	HIGHWAY STABILIZATION
PUBLIC UTILITY STABILIZATION	STEEP SLOPE STABILIZATION
RURAL ROAD STABILIZATION	RAILROAD STABILIZATION
UPLAND FLOOD CONTROL	LOWLAND DIKES & LEVEE STABILIZATION
RIVER BANK STABILIZATION	DAM STABILIZATION
LANDFILL TREATMENT	EFFLUENT DISPOSAL
HANDICRAFTS	OTHER USES
HIGH RESOLUTION FILES OF ABOVE APPLICATIONS
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Please share with others who might be interested.  Thank you

Vetiver. -- Biomass production versus vetiver oil production. Some observations from Gueric Boucard

Recently Gueric Boucard (Dominican Republic) who has been in the vetiver oil business for years, and is now growing vetiver as a profitable bio fuel,  sent the following to a vetiver grower in Europe.  I though I would share it with you as it is rather thought provoking.

"If I could find a place to sell Vetiver slips at about 2 Euro a slip I would make millions overnight...., and Haiti would become a country of very rich peasants.

You can estimate that one hectare could yield over a million single slips/ annum:

Let's do the math, just for fun.

For mechanized Vetiver farming, on only a hundred hectares in the Dominican Republic, we plant (on 1 hectare 100m x 100m) 55 rows 100 meters long (rows are 1.80m apart to accommodate large digger tractor), which equals 5,555 linear meters of six clumps per meter (a tight staggered double row), which is a total 33,330 vetiver clumps per hectare, which after one year with irrigation will yield an estimated 50 seedlings (slips) per clump, that is: 1,666,500 SLIPS @ 2 Euro each = 3,333,000 Euros of slips per hectare. Wow!

That's a lot more money than corn and wheat, sugarcane or bananas...., or even cocaine per hectare (just guessing on the cocaine!).

Vetiver - A Plant for all People - The Latin American Experience

Latin American Vetiver Conference - Medellin, Colombia - Oct 3-5 2013

The spirit of the Vetiver System (VS) and those who use it, and of this particular conference, can be summed up in one man, Alois Kennerknecht (left in photo), of Lima Peru, who has single handed (using the little money that he had saved) motivated the poor of Lima to re-green the urban area that they live in with vetiver - the only plant that can survive the harsh conditions.  Most of the participants are poor urban women who long for a brighter life. Women quickly take to vetiver, whether for improving and protecting their soil (Ethiopia and Kenya), or as a fibre source for handicrafts (Thailand, China, and Venezuela), or as community participants in vetiver initiatives in Mexico and Peru. Women too are taking a lead as bioengineers - Paula  Pereira of Brazil, Yorleny Cruz of Costa Rica, Maria Calderon of Guatemala, Suwanna Pasiri of Thailand, Jane Wegesa of Kenya, Noah Manarang of the Philippines and many others.

This indeed was a good conference.  We have to thank Juan Daniel Londono for organizing it and the sponsors include MECETA (Colombia), Deflor (Brazil), Hydromulch (South Africa), Veticon (Australia), and the Vetiver Network International.  The proceedings are available at http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/index.htmhttp://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/index.htm

More than 100 people attended the conference that was held in Medellin, Colombia.  The quality of presentations from countries in the region were excellent and indicated how much VS has expanded over the past 10 years.  Paul and Nicholas Truong presented a new and tested model http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/2%20Environmental%20Protection/E1Truong_TE.pdf for treating small scale waste water effluent. It has immediate use for treating coffee processing effluent in Colombia and other countries (Starbucks please note and support!), as well as for treating household waste water and sewage throughout the tropical world. Coincidently Owen Lee (a Canadian) shared with us his design for a vetiver latrine in Haiti  http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/2%20Environmental%20Protection/E5Lee_TE.pdf.

Bioengineering applications of vetiver were demonstrated in most countries in the region.  Climate change and the associated severe rainfall events increasingly presents new challenges for slope stabilization; and vetiver is increasingly being used for stabilizing highways, building sites, and other man made earthen structures, and for rehabilitating the after effects of landslides (Joao Eboli of Brazil) http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/1%20Bioengineering/B8Eboli_TP.pdf.  Roley Noffke of South Africa and Rafael Luque of Venezuela showed how their companies are using vetiver for mining rehabilitation.  It is interesting to see how in every case native plants naturally return to sites that use vetiver as a pioneer stabilizer.  There were two interesting presentations from Guatemala and the Dominican Republic relating to the use of VS vetiver at large scale as a feedstock for steam/electricity generation.

