RYNKIEWICZ MAREK, TRÁVNÍČEK PETR, KRČÁLOVÁ EVA, MAREČEK JAN: Infl uence of annealing temperature of straw briquettes on their density and hardness. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 5, pp. 1377-1382 The study evaluated the eff ect of annealing temperature of non-wood, herbaceous ground briquettes on their density, hardness and fracture incidence. The study showed an average density of hay briquettes at 20 °C was 1 256.99 kg·m −3 , whereas at 60 °C density increased to 1 369.44 kg·m −3 . The analysis showed statistically signifi cant diff erences in the average densities of briquettes, depending on their temperature. Temperature of briquettes also had a statistically signifi cant eff ect on their hardness. In case the temperature increases from 20 to 60 °C both longitudinal and transverse cracks were observed for all samples.biomass, briquette, energy crops

The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of rhamnolipids on the microbial biomass content and the activity of dehydrogenases (DHA), acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and urease (URE) in soil contaminated with two types of coal tar creosote: type C and type GX-Plus. The experiment was carried out on samples of sandy clay loam under laboratory conditions. Coal tar creosote was added to soil samples at a dose of 0 and 10 g·kg−1 DM, along with rhamnolipids at a dose of 0, 10, 100, and 1000 mg·kg−1 DM. The humidity of the samples was brought to 60% maximum water holding capacity, and the samples were incubated at 20°C. Microbial and biochemical parameters were determined on days 1, 7, 21, and 63. The obtained results demonstrated that the addition of rhamnolipids did not result in any significant changes in the activity of the determined parameters in the uncontaminated soil. However, it was observed that the application of these biosurfactants, particularly at the dose of 1000 mg·kg−1 DM, largely decreased the effect of coal tar creosote on the determined parameters. Moreover, the microbial biomass and the activity of ALP and URE were found to be the best indicator of bioremediation of soil contaminated with coal tar creosote.

DOBEK TOMASZ K., RYNKIEWICZ MAREK, ČERVINKA JAN, MAREČEK JAN: Energy and economic eff ectiveness of winter rape and winter wheat cultivation for liquid biofuel production. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 5, pp. 1255-1259 Aim of this study was an analysis and assessment of the economy and energy eff ectiveness of winter wheat and winter rape cultivation for liquid biofuel production. The cost of production and economical eff ect index is more profi table in case of winter rape. Also the fi nal balance of energy eff ectiveness has shown better values if the biodiesel had been produced from winter rape as compared with bioethanol from winter wheat. Calculation of the obtained products and their comparison with an energy unit has shown that the netto energy from biodiesel was positive while that from bioethanol was negative, which means that in the latter case expenditure is greater than that gained in the produced biofuel.biodiesel, bioethanol, production cost, energy input, labour input, energy eff ectiveness, fuel use Study possibility of using agricultural row materials for energy needs has been taken for several years (Mokrzycki, 2005). Processing biomass to energy has got a lot of advantages such as reduction of chemical compound emission, greenhouse eff ect reduction, and biodegradation. An important advantage of this type of fuel is its possibility of continuity of its production (it is possible to renew this type of fuel). The cost of biofuel production is determinated by raw materials price. The price of raw materials depends on technologies and allocation system for agriculture. Costs of production of the most known liquid fuels such as bioethanol, rape's ester are about 2.4-2.6 times higher than costs of production of mineral fuels. However, decreasing of natural energy recourses (gas, oil, coal) causes that people are more interested in this type of energy. An important component of valuation of fuel's production, besides costs, is an energy eff ectiveness calculation. The energy eff ectiveness calculation shows how much energy must be used to get biofuel energy unit (Dobek, 2004). The advantage of energy eff ectiveness calculation is its independence of prices. Independence enables to compare the results.An aim of a study was to evaluate a technology of winter wheat and winter rape production, to evaluate processing agricultural products into biofuels and to count energy and economical eff ectiveness coeffi cients of biodiesel production from winter rape and of bioethanol production from winter wheat. MATERIALS AND METHODSStudies were made in 2010−2012 on agricultural farms placed on the terrain of north-western Poland. In winter rape production traditional technology of cultivation was used (moldboard plough and disc harrows), in secondary tillage compactor was used. Fertilizer application was done three times by using trailed fertilizer distributor. Seeding was done by using multipurpose drill. During a vegetation season spraying was done...

The study presents assessment of the production of electricity obtained from renewable sources in selected European Union countries in 2010 and 2016. Among selected countries, the largest amount of electricity from renewable sources in 2010 was produced in Germany – 9,546.56 ktoe and in 2016 – 16,409.73 ktoe. In the analyzed countries of the European Union there was an increase in the production of energy obtained from renewable sources in comparison to 2010 and the dynamics of this growth in selected countries ranged from 106.1% to 217.0%. On the basis of the cluster analysis, it was found that Poland was in a similar group as Hungary in obtaining energy from renewable sources. On the other hand, Austria stood out the most from the surveyed countries, which proves that there is a big difference resulting from the energy management there in the area of obtaining electricity from renewable sources. Based on the principal component analysis, it was found that among selected EU countries, Austria is the most focused on the production of electricity from renewable sources from solid biofuels and water. Germany obtains the largest amounts from the sun, other renewable sources and wind.

RYNKIEWICZ MAREK, TRÁVNÍČEK PETR, JUNGA PETR: Eff ect of time from harvest to agglomeration process of herbaceous mass on the density and hardness of briquettes. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 5, pp. 1371-1376 The study presents the results about the density and hardness of the briquettes produced from barley straw, wheat and rapeseed straw and hay. 6-month and 18-month raw materials a er harvest from the fi elds were used to the agglomeration, stored in stacks in the fi eld. The study showed that the briquettes produced from 6-month material characterized by a greater density in the comparison with the 18-month material. The diff erence was 130.28 kg·m −3 for the hay briquette, whereas the diff erence was 58.14 kg·m −3 in the case of rape straw briquettes. Similar results were found for the hardness.