energies Article Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Parameters According to Energetic Willow (Salix viminalis L.) Cultivation Kamil Roman 1 , Michał Roman 2,* , Dominika Szadkowska 1 , Jan Szadkowski 1 and Emilia Grzegorzewska 1 1 Institute of Wood Sciences and Furniture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Warsaw, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected] (K.R.); [email protected] (D.S.); [email protected] (J.S.); [email protected] (E.G.) 2 Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Warsaw, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The aim of this study was the investigation of the effect of growth conditions of energy willow (Salix viminalis L.) on its physical and chemical parameters towards lignocellulosic biofuels. This work is linked to the global trend of replacing fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) with energy and renewable fuels. This energy transition is dictated by the reduction of the human-induced greenhouse effect (to the greatest extent by industrial development). Changing from traditional to renewable energy sources results in industry becoming less dependent on fuels whose sources are beginning to run out, and in energy processing being broken down into smaller sectors with greater flexibility to change and less susceptibility to failure. The use of lignocellulosic raw materials such as wood, straw, food industry waste, wood, and post-consumer products such as old furniture for energy Citation: Roman, K.; Roman, M.; purposes allows the use of substances which bind the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in their cellular Szadkowska, D.; Szadkowski, J.; structure during growth. In order to optimise the costs of producing such energy and minimise Grzegorzewska, E. Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Parameters its impact on the environment, these plants should be located as close as possible to the source of According to Energetic Willow (Salix raw materials. One of the most important characteristics for the profitability of energy production viminalis L.) Cultivation. Energies from woody biomass is a high biomass yield. For this purpose, the raw material used for this study 2021, 14, 2968. https://doi.org/ was energy willow (Salix viminalis L.) seedlings, which are often used for energy crops. Due to the 10.3390/en14102968 moisture-loving nature of the substrate, the effect of the addition of the active substance prednisonum as a catalyst for water adsorption from the substrate was investigated. In order to determine the Academic Editor: Brian D. Fath substances formed during the thermal decomposition of energy willow (Salix viminalis L.) wood, a pyrolysis process was carried out at 450 ◦C using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry Received: 16 March 2021 (PY/GC-MS). Accepted: 18 May 2021 Published: 20 May 2021 Keywords: PY/GC-MS; prednisonum; energetic willow; water adaptation; agricultural farm; growth Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- 1. Introduction iations. The growing interest of renewable resource participation in energy production was caused by the increase in widespread energy consumption. Renewable energy is one of the alternatives for fossil fuel limitation and climate change and helps to increase energy security. Fossil fuels have a large share in the energy sector and can be the cause of huge Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Especially in the industrial era, the increasing This article is an open access article concentration of various greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the dominant factor for distributed under the terms and climate change. That is why in 2007, the Member States accepted the so-called climate conditions of the Creative Commons and energy package, the assumptions of which are, e.g., limiting the GHG emissions and Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// enhancing energy security. One of the ways to accomplish those objectives is to increase the creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ share of energy from renewable resources in total consumption. Special attention must be 4.0/). given to solid biomass, e.g., energetic willow. That renewable energy is considered to show Energies 2021, 14, 2968. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102968 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies Energies 2021, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 18 Energies 2021, 14, 2968 2 of 17 given to solid biomass, e.g., energetic willow. That renewable energy is considered to showpotential potential as it is as a stableit is a andstable predictable and predicta sourceble source meeting meeting a number a number of positive of positive functions func- not tionsonly fornotthe only electrical for the powerelectrical system, power in syst additionem, in to addition the energy to the and energy economic and benefits economic as benefitswell as the as well environmental as the environmental ones; it decreases ones; it the decreases GHG emissions the GHG andemissions provides and global provides and globallocal social and local benefits. social It helpsbenefits. activate It helps the activate rural areas, the itrural creates areas, new it jobs,creates and new it enhances jobs, and the it enhancesinvestment the attractiveness investment attractiveness of a region [1 ].of a region [1]. 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For example, Directive Directive 28/2009/EC 28/2009/EC has has been been develo developedped as a as priority a priority strategy strategy for climate for climate pro- tectionprotection and andsustainable sustainable energy energy policy. policy. The measures The measures include include an intensification an intensification of the ofwork the ofwork European of European Community Community member member states statesin the in field the of field energy of energy saving saving and efficiency and efficiency and theand need the need to look to lookfor ecological for ecological alternatives. alternatives. Figure Figure 1 and1 and Table Table 1 present1 present the the share share of en- of energy from renewable sources in total primary energy in the years 2009–2019. ergy from renewable sources in total primary energy in the years 2009–2019. 40.0 33.5 35.0 28.6 28.9 30.9 30.0 27.6 22.9 24.6 25.5 25.0 20.6 17.9 19.6 20.0 [%] 16.0 13.8 14.5 14.7 15.0 11.9 11.9 13.2 9.0 10.2 10.9 11.7 10.0 5.0 0.0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 years Poland EU Figure 1. ShareShare of energy from renewable sources in total primaryprimary energy in the yearsyears 2009–2019 [%].[%]. Source: [[8–10].8–10].