For those interested I made a presentation on the history and achievements of the Vetiver Network International see: http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/0%20Plenary/P1Dick_TE.pdf

Most people who attended agreed that VS has a huge role to play in all Central and South American countries, in particular Brazil.  There is no doubt that Vetiver applications perform well in Latin America if applied correctly, a critical need is expanding the application of the technology and getting more institutions, individuals and enterprises to use it.  There are many hurdles - politics included.

One thing is quite clear that the Vetiver System will create significant cost savings for governments and other users. There is abundant data showing vetiver "soft" engineering reduces costs by as much as 90% of "hard" engineering alternatives, and when used in association with "hard " technology vetiver more than often assures the survival of the "hard" structures and the overall success and integrity of the total investment.

Even though vetiver hedgerows have been demonstrated to be highly effective in the region, VS is not used much by the agricultural sector, and greater focus needs to be given to this area in the light of continuing on-farm erosion and increasingly limited availability ofd crop water.

The conference once again demonstrated the multi, cross sector use of VS from agriculture and infrastructure to bioremediation and health; and urban and rural applications.  Vetiver grass and the Vetiver System is truly a unique that can do so much to improve the earth and those who live on it.

Dick Grimshaw

New Postings on TVNI website

VETIVER SYSTEM APPLICATION IN THE USA AND MEXICO	Presentation by Paul Truong* and Brad Granley** *TVNI Coordinator Asia and Oceania ** Leggette, Brashears & Graham Inc., Senior Associate
A Changing Industry: On-site Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate Using Trees and Grasses – Case Studies	Presentation by Brad A. Granley*, Paul N. Truong** * Leggette, Brashears & Graham Inc., Senior Associate **TVNI Coordinator Asia and Oceania
Constructed Vetiver Wetlands in Jimma, Ethiopia	Connie Bottenburg
VETIVER/BIOCHAR Solution Sand Stabilization High Speed Train Medina-Mecca	Presented at INECO - 28 January 2013 Coordination: a.delacruz@greenresults.eu
Vetiver for farmers: how to multiply, plant contour hedges, plug gullies	PLUS KENYA farmer pamphlet
Vetiver multiplication	PLUS KENYA pamphlet
Vetiver hedge establishment for engineering purpose	PLUS KENYA pamphlet
Vetiver hedge maintenance in semi-arid areas	PLUS KENYA pamphlet
Comparing constructed contour banks with Vetiver System	PLUS KENYA pamphlet
Regreening gunnited slopes in HongKong using vetiver	The presentation of Dr. P.K.Yoon's work in regreening gunnited highway cut slopes in HongKong is unique. It is a worth reminding ourseleves at this time of his orginal work on vetiver whilst he was at the Rubber Research Station of Malaysia nin the early 1990s. Hism seminaL reportm is of value tod ay as it was 20 years ago. Look See at Vetiver

Vetiver Italy

I have recently heard from Marco Forti, coordinator for the Italian Vetiver Network.  It is nice to see the slowly increasing interesting in Vetiver in Italy. It is also good to see how Marco is expanding the Network by encouraging Vetiver networks at Italy's regional level. Currently there are three: Sardegna, Toscana, and Romagna. There are four more being formed.  This is a great way to develop local and regional interest in Vetiver.

In summary the Internet sites for Italy are:

- Vetiver Italia - main entry point: Vetiveritalia: La rete italiana del Vetiver managed by Marco Forti and is the primary site for Italy. He has two associated blogs - Diario della Coltivazione | Il Vetiver: per l'ambiente, l'energia e la società civile

-  Vetiver Sardegna - Marco Forti

- Vetiver Toscana  - Andrea Rossi

- Vetiver Emilia Romagna - Luca Marcheselli.

Three or four more regions are the next to be put online. On the earlier sites that Marco developed there are many interesting insights. Vetiver Italia has an interesting piece on protecting beach property from sand blow on the Gulf of Aranci, see: http://www.vetiveritalia.net/?p=72 These beach hedgerows have significantly reduced sand blow and saved the owner of the beach front concession time and money through a reduction in sand removal. Three years after planting it looks like this: http://www.vetiveritalia.net/?p=513   ---  Dick Grimshaw

Vetiver, Stoves and Biofuel

I was speaking with Criss Juliard this morning and he reminded me about the good work being done by Mike Mahowald's group, Haiti Reconstruction in Haiti with respect to using vetiver for fueling efficient cooking stoves.  Let me first say how impressed I am with the various programs that his group sponsors.  It is doing a terrific job.  It has quite a focus on the Vetiver System for: soil and water conservation, soil fertility, and biofuel.

