Making Fuel from Forages
Ryan Lock
(in for the Hawaiian vacationing) Robert Kallenbach
Division of Plant Sciences
The epitome of forage based
fuels
A more sophisticated model
E3 Biofuels,
Shawnee, KS
Biomass Sugar Platform
Pre-distillation
Biomass
Hemicellulose,
Cellulose and
Lignin
Digest with Detergent
Solution
Digest with Acid
Cell
Contents
(Protein,
Starch, Sugars,
Organic Acids,
Pectin)
Hemicellulose
Ferment with Enzyme
Fructans and
Glucose
Cellulose and Lignin
Ferment with Cellulase
Glucose
Lignin
Agriculture has some decisions to make
• Energy independence
• Value added crops
– Competition for commodities
– Interesting times for Price discovery
• My background is old school
– Cattle/forages/feed
CRP acres show promise as a buffer (Average $50/acre,
currently)
Remember when…?
For every action…a reaction
Recent Biofuel research at Mizzou
• Switchgrass
– Cooperative project with 8 other states
• Cool-season CRP and CRP renovation with
legumes and Switchgrass
– Cooperative project with 4 other states
Big challenges require teamwork
MU Switchgrass data
Latitudinal and Longitudinal Adaptation of Switchgrass Populations
M. D.
a,*
Casler ,
K. P.
b
Vogel ,
c
Taliaferro ,
d
Ehlke ,
e
Berdahl ,
C. M.
N. J.
J. D.
g
h
b
Kallenbach , C. P. West and R. B. Mitchell
E. C.
f
Brummer ,
R. L.
Crop Sci 47:2249-2260 (2007)
Take home messages:
Not all varieties of switchgrass are created equal
A variety should not be grown more than 1 hardiness zone away from its
ancestral origin
Cave-in-Rock most widely adapted to migration
MU cool-season CRP data
Switchgrass dominated warm-season mixture,
ND
Switchgrass dominated warm-season mixture
with legume, KA
Tall fescue dominated cool-season mixture
with two-cut system, MO
Tall wheatgrass dominated cool-season mixture
with legume, MT
Switchgrass dominated warm-season mixture,
OK
MU cool-season CRP data
• Yields not tremendous
• Next logical step
– Integrate Switchgrass to beef up yields
– legumes to provide N
•
•
•
•
Yellow sweetclover
Switchgrass
Binary mixture
w/without glyphosate to establish
• Production
– Mandates
Challenges
Year
2013
2015
2020
2022
Billion gallons
16.5
20.5
30.0
36.0
– Approx. 16 Billion gallons of ethanol from biomass
– At 100 gallons per ton conversion efficiency = 160
Million tons of biomass needed
– At an ave. yield of 5 t/a we need 32 million acres
– A typical 50 Million gallon/yr plant would need
500,000 tons of cellulosic materials – about 1
million big round bales
Challenges
• Transport – about 4 times higher for biomass than grains
– Corn 44
3
– Biomass 10 to 12 lb/ft
3
lb/ft
• Storage - where do you keep 1 million bales without having
them deteriorate?
• Outside storage helps?
Enough to fill Memorial Stadium level full with bales 5 times
Challenges
• Economic benefit to producers –
– Current prices for a great deal of biomass greater as forage
than fuel
– Most cellulosic models built on $35-45/ton feedstock
– Higher fuel prices would improve feedstock value
• Fertilizer costs for N-P-K
– $40/T for cool-season crp
– $25/T for switchgrass
• Organic matter
– losses from removing crop residues
– gains under crp w/switchgrass (2.4 and 4 Mg/ha)
– N rate dependant (Lee et al., Agron. J. 99:462–468 (2007)).
Challenges
• Risk management
– Can you hedge these commodities?
Hedging?
Hedging?
Hedging?
Summary
• Find 3 million acres to grow corn on
• Ensure CRP acres can provide enough
cellulosic material
• Figure out how to supply CRP with N from
legumes