Part of the research involves test burns with coal at Alliant Energy s electricity-generating plant in Ottumwa. If the test burn works, the future for switchgrass could be bright. Replacing 5 percent of the coal at the power plant would require 200,000 tons of switchgrass a year. That would take between 40,000 and 50,000 acres to do that, says Sellers. First, switchgrass and other plants pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Sellers says.
Plants then convert carbon dioxide into carbon which gets stored, or sequestered, in the roots.
Switchgrass, Sellers explains, has a large root mass. Fields covered with switchgrass store more carbon than if they d been planted to row crops, he says. Then there s the environmental benefit of burning switchgrass to produce electricity. While switchgrass has about 90 percent of the BTU value of coal, it burns more cleanly. It sounds like a win-win situation, but getting from theory to practice to profits for producers takes research and patience.