Haiti Reconstruction is promoting TLUD stoves - Top Lit Up Draft gasifiers stoves as the best stove design for Haiti.  These stoves are relatively cheap and will burn any sort of fuel including grass and vetiver produces very high heat output compared to other species; they burn cleanly and efficiently, have a good life expectancy, no dirty charcoal and no nee to use trees; smokeless, and produces biochar that can be returned to the soil.  The group will also be pelletizing vetiver leaves as fuel.  Assuming that a country wide vetiver program emerges for erosion and flood control, as well as for slope stabilization there will be a lot of vetiver biomass that could be used as biofuel.  Incidentally these TLUD stoves should be able to be made by any village metal working shop.  Other low income countries could and should follow this example.  

Here are a few botanical facts about Vetiver (Gueric Boucard) with regard to Biofuel use:

1)    According to Dr. Massimo Maffei of the University of Turin, Italy, Vetiver is the one plant on the planet with the highest photosynthetic activity.  What this means, is that, given x amount of sunshine and sufficient water and nutrients, vetiver produces the most dry biomass per unit of time.

2)    Other plants produce a tremendous tonnage of biomass per hectare like potatoes, sugarcane, sugar beets, grapes, etc. Some of these plants even yield more than 100 tons per hectare. However, such biomass contains 50% or more water moisture, and is difficult, if not impossible to dry quickly in the sun.  Vetiver Hay is easily sun dried in a few hours, and produces up to 70 or 80 dry-tons per hectare of cellulosic biomass with adequate water and nutrients.  Unlike other biomass, vetiver grows above ground and is relatively easy to harvest, by hand or with the right, specially designed Mower.

3)    Vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanoides) is from the “Gramminae” family, like many other  grasses and grains.  However, the variety found in Haiti and the Dominican Republic does not propagate by seed. (This is a great advantage; otherwise, it would be a terrible weed to eradicate). Instead, Vetiver is a perennial, which grows in a clump of seedlings, and which propagates vegetatively by replanting the separated seedlings. A one-year-old clump contains up to 100 seedlings. The propagation ratio is about 50:1.  In other words, it takes one hectare of a Vetiver nursery to re-plant 50 hectares. Since Vetiver is technically a “rhizome”, the single seedling will grow on the periphery, until the plant reaches a diameter of 30 cm after one year and of nearly 1 meter after several years. Such a vetiver plantation can last up to 15 or 20 years without replanting.  Once the plantation is established, there is virtually zero maintenance, other than watering and fertilizing. An established VETIVER plantation is a veritable BIOMASS FUEL FACTORY that only needs to be mowed as needed, any time of the year.   More from Boucard

Spare a few minutes to check out Haiti Reconstruction site, I can promise you that you will learn something useful.  If bilateral and multilateral development agencies would just stand back and THINK for a moment, they would soon realize that the Vetiver System will not only mitigate against extreme weather conditions, but will conserve soil, moisture and increase crop yields: and the residues can provide fuel for cooking and heat. What more can you ask from one of the cheapest and friendliest green technologies on Planet Earth.  In other words VS is key for tackling CLIMATE CHANGE  issues.

Dick Grimshaw

As a post script "Solar Bob" sent in these two very good and comprehensive links: Stoves and feedstock  (gasification TLUD type); Latest on Stoves; and Biochar.  Thank you Bob

Vetiver System - Biomass Fuel

A paper from ICV5 by Bo Huang describes how vetiver has been used to stabilize highly fractured slopes in south China.  This in itself makes interesting reading.  The paper also describes how vetiver biomass residue from these protected slopes has been used as pellitised  fuel with good results.

Vetiver was harvested three times a year, yielding between 50 - 80 tons per ha, under quite dry conditions.


The fuel project That he describes is to produce a new energy material by adding catalyst into
amixture of by-products of eco-restoration, sawdust, straw and the plant wastes and solidifying. The project  transforms  the low quality biomass
fuel to the high quality, easily storied and transported, and high density biomass fuel which the thermal efficiency  enhanced to 40%-50%, exceeding the energy of coal.

