Hi All ; Air normally contains about 300ppm of CO2, and this is barely above starvation level for most plants. Raising the CO2 levels to 1,000 ppm or even higher can result in increased growth of most plants by 20%-100% (if given sufficient light to utilize this CO2 by photosynthesis).
Increased CO2 is a well established technique for marijuana growers as one example (I am not recommending that anyone grow marijuana, this is just an example). Apparently the cannabis plant developed during a previous time on the earth with much higher CO2 levels than present. Growth can be increased by as much as 100%, a very interesting prospect for growers of this high value cash crop. Northern greenhouses will necessarily be as airtight as possible to prevent heat loss. An undesirable effect from this is low levels of CO2 as the plants scavenge the available CO2 which is not replaced. This results in very low levels of CO2 inside the greenhouse and reduced plant growth. I searched and found one example of heating a greenhouse with a gasifier, unfortunately this installation puts the gasifier outside and does not attempt to capture the CO2. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_extinct_fish_found A gasifier inside a greenhouse would result is 50% less fuel burned and 50% more plant growth. Seems to me that markets of gasifiers have a large potential market here that no one that I can see is capitalizing on. Is anyone doing this? Best Regards, Peter G. Thailand www.gac-seeds.com _______________________________________________ The Gasification list has moved to [email protected] - please update your email contacts to reflect the change. Please visit http://info.bioenergylists.org for more news on the list move. Thank you, Gasification Administrator
