Ken Moore, Stuart Birrell, Robert Brown, Mike Casler, Jill Euken, Mark Hanna, Dermot Hayes, Jason Hill, Keri Jacobs, Cathy Kling, David Laird, Robert Mitchell, Patrick Murphy, Raj Raman, Charles Schwab, Kevin Shinners, Ken Vogel, and Jeff Volenec Sustainable Production and Distribution of Bioenergy for the Central USA Agro-ecosystem Approach to Sustainable Biofuels Production via the Pyrolysis-Biochar Platform (USDA-NIFA AFRI CAP) Project #2010-05073
Midwest Sustainable Biofuels Vision Our vision is to create a regional system for producing advanced transportation fuels derived from perennial grasses grown on land that is either unsuitable or marginal for row crop production. In addition to producing advanced biofuels, the proposed system will improve the sustainability of existing cropping systems by reducing agricultural runoff of nutrients and soil and increasing carbon sequestration.
CAP (Coordinated Agricultural Project): CAP awards support large-scale multimillion dollar projects to promote collaboration, open communication, and the exchange of information; reduce duplication of effort; and coordinate activities among individuals, institutions, states, and regions. CAP participants serve as a team that conducts targeted research or research, education, and extension in response to emerging or priority area(s) of national need.
Partnering States Other Partners Idaho National Laboratory Michigan State University Ohio State University University of Missouri University of Vermont South Dakota State University University of Nebraska-Lincoln ARS University of Minnesota Iowa State University University of Wisconsin-Madison ARS ARS University of Illinois Collaborators Archer Daniels Midlands ICM Iowa Farm Bureau Federation John Deere The Keystone Center NE Game and Parks Stock Seed Farms USDA NRCS Vermeer Purdue University
Curtis, Brian. 2008. U.S. Ethanol Industry: The Next Inflection Point. U.S. Department of Energy, Biomass Program. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/2007ethanolreview.pdf.
Annual Biomass Supply High Yield Assumptions - $60/ton U.S. Department of Energy. 2011. U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. R.D. Perlack and B.J. Stokes (Leads), ORNL/TM-2011/224.
Biomass Supply by Category Million Dry Tons - 2030 U.S. Department of Energy. 2011. U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. R.D. Perlack and B.J. Stokes (Leads), ORNL/TM-2011/224.
Economic Drivers and Limiting Factors An illustration of competing economic drivers and limiting factors that must be balanced to achieve sustainable cellulosic feedstock supplies needed to support a transition from fossil to renewable fuels (from Wilhelm et al. 2010. Industrial Biotechnology 6: 271 87)
Why this region? Precipitation Soils Source: USDA-NRCS National Water and Climate Center Source: USDA-NRCS Crop Consultants Biomass Source: American Society of Agronomy Source: USDOE-NREL
Crop Management Zones Source: USDA-NRCS
Why these land classes? Source: Jean Prior, 1991. Landforms of Iowa, UI Press. Source: NRCS Source: Iowa State University Source: Purdue University
Why these crops? High biomass yields Native species Reduce soil erosion Improve soil quality Increase carbon sequestration Reduce water runoff Increase water infiltration Provide wildlife habitat Source: USGS
Why fast pyrolysis? Rapid thermal decomposition of organic compounds in the absence of oxygen to predominately produce liquid product known as bio-oil. Fast pyrolysis can be built at small scales suitable for distributed processing. Biochar Co-product biochar is produced at yields of 12-20 wt% biomass. Bio-oil is refined like petroleum into synthetic gasoline and biodiesel.
Distributed Processing
Fuel Potential Land available Biomass yield Conversion yield Fuel potential 20 million acres 4 ton/acre 50 gal/ton 4 billion gal
CenUSA Program Areas Feedstock Development (Ken Vogel, Mike Casler) Sustainable Production Systems (Jeff Volenec, Rob Mitchell) Feedstock Logistics (Stuart Birrell, Kevin Shinners) System Performance (Cathy Kling, Jason Hill) Feedstock Conversion (Robert Brown) Markets and Distribution (Keri Jacobs, Dermot Hayes) Health and Safety (Chuck Schwab, Mark Hanna) Education (Raj Raman, Patrick Murphy) Extension and Outreach (Jill Euken)
Feedstock Development Goal: to develop improved perennial grass cultivars and hybrids that can be used on marginal cropland in Central US for the production of biomass for bioenergy. Switchgrass Big bluestem Indiangrass Ken Vogel (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Mike Casler (USDA-ARS, UWM)
Feedstock Characterization ID 21702 Stem ADL 50.7 g/kg ID 12304 Stem ADL 63.2 g/kg
Cultivar Development Germplasm evaluation and selection nurseries Polycrosses and seed increase nurseries Hybridization Seed increase Regional yield tests Field or large scale evaluations
Sustainable Production Systems Goal: to conduct comparative analyses of the productivity potential and the environmental impacts of promising bioenergy crops and management systems using a network of 14 fields strategically located across the Central Region. Rob Mitchell (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Jeff Volenec (Purdue)
Feedstock Logistics Goal: to develop systems and strategies to enable sustainable and economic harvest, transportation, and storage of feedstocks to meet the needs of industry. Stuart Birrell (ISU) and Kevin Shinners (UWM)
System Performance Goal: to provide detailed analyses of feedstock production options and an accompanying set of spatial models to enhance the ability of policymakers, farmers, and the bioenergy industry to make informed decisions about which bioenergy feedstocks to grow, where to produce them, what environmental impacts they will have, and how biomass production systems are likely to respond to and contribute to climate change or other environmental shifts. Jason Hill (UMN) and Cathy Kling (ISU)
Integrated Modeling Approach
Feedstock Conversion Goal: to perform a detailed economic analysis on the performance of a refinery based on pyrolytic processing of biomass into liquid fuels and provide biochar to other researchers on the project. Robert Brown (ISU)
Markets and Distribution Goals: 1) study farm level adoption decisions, exploring the effectiveness of policy, market and contract mechanisms that facilitate broad scale voluntary adoption by farmers; 2) evaluate impacts of expanded advanced biofuel system on regional and global food, feed, energy and fiber markets. Keri Jacobs (ISU)
Health and Safety Goals: 1) conduct a detailed analysis of all tasks associated with biofeedstock production for hazard targets of personnel, equipment, environment, downtime, and product. 2) determine potentially hazardous respiratory exposure limits associated with the production of biofeedstocks. Charles Schwab (ISU)
Education Goal: Provide rich interdisciplinary training and engagement opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in all areas of the bioenergy value chain to meet the workforce challenges of the bioeconomy. Raj Raman (ISU) and Pat Murphy (Purdue)
Extension/Outreach Goal: to deliver science-based information and informal educational programs linked to project objectives 1 through 7 to all stakeholder groups. Jill Euken (ISU)
Thank you for your time and attention. Questions?