"(1) This biomass fuel has high hydrogen content and high volatility which is easy to ignite and has high oxygen which is easy to burn and improve the combustion efficiency, therefore, there is less carbon content in the ash.
(2). This biomass fuel has low ash content (the ash content of straw normally is about 5%, the ash content of sawdust is under 1% and the ash contend of coal is usually about 20%-30%) which can be used as fertilizer.
(3). The colorific of this biomass fuel is about 3,600-4,600kcal/kg, which is almost as equally as moderate quality coal’ colorific. Due to this biomass fuel belongs to renewable resources; it could replace a part of
fossil fuels, decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

Food Security and the Vetiver System

Lester Brown’s January 14^th 2011 update of the Earth Policy Institute’s Plan B titled “The Great Food Crisis of 2011” cites a doubling of annual growth in demand for grain to 41 million tons per year.  Food prices are at an all time high. To quote Lester Brown:

“But whereas in years past, it's been weather that has caused a spike in commodities prices, now it's trends on both sides of the food supply/demand equation that are driving up prices. On the demand side, the culprits are population growth, rising affluence, and the use of grain to fuel cars. On the supply side: soil erosion, aquifer depletion, the loss of cropland to nonfarm uses, the diversion of irrigation water to cities, the plateauing of crop yields in agriculturally advanced countries, and—due to climate change —crop-withering heat waves and melting mountain glaciers and ice sheets. These climate-related trends seem destined to take a far greater toll in the future.”

“The current surge in world grain and soybean prices, and in food prices more broadly, is not a temporary phenomenon. We can no longer expect that things will soon return to normal, because in a world with a rapidly changing climate system there is no norm to return to.

The unrest of these past few weeks is just the beginning. It is no longer conflict between heavily armed superpowers, but rather spreading food shortages and rising food prices—and the political turmoil this would lead to—that threatens our global future. Unless governments quickly redefine security and shift expenditures from military uses to investing in climate change mitigation, water efficiency, soil conservation, and population stabilization, the world will in all likelihood be facing a future with both more climate instability and food price volatility. If business as usual continues, food prices will only trend upward.”

Major initiatives have to be taken in the near future if catastrophe is to be averted.  I have been involved with agricultural development in the tropics and semi tropics for nearly 50 years and I know how change can be dreadfully slow.  There are many impediments – political, social, economic and technical.  However if the pace of change is not accelerated then the world and our global civilization will be in very serious trouble.

Two areas of great concern to Lester Brown are soil conservation and water efficiency. The Vetiver Network can help to address these concerns through accelerating the use of the Vetiver System particularly where applied to rainfed farming.

There are a number of technologies for soil conservation that include minimum tillage, mulching, appropriate crop management techniques that can be applied.  The Vetiver System’s contour hedgerows are proven to be one of the most effective and least cost solutions that result in 90% reduction in soil loss and the fertility that goes with that loss of soil.  These hedgerows not only conserves soil but provide added protection against extreme weather conditions associated with climate change in that they protect land and slow down flood runoff.

Vetiver hedgerows improve soil moisture and help protect the crop against drought, and because rainfall runoff is considerably reduced (see my recent blog on Ethiopia) and groundwater is recharged – resulting in more water for lift irrigation and improvement of wetlands. 

The Vetiver System when correctly applied on farm land has clearly shown to increase productivity by as much as 30 – 50%.

In Ethiopia (Africa’s most successful Vetiver hedgerow conservation application initiative) it has taken 20 years to get to a stage where the technology has gone beyond just demonstration and where serious efforts are now being made to upscale.  This type of initiative needs to be introduced to many other countries, and it needs to be done now on large scale, before it is too late.

Dick Grimshaw

Haiti - More on Vetiver for fuel

Here are a couple of links to the use of vetiver as a fuel in Haiti - worth a quick look
Vetiver bundles   Biochar and fuel  More great information at Haiti Reconstruction

The Fifth International Conference on Vetiver - ICV5

Chinese vetiver workshop - Liyu Xu

Conferences should be about learning, discussing and meeting interesting people.  A "conference" can be a small workshop/training gathering as in this image from a vetiver workshop in China (thank you Liyu Xu) to TVNI's global Conference on Vetiver that is held every three to five years.

The Fifth International Conference on Vetiver (ICV5) will be held from October 29-31 2011, and  is being organized by the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, India with a theme of "Vetiver and Climate Change" The Second announcement (with all supporting details) for this important conference is now published at the ICV5 official website at:  

 http://icv-5.cimap.res.in/

The conference provides an opportunity to discuss and view the latest applications of the Vetiver System technology and its important use as a tool to mitigate some of the problems that the world faces due to climate change - in this case the use of vetiver to protect and rehabilitate land and water related to natural resources and the associated mitigation of the impact of extreme weather conditions. Together with the stabilization of earth based infrastructure (roads, canals, railroads, building sites), the treatment of waste water, and other uses that include handicrafts, aromatic oil and more.   Some of the more current applications of vetiver can be found at: http://www.vetiver.org and http://vetivernetinternational.blogspot.com/
Full proceedings of previous International conferences on Vetiver are at this link.

I should be grateful if you could pass this notice and link to your friends and associates and encourage people to sign up and attend.  These ICV conferences have in the past always been of high value and enjoyable, and provide participants the opportunity to meet with some very experienced vetiver users, developers, and scientists from India and the rest of the world..  For those of you who have not visited India before this is an excellent time of year to visit this interesting country and to extend the conference visit for some very enjoyable tourism.

Thank you 

Dick Grimshaw

Invitation

The Organizing Committee of the Fifth International Conference on Vetiver  (ICV-5) on the theme “Vetiver and Climate Change” has the pleasure of inviting you to participate in this important international conference which will be held at the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, India, between 29-31 October 2011.

 In India, the roots of this grass have been traditionally used for essential-oil production, and its hedges for on farm soil and water conservation, contour and forage. Over a period of time Vetiver System (VS) has acquired international territories and is now grown in over 100 countries owing to its cost effective environment friendly multifarious application and sustainable solutions for soil and water conservation, slope and embankment stabilization, natural disaster mitigation, pollution mitigation, agroforestry management and host of ecosystem services.

 The vetiver grass model promises a natural solution to mitigate the effects of climate change. Leading practitioners, experts, and policy makers associated with Vetiver System applications from all over the world will participate in the conference. This will provide an excellent opportunity for scientists, growers, entrepreneurs, industrialists and environmentalists to interact and share experience on prospects, potential, and opportunities of VS applications.

 India is the native home of vetiver, and Lucknow is located in an important geographic region where vetiver has its natural occurrence. It is our privilege to hold this International Conference on Vetiver in India, and also offer an opportunity for the participants to see vetiver in action in its native home.  We extend a hearty welcome to you to explore and learn the state of art progress in this unique plant and its application.

 We look forward to your active participation to make this international event a grand success.

Ram Rajasekharan, Chairman, Organizing Committee of ICV-5, and Director, CSIR-CIMAP

More and sign up at:  http://icv-5.cimap.res.in/

Colombia and Haiti Slope Stabilization, Erosion Control, Vetiver Oil, and Briquetting

Colombia is renowned for its high quality arabica coffee.  Vetiver, we all hope, will be another plant that the Colombian's will one day be proud of.  The image is of a vetiver plant from the nursery of Uriel Salazar Gomez, Soil Bioengineering, Medellin, Colombia. This plant is massive - over 2.5 m of leaf and stem, undoubtedly supported by a major root system.  It is little wonder that when planted correctly on properly designed projects that vetiver will do such a great job in slope stabilization and erosion control


Some news from Haiti.  One of the three largest vetiver oil producers in the world - located in Haiti - Unikode S.A. is supplied by 6000 small growers in the Les Cayes area of Haiti is changing its agronomic management requirements of its growers to incorporate the Vetiver System for erosion control on its smallholders farms:



"Permanent Bands of contour planted Vetiver will be planted & maintained across all Vetiver fields. The bands will be placed at 2 to 5 meter intervals depending on the slope. Forty five degree slopes or greater will be contoured at 2 meter intervals. Fifteen degree slopes will be contoured at 5 meter intervals. Depending on specific conditions the erosion control banding will be increased as needed in the confluences of hillsides. ........ The non harvested Vetiver bands could be interplanted with leucena, leucophelia or other woodies. The bands will also be interplanted with Rosemary and Thyme selected for essential oil quality and yield. Areas where soil conditions permit will be planted in Ylang Ylang and Key Lime (Caribbean Lime) trees as part of the permaculture, intercropping and rotation plan.

The bands of Vetiver will be alternately harvested. The Vetiver grass will be laid back on the newly replanted soil as mulch to cover and the replanted clumps. The grass leaves will not be burned. Vetiver will be harvested at twelve months or more after the re-planting date. Harvesting will not be done in the rainy season.

In addition Unikode will convert 10 ton a day root waste into charcoal briquettes."


This is really excellent news, and the principles involved could easily be repeated in other vetiver oil producing countries such as Indonesia and India.  Hopefully these practices can be applied to most of Haiti's vetiver oil producing areas.


The complete Unikode S.A announcement can be read at: http://unikodesa.com/vetiver_cropping    email:info@unikodesa.com  

Haiti Again!

A quick note from Criss Juliard:

"As the WINNER project has a substantial budget, its emphasis on using Vetiver has spawned a “copy” by other projects, donors and NGOs. A new project in the North has signed a 4 year contract with a private vetiver production firm we helped establish to protect watershed covering 4000 ha where they are to plant 750 km of vetiver hedgerow.

For those who knew about the problems in getting the Vetiver System (non-essential oil competitor) accepted by the government of Haiti, its earlier refusal was based on the concern that people would rip up Vetiver plants planted for erosion control and sell them to the essential oil industry. So far, no one of the WINNER project (WINNER stands for Watershed National Natural Environmental Resources) has heard or seen the theft of a vetiver plant of all the zones it  has been planted to date".

I have never accepted "the digging up" of vetiver hedges as a real problem.  In many cases, as in Indonesia, India, and Haiti,  the soil conservation department staff either deliberately concocted the story because vetiver conflicted with their own and alternative agendas, or they misread what was going on in areas where vetiver was cultivated for its aromatic oil.  Often in these circumstances vetiver was planted on already eroded and non productive agricultural land, or planted on very light volcanic "ash" soils that eroded as a result of the vetiver roots being harvested.  This erosion could easily have been prevented by cultivating harvestable vetiver between permanent vetiver hedgerows. - Editor.

Have you visited Mike Mahowald's website Haiti Reconstruction recently?  He has some really interesting info on a wide range of topics including briquetting, composting, dry toilets etc. all with relevance to vetiver.

Vetiver for Cattle Feed

Every now and then someone will tell me that vetiver cannot be fed to livestock.  This is not the case.  If vetiver is cut young it has a good nutrient value and is palatable.  This image was sent to me by Liyu Xu - China Vetiver Network Coordinator - showing vetiver being fed to young cattle in a new vetiver related poverty project in south China.  Goats and horses like to eat vetiver.

If vetiver is allowed to mature its nutrient value decreases significantly, at this stage the leaf can be cut for thatch, mulch, or fuel.  Its use depends on its management! What more can you ask from this plant!

Vetiver System and its use in energy efficient wood stoves

Did you know that 2 kg of dry biomass per day provides sufficient energy to cook the food for a family of six. In Vetiver terms this equates annually to plus or minus 200 linear meters of vetiver hedgerow. Most farmers who use vetiver seriously for soil and water conservation have probably at least 500 meters of hedgerow. Unlike most trees these 500 meters of vetiver can be cut year after year with no additional inputs, and over years production goes up, and not down. So here we have a technology that will increase crop yields by as much as 50% due to conserved soil and water and related reduction in risk (thus enabling other farm inputs to be used with benefit); will improve groundwater recharge; will provide forage; thatch and mulch; and can be used for handicrafts and medicine. If a small quarter hectare farm was boundary hedged with vetiver that would be sufficient to cook all the family food for a year, and every year.

There are numerous improved cooking stoves that are cheap and efficient that can use vetiver as a fuel. Some follow the "rocket" concept, and others work on pyrolysis principle that can produce heat for cooking and produce biochar as a biproduct that can be reincorporated into the soil (providing both a plant nutrient and a carbon sink).

Vetiver can be burnt as a raw feedstock of leaves and stems or as a briquette. Malawi made Vetiver briquettes worked very well, and there are simple pieces of equipment that can be used to make vetiver briquettes. The Legacy Foundation supports briquetting techniques and can provide training and plans for vetiver presses. Farmers can produce briquettes for their own use, and also for sale to local urbanites in lieu of charcoal from diminishing trees supplies.

If we can link the stove makers, the briquetters and vetiver development groups and networks we can achieve multiple objectives all to the benefit to the farmers, urban dwellers and the environment.

Currently on our Google Vetiver-System group there are some interesting discussion and comment on this topic. Join our group and learn more including relevant contacts to take this initiative further.

Dick Grimshaw

Vetiver and Energy

A university student wanted to know the energy value of vetiver which reminded me of a note from Gueric Boucard (Dominican Republic), Gueric uses vetiver as feed stock for his power plant, and energy prices are on the rise again:

• A vetiver plantation in the tropics under irrigation or good annual rainfall will produce up to 80 tons per hectare per year of dry vetiver grass.
• The grass can be baled with a standard hay baler after 3 or 4 days of sun drying.
• The dry grass was found to have a calorific value of 7,000 btu per pound. (about one half of that of coal).
• A modern thermal power plant would require 1000 tons of vetiver bales per day to produce 50 Megawatts around the clock. ( I know this, because there is a 50 Megawatt power plant in my backyard, in Barahona, D.R. which burns 500 tons per day of coal imported from Columbia with 13,000 btu/lb)
• 1000 tons of vetiver bales more than equal 500 tons of coal, and can be harvested from a 12.5 hectare field easily in one day.
• Hence to run the 50 Megawatt power plant 365 days per year on vetiver hay will require a plantation of 4,563 hectares, surrounding the plant. (think of a sugarmill surrounded by fields of sugarcane).
• Unlike sugarcane, the vetiver plantation does not need to be re-planted. The vetiver plantation will just grow back with natural rainfall and can be considered a renewable and sustainable FUEL MINE, which can be harvested every year, at any time of the year, for 20 years or more, just adding some fertilizer.
• If the power plant owns the farm land (like a sugarmill) and its own farming operation, I estimate the raw cost of producing one ton of vetiver biomass fuel at no more than US$15/ton, once the plantation is established.

Power plant engineers will have only one question for you: What is the cost of the fuel per Million btu (MMbtu)? Here is how to calculate:

• If one pound of dry vetiver leaves has 7000 btu, then it takes 1,000,000 divided by 7000 to establish how many pounds of the fuel will produce 1,000,000 btus. 1,000,000 divided by 7000 = 142.9 lbs. if one ton of vetiver fuel (2000 lbs) cost US$15, then US$15 divided by 2000 and multiplied by 142.9 gives you what it costs to produce 1,000,000 btus, that is: Vetiver fuel cost: US$1.07/MMbtu
• If you do the math for one of the cheapest fuels, which is COAL with 14,000 btu/lb, at US$45/ton (in the US), you will find: Coal fuel cost: US$1.60/MMbtu
• Let's try it for crude petroleum, just for kicks. At only $100 per barrel ( a barrel = 42 gallons or 336 lbs). One ton (2000 lbs) divided by 336 lbs = 5.95 barrels per ton....., multiplied by $100 = US$595/ton of crude petroleum. Now, petroleum has about 18,000 btus per pound...., so 1,000,000 divided by 18,000 = 55.5 lbs. It takes only 55.5 lbs of crude petroleum to produce a MMbtu. But US$595 divided by 2000 and multiplied by 55.5 lbs gives the fuel cost per MMbtu: Crude petroleum fuel cost: US$16.5/MMbtu

I don't rest my case yet. One could argue that planting vetiver for fuel, is one of the easiest and safest farming operations (no diseases, no weather damage, no nothing) and one of the most lucrative uses for tropical farmland....., if electricity at US$0.12 per Kw/h is the final product.

If somebody in the third world ever figures this out, one of the biggest problems will be to insure that food crops are not displaced for fuel production. Really, only second rate farmlands should be used or cleared for vetiver fuel production.

Climate Change -- Carbon Sequestering -- Biofuel -- Vetiver System

With initial support from the World Bank, the VETIVER NETWORK INTERNATIONAL, is addressing one of the world’s major problems: SOIL EROSION. http://www.vetiver.org


Vetiver grass technology was introduced successfully in many tropical areas on all continents. Due to the hard work and diligence of the Vetiver Network and its operatives, there is now a lot of collective knowledge about all the aspects of growing and propagating the wonder plant known as Vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides). As a result, it is now proven worldwide that vetiver, applied properly, is a recognized low cost method of fighting and preventing soil erosion, using hedge rows on hillside contours etc…., as well as planting fields of vetiver for various pollution remediation and soil conservation applications


But, as it sometimes happens, attempting to solve one problem, lead to the discovery of another amazing fact. Vetiver is probably one of the largest biomass producers of the planet’s Flora…., which makes it ipso facto, the largest CARBON SINK that can be established quickly, cheaply, and permanently anywhere between the 35th parallel North and the 35th parallel South, given soil (even poor soils), sunshine and water.(The Tropics and Sub-tropics)


YET VERY FEW PEOPLE IN THE “FIRST WORLD” COUNTRIES OF TEMPERATE CLIMATES EVER HEARD OF VETIVER (except people in the Fragrance Industry)


Counting both, the grass and the root system, Vetiver can, within 8 months, produce up to 100 tons/hectare of biomass. (dry weight)


If the grass is only harvested as a BIOMASS FUEL, and the perennial vetiver plant is left in the ground and allowed to grow back, year after year, a vetiver field is a virtual FUEL MINE, with the only difference that a coal fuel mine, or a lignite fuel mine, or a tar sand fuel mine, will eventually be exhausted, while the vetiver is a RENEWABLE fuel mine…., lasting for ever with only minimum care and some fertilizer.


Petroleum has on the average 18,000 btu/lb
Coal has 12-13,000 btu/lb
Dry wood has 8,500 btu/lb
Sugar cane bagasse has 4,000 btu/lb


All the above are widely used carbon based fuels, which, upon combustion, release energy for power generation, and produce CO2 gas as the main product of combustion, which is added to the mix of atmospheric gases.


Dry Vetiver Grass has 7,000 btu/lb and is not yet used for power generation in Power Plant boiler furnaces.


It must be noted that, CO2 derived from the combustion of “sequestered” carbons, like coal, petroleum, lignite and tars, increases the existing inventory of CO2 in the atmosphere along with other noxious gases, whereas CO2 derived from the combustion of biomass came from the current atmosphere in the first place, by way of photosynthesis, and therefore does not add or remove anything from the existing inventory of CO2 in the air. Furthermore, the combustion of biomass fuels produces none of the noxious gases of sequestered fossil fuels.


For that reason, CO2 released from burning sequestered fossil fuels has been called “bad carbon” by environmentalists, and CO2 released from burning biomass carbon is referred to, as “good carbon”.


The purpose of this paper is for the VETIVER NETWORK to show how establishing VETIVER FUEL MINES, in addition to VETIVER HEDGE ROWS, and harvesting the leaves of both, to burn bales of vetiver hay in power plants, could produce large amounts of low cost electricity for many nations in the world, now totally dependent on imported fossil fuels…., while at the same time, boosting their agrarian economy and mitigating global warming.


Most recently, in the midst of the “US primaries” of the 2008 American presidential Election, much discussion and soul searching is taking place regarding the production of ethanol from agricultural crops. Apparently the farming public does not agree with using CORN and other food crops for ethanol production. It is now widely proposed to use mostly CELLULOSIC BIOMASS (rather than starches and sugar crops) to produce ETHANOL.




VETIVER IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL CELLULOSIC BIOMASS.


It will grow well all over Florida, Louisiana, South Texas, and Southern California, and of course in all tropical and semi tropical countries of the world.


Gueric Boucard
TEXAROME INC.
www.texarome.com
gboucard@texarome.com
Tel: 830 232 6079

Niue and Puka Puka Islands

I am glad you guys are starting to take an interest in the little ocean Islands; I have been pushing for more work in these areas for years now, here is an extract copy of a letter I wrote to our Minister of Foreign Affairs in April 05:

“The NZ govt has agreed to support Niue and now Puka Puka in its efforts to rehabilitate these tiny Islands. The Island of Niue, 260 square kilometres in size has 4,108 ha of arable land of which 470 ha are, or were in permanent crops. For sustained viability, this land and the surrounding marginal land will need stabilising to prevent soil loss and runoff. This can only be done in the tropics using the vetiver system of hedges which, once established, is permanent and cheap.

Ocean Islands depend on rainfall to replenish their aquifers. In their natural state, these little Islands had some jungle cover which provided fuel wood and building material, but more importantly the jungle’s undergrowth spread the rainfall run-off out, slowed it down, gave it a chance to seep in and replenish the natural aquifers before it ran in to the sea.

These jungles and especially the undergrowth have been destroyed in recent years. With greater population pressure, gardens which used to produce sufficient food to mix with the fish and shell fish from the reef and lagoons are now producing little. Run-off is uncontrolled and where it enters the sea, polluted, it kills the reef. Not only are food stocks going down but fish stocks are diminishing also. Where the reef is damaged, there is no protection from the next hurricane, and the waves can now be devastating.

In their present state, these islands can be supplied with food and infrastructure, but we cannot supply them with sufficient water, nor keep up the supply. Rainfall must be controlled so that it doesn’t runoff and is wasted; this is the only way to ensure water supplies to these little islands and keep them habitable.

Vetiver hedgerows can be very valuable in preventing erosion and water damage within housing areas, and in protecting roads. The hedgerows should be coupled with urban tree planting in housing areas, which could serve as shade as well as a source of food, fuel or forage. When planted along embankments and in catchment areas, vetiver hedgerows can also reduce erosion of roadsides. If there are streams in the country, the hedgerows are also extremely important in reducing stream bank erosion and sediment loads in streams and harbors. The massive root system of vetiver (measured down to six meters in Thailand) forms an extremely dense underground bio-dam along the contour or across the slope, and is capable of clarifying water and not only maintaining but increasing year around water flow of springs and streams.

By periodic pruning of the hedgerows, vetiver can provide voluminous amounts of mulch for composting to improve soil texture and carbon content in the natural terraces formed behind the hedgerows. Old-growth from vetiver hedgerows makes excellent thatching can be used for compost; however, young regrowth is tender and makes good livestock feed.”


The vetiver system is the only system that will give these little ocean islands any chance of survival, lets really work on somebody to get an Island for demonstration purposes.

John Greenfield

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