A brief overview

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Sun Grant the West

• A brief overview
• Jan Auyong, College of Agricultural Sciences
• March 28, 2007

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Content

• Demand and Supply
• A overview of biofuel/bioproduct opportunities
• The Sun Grant Initiative
• Some contacts and sources for more information

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U.S. Energy Availability Security

• Report of the National Energy Policy Development
  Group

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Meeting Demand

• Can we replace petroleum
• with biofuels?
• For example, in Oregon
• gasoline consumption estimate is
• 8.0 gal gas / wk x 2.5 M people
• 20M gal/wk or about 1,000 M gal/yr
• Starch-based 176/20M gal per week 9 weeks
• Cellulosic-based 229/20M gal per week 11.5
  weeks
• diesel consumption is