Farmers See Latest in Bioenergy Research at USDA Lab

Marilyn Hershey
Southeastern Pa. Correspondent

WYNDMOOR, Pa. — Montgomery County Farm Bureau farmers, energy specialists, and additional participating farmers earlier this month met here at USDA’s Eastern Regional Research Center to learn about bioenergy developments and tour the research facilities.

The Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) was built in 1940 and is the largest USDA facility in the country. According to Kevin Hicks, research leader, the center employs 290 occupants, 173 of which are award-winning scientists. The research team is working on 24 individual research projects.

“Through research, common sense, and smart people,” Hicks said the goal of “bringing together food, feed, fuel, and fiber from farms,” can be attained.

The bioenergy research team is constantly looking for “new processes to improve the conversion of corn to fuel ethanol” along with valuable co-products.

One of those co-products is switchgrass. Montgomery County Farm Bureau (MCFB) member Frank McDonnell has been growing and developing switchgrass for the past several years in hopes of providing an alternative energy source.

McDonnell and other interested farmers visited the USDA facility to learn more about bioenergy production, the role of on-farm pyrolysis, and to see how Montgomery County farmers can be at the forefront of this developing technology.

MCFB President John Caroff was also present at the meeting. He is “looking for alternative energy sources” because of questions of the long-term viability of corn for bioenergy.

To better understand the switchgrass project, Hicks and ERRC lead scientist Akwasi Boateng visited the McDonnell switchgrass field earlier this year. By bringing back a small supply of the grass, they were able to develop switchgrass “bricks” for processing in the pyrolysis unit.

Pyrolysis and converts the material to either bio-oil or biochar. Biochar is a charcoal-like substance that is highly absorbent and can be reapplied to the land.

The ERRC predicts if the “U.S. were to harvest and pyrolyze 1.3 billion tons of biomass a year,” it would provide nearly “25 percent of the annual US oil consumption.”

A positive aspect of biochar is the effect it has on soils. Findings show that adding biochar to the soil “increases crop yields, improves soil quality, reduces soil bulk density, increases nutrient cycling, and returns most of the plant nutrients back to the soil.”

Biochar absorbs excess plant nutrients, pesticides, and other pollutants, therefore improving the quality of water in lakes, streams, and bay areas.

Bio-oil is an “energy raw material with about half the heating value of fuel oil.”

The pyrolysis team continues to research ways to improve and stabilize the quality of oils that are residual components from the unit.

The pyrolysis unit is not yet portable; however making a unit that travels farm to farm is a goal of Akwasi and his team of scientists. The MCFB members also see a tremendous value to having access to a portable pyrolysis unit.

The group took a tour of the ERRC, including its fluidized bed pyrolysis unit and ethanol and biodiesel research labs.

According to Hicks, the ERRC has been working closely with Virginia Tech in developing “barley that includes starch” for ethanol production. Most barleys grown in the United States are used for brewing and starch is not needed for brewing. However, in the ethanol process, starch is a necessary component and over the past several years, Virginia Tech has developed a starch type of barley that can be used in ethanol plants.

Barley is a well-known grain that can also be double-cropped with corn. There are two barley ethanol plants being built in the U.S. The first, in Hopewell, Va., plans to be operating by June.

To close the day the MCFB’s brainstormed several ways to expand their pyrolysis opportunities if they double cropped corn with oats or planted switchgrass. They also discussed ways to utilize the community in their efforts to keep Montgomery County in the forefront of technology.