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 Digest with Detergent Solution Cell Contents (Protein, Starch, Sugars, Organic Acids, Pectin) Hemicellulose, Cellulose and Lignin Digest with Acid 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

Latitudinal and Longitudinal Adaptation of Switchgrass Populations M. D. Casler a,*, K. P. Vogel b, C. M. Taliaferro c, N. J. Ehlke d, J. D. Berdahl e, E. C. Brummer f, R. L. Kallenbach g, C. P. West h and R. B. Mitchell b Crop Sci 47: (2007) MU Switchgrass data 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

Switchgrass dominated warm-season mixture, OK Tall wheatgrass dominated cool-season mixture with legume, MT 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 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 MU cool-season CRP data

Challenges Production – Mandates – 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 YearBillion gallons

Challenges Transport – about 4 times higher for biomass than grains – Corn 44 lb/ft 3 – Biomass 10 to 12 lb/ft 3 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?

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