|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tall-growing prairie grass could be biomass solution |
|
|
|
| By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent
PESOTUM, Ill. — It may not be a household name just yet, but some farmers are betting that Miscanthus x giganteus – more commonly known as Giant Miscanthus – one day will be a key crop of the Midwest.
Harvested for biomass in Europe for the past 25 years, Miscanthus research in the United States is still in its infancy. But if, or when, Miscanthus takes off here, Eric Rund, who farms 750 acres of corn and soybeans south of Champaign, Ill., will have a leg up on the competition.
Getting a hold of Miscanthus propagules is difficult; and so far, Rund has only planted a couple small plots.
But along with a growing number of scientists, Rund is convinced the tall-growing prairie grass could be a great candidate for cellulosic ethanol production and essential in helping the United States achieve energy independence.
Rund’s enthusiasm for bioenergy roots back to a trip to Brazil two years ago, when he was able to study the country’s sugarcane-based ethanol production up close.
“I realized we get about the same amount of alcohol from corn as they get from the canes, but the efficiency comes in when they squeeze the juice out and then burn the canes,” said Rund.
“They’ve gotten so good at it that some of the new plants are able to sell half of the energy they get out of an acre back to the grid. When I looked at how they do it there, I thought there’s got to be a better way to do it here.”
University of Illinois research plots have showed that Miscanthus can grow as tall as 12-feet high and yield 15 tons of biomass per acre annually. That means Miscanthus could potentially produce as much as 1,500 gallons of ethanol per acre, three times the amount that can be produced using corn or switchgrass, a native grass touted by President Bush in his 2006 State of the Union address.
“Switchgrass is the politically correct plant because it’s native, but it’s not going to be used for biomass,” Rund predicted. “It grows in several states already, and the seeds are available to anybody who wants to go out and plant it. But what it doesn’t have going for it is yields.”
Despite massive political support for bioenergy, Miscanthus has a few hurdles to overcome before it will be a viable feedstock. The bulkiness of biomass presents a transportation challenge and Miscanthus is a sterile hybrid, which makes it difficult to reproduce. But Rund is confident the former will be solved with new baling technology and the latter with seed research.
Creating a market for Miscanthus is what he thinks is the most critical part right now, and that could be done through state and federal legislation requiring power companies to produce a certain percentage of their energy from renewable resources.
“I’d love to convince the ethanol plants to install fluidized bed boilers. With one of those, you can burn coal, yard waste, garbage, biomass and excess dried distillers grains,” Rund said. “That’s how I see the conversion taking place, by using Miscanthus as a heat source to drive the plants firstly, and as a feedstock for ethanol secondly.”
Rund acknowledged Miscanthus is stuck in a chicken-and-egg situation right now; without a market there will be no production and without production there will be no market. And convincing farmers to take profitable corn acres out of production to take a gamble on a less valuable crop could prove difficult.
“The thing is you can’t decide to plant (Miscanthus) in March and harvest it in September or October. It takes a three-year investment and it’s hard to get somebody to commit to that. It’s a risky undertaking,” Rund said. “In my opinion, the government needs to come up with seed money - we need something to kick-start this and guarantee the farmer that if he plants this he will be able to maintain his income until (the Miscanthus) reaches full production.”
Besides experimenting with his own Miscanthus plots, Rund is trying to gather as much information about the plant as possible. A lot of it is coming from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, a national leader in Miscanthus research.
Scientists from the university are conducting field trials at several locations in the state and a recent bioscience award from oil producer British Petroleum has given a boost to the university’s bioenergy research.
Hans Blaschek, interim director of Illinois’ Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, said he envisions Miscanthus as one of several feedstocks of the future.
“Burning (Miscanthus) is pretty straight forward. Converting it to liquid fuel is probably a decade off,” he said. “I think the good news about Miscanthus is that it has very high yields per acre. The issue that’s still not clear is how to go about breaking down the cell wall (to make ethanol).”
This farm news was published in the Sept. 19, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/19/2007 |
|
|
