Tag Archives: biofuels
Corn Residue as a Feedstock for Cellulosic Ethanol
By Kolby Hoagland | September 13, 2013 This week, Biomass Magazine took part in the National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo and the Corn Stover Harvest & Transport Seminar , which were held in conjunction at the CenturLink Center in Omaha. I was given the honor to MC the Corn Stover Harvest & Transport Seminar where soil scientists, crops specialists, equipment manufacturers, farmer associations, and numerous other experts from industry and academia candidly discussed how corn residue ought to be harvested and aggregated to maintain soil quality and provide a consistent feedstock for cellulosic ethanol plants. In this week’s DataPoint, I will build on a previous article by Anna Simet and provide an in-depth analysis on the benefits of combining corn residue removal with no/low-till field management. The first panel of the Corn Stover Harvest & Transport Seminar, “From Soil to Pump: The Impact of Organic Matter and Nutrient Loss on Our Farmland,” looked at key considerations of corn residue removal on soil conservation and corn yield improvement. The presenters from ARS, Monsanto, and Iowa Corn provided a succinct research-backed that either too little or too much stover left on a field can have negative effects to subsequent corn crops and soil health. The panelists agreed that no-till and low-till field management schemes are some of the most effective practices for farmers to protect their soil from erosion, soil organic matter volatilization, and nutrient run-off. As average annual corn yields trend upwards, the reduction of corn residue left from the previous year’s grain harvest becomes more important. Corn residue encountered during planting in the spring poses a number of problems to farmers. Fall and spring tillage have historically been practiced to incorporate the previous season’s corn residue back into the soil in order reduce the quantity left on the surface of the field. The prime motivators of plowing corn residue back into the soil are to reduce pathogens that might be in the residue and to encourage better seed to soil contact, which excess corn residue inhibits. Plowing the corn residue back into the field provides a clean and even seed bed for strong stand establishment. Furthermore, tillage schemes have been practiced by generations of farmers and are a proven way to manage residue. The panel acknowledged the historic nature of tillage practice, but also conveyed the negative consequences tillage poses to soil health and yield. Once the residue has been tilled back into the soil, the carbon in the previous year’s corn residue binds nitrogen that would otherwise be available to the current corn crop. Furthermore, the tillage of agricultural soil volatilizes considerable quantities of soil organic matter, destroys soil aggregates, and encourages erosion and runoff. By combining no/low-till practices with stover removal in field management schemes, studies not only show yield increases in subsequent corn crops but improved soil health. Soil aggregates are maintained in the fields soil profile, valuable soil organic matter is prevented from volatilizing to the atmosphere, and healthy amounts of stover are left on the field to protect from erosion and runoff when stover removal and no/low-tillage practices are combined in a field management shceme. The panel determined that pairing crop residue removal with no/low-tillage practices would support farmer’s intent to manage excess crop residue, support soil health, and provide sufficient quantities of feedstock to the burgeoning cellulosic ethanol industry. The in-field variability of soil and the dynamic relationship that corn residue has on positive and negative yield effects necessitate ingenuity and practice. The conclusion of the panel stated that corn stover can be done in a manner that would sustain soil health when paired with no and low-till practices. The experiences gained by farmers supplying Abegnoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, DuPont Cellulosic, and Poet-DSM will support a better understanding of best practices for future suppliers of corn residue to the burgeoning cellulosic ethanol industry. Continue reading
New Lignin Pathway Discovered For Potential Biofuels Production
6 September 2013 A multi-university study into biomass-to-energy has claimed to have found a new lignin gene which could aid conversion. A research project involving universities in Scotland, the US and Belgium used the model plant Arabidopsis thanliana and identified an enzyme called caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE), which fulfils a central role in lignin biosynthesis. The research says by removing the CSE gene resulted in 36% less lignin per gram of stem material. Conversely, the direct conversion of cellulose to glucose from non-pretreated plant biomass increased four-fold. ‘This finding was quite unexpected because the lignin pathway has been widely examined and it had been thought, for the past decade or so, to be completely mapped,’ the University of Dundee’s Claire Halpin was quoted as saying. ‘It looks like it could be very useful in trying to manipulate plant biomass to generate biofuels and other chemicals from non-food crops. Our studies showed that Arabidopsis with mutated CSE were able to release around 75% more sugars from cellulose without needing harsh chemical treatments.’ Haplin adds these new insights could now be used to screen natural populations of energy crops, such as poplar, eucalyptus and switchgrass, or other grass species for a non-functional CSE gene. – See more at: http://www.biofuels-…h.5NjnEbjc.dpuf Continue reading
Better Biofuels Coming Along, But Slowly
Advanced biofuels aren’t where U.S. lawmakers expected them to be, but that failure is in the rear-view mirror. The question now is about the road ahead, and the pro-renewables group E2 is forecasting steady growth – but whether that growth will come fast enough to meet the growing requirements of the U.S. renewable fuel standard seems doubtful. Ineos Florida plant during construction (image via Ineos Bio) That would mean the regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency would be called on to “modify the program and adjust to market realities” – and that’s a familiar story. Not that there haven’t been some signs of life from the industry. In March, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that the cost of enzymes, pretreatment and fermentation for cellulosic ethanol had fallen “significantly,” putting the fuel “on course to be cost-competitive with corn-based ethanol by 2016.” Continue reading
