Formation Mechanism of Spartina alterniflora Fiber Biomass

Spartina alterniflora (S. alterniflora) is a perennial herbaceous grass that has been introduced into China since 1979, primarily in an effort to protect coastal sand beach areas from erosion. It has accordingly played a positive role in this aspect, but also has had a certain detrimental impact on coastal ecosystems, such that in 2003 it was among the first plants included in the official list of invasive alien species in China. S. alterniflora is a typical halophyte, having developed a strong salt stress tolerance that allows long-term adaptation of the plant to high salt content coastal habitats. In addition, the characteristic prolific reproduction and efficient photosynthetic mechanism of S. alterniflora, with a fast and efficient biomass synthesis, have resulted in the production of a considerable amount of biomass material from this species, its synthesis of biomass per unit area is 3~5 times of reed. Over approximately the past 30 years, such invasive plants in China have reached a total area of occupation nearly 50000 hm², with total mass production of approximately one million tons, the total biomass of Jiangsu province reached more than half of the total quality in China. Thus, the comprehensive development and utilization of such an amount of biomass for energy and other applications has considerable potential.