Sustainable Production and Distribution of Bioenergy for the Central USA

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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)

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Oil Prices
Source EIA for history, NYMEX for future
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Population
2011   2030   2050
(billion) (billion) (billion)
World 6.946 World 8.323 World 9.441

China 1.337 India 1.461 India 1.657
India 1.189 China 1.391 China 1.304
U.S. 0.311 U.S. 0.366 U.S. 0.423
Indonesia 0.246 Indonesia 0.289 Nigeria 0.402
Brazil 0.203 Nigeria 0.264 Indonesia 0.313
Pakistan 0.187 Pakistan 0.243 Pakistan 0.291
Nigeria 0.166 Brazil 0.240 Ethiopia 0.278
Bangladesh 0.159 Bangladesh 0.211 Brazil 0.261
Russia 0.139 Ethiopia 0.162 Bangladesh 0.250
Japan 0.127 Philippines 0.138 Philippines 0.172
Source U.S. Bureau of the Census, International
Data Base
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Liquid Fuel Usage
2007 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035
(Million Barrels Oil Equivalent per Day) (Percent of 2007 Value) (Percent of 2007 Value) (Percent of 2007 Value) (Percent of 2007 Value) (Percent of 2007 Value)
United States 20.6 98 100 102 104 107
Canada 2.3 96 96 96 100 104
Mexico 2.1 105 110 114 129 138
Europe 15.3 92 88 88 89 90
Japan 5.0 84 86 86 84 82
China 7.6 132 153 178 201 222
India 2.8 114 129 139 154 168
Africa 3.1 113 116 126 135 148
Central and South America 6.0 110 112 117 125 133
World 86.1 103 107 113 121 128
Source Energy Information Administration
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Renewable Fuels Standard
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Agriculture and Food Research Initiative -
Sustainable BioenergyThis AFRI Challenge Area
focuses on the priority to secure America's
energy future. It supports the development of
regional systems for the sustainable production
of bioenergy and biobased products that
contribute significantly to reducing dependence
on foreign oil, have net positive social,
environmental, and rural economic impacts, and
are compatible with existing agricultural
systems. The long-term outcome for this program
is to implement regional systems that materially
deliver liquid transportation biofuels to help
meet the Energy Independence and Security Act
(EISA) of 2007 goal of 36 billion gallons/year of
biofuels by 2022 and reduce the National
dependence on foreign oil.
USDAs Initiative
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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.Improve the
sustainability of existing cropping systems by
reducing agricultural runoff of nutrients and
soil and increasing carbon sequestration.
Midwest Sustainable Biofuel Vision
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The Grand Vision
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Key Feature Distributed Processing
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Target Land Least Suitable for Corn/Soybean
Production
Sources NRCS
, Purdue University
, and Iowa State University
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Pyrolysis Processing

• Rapid thermal decomposition of organic compounds
  in the absence of oxygen to predominately produce
  liquid product known as bio-oil.

Biochar
Co-product biochar is produced at yields of 12-20
wt biomass.
Fast pyrolysis can be built at small scales
suitable for distributed processing.
Bio-oil is refined like petroleum into synthetic
gasoline and biodiesel.
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CenUSA Program Areas

• Feedstock Development
• Sustainable Production Systems
• Feedstock Logistics
• System Performance
• Feedstock Conversion
• Markets and Distribution
• Health and Safety
• Education
• Extension and Outreach

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CenUSA Team
Led by ISU Agronomy professor Ken Moore
Researchers from Iowa State University, Purdue
University, University of Illinois, University of
Minnesota, University of Nebraska, University of
Wisconsin, University of Vermont, Idaho National
Laboratory and USDA Agricultural Research Service
offices in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, and Iowa
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Feedstock Development

• Goal to develop improved perennial grass
  cultivars and hybrids that can be used on
  marginal cropland in the Central US for the
  production of biomass for bioenergy

Ken Vogel (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Mike Casler
(USDA-ARS, UWM)
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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 US

Rob Mitchell (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Jeff Volenec
(Purdue)
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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)
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System Performance

• Goal to provide detailed analyses of feedstock
  production options to help policymakers, farmers,
  and the bioenergy industry make informed
  decisions about
• which bioenergy feedstocks to grow
• where to produce them
• what environmental impacts they will have
• 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)
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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)
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Markets and Distribution

• Goals
• study farm level adoption decisions, exploring
  the effectiveness of policy, market and contract
  mechanisms that facilitate broad scale voluntary
  adoption by farmers
• evaluate impacts of expanded advanced biofuel
  system on regional and global food, feed, energy
  and fiber markets

Keri Jacobs and Dermot Hayes (ISU)
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Health and Safety

• Goals
• conduct a detailed analysis of all tasks
  associated with biofeedstock production for
  hazard targets of personnel, equipment,
  environment, downtime, and product
• determine potentially hazardous respiratory
  exposure limits associated with the production of
  biofeedstocks

Charles Schwab and Mark Hanna (ISU)
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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)
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Extension/Outreach

• Goal to deliver science-based information and
  informal educational programs for agricultural
  producers, general public, and youth audiences
  regarding perennial grass and biochar agriculture
  and biofuel production

Jill Euken (ISU) and Deana Covert (UNL)
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Advisory Committee Members
Name Position Expertise/Role
Tom Binder (Chair) SVP, Research, Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) Bioprocessing
Albert Bennett Sr. Engineer and Scientist, ICM Biorefinery engineering
Sarah Alexander Director, Sustainability and Leadership Programs, The Keystone Center Agricultural stakeholders
Scott Rempe Biofuels Research Engineer, Vermeer Ag equipment manufacturing
Jerry Kaiser Plant Materials Specialist, USDA NRCS Plant Material Center, MO-IA-IL Seed supply industry
Denny Harding Bioeconomy Manager, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Agricultural producers
Jeremy Unruh Manager, Biorenewables/Energy, John Deere Ag equipment manufacturing
Tim McCoy Agriculture Program Leader, NE Game and Parks Fish and wildlife
David Stock President, Stock Seed Farms Seed supply industry
Ben Steffen Agricultural Producer, Nebraska Agricultural producer
John Weis Agricultural Producer, Minnesota Agricultural producer
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The Grand Vision
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Thank you for your time and attention.Any
questions?For more information,
seewww.cenusa.iastate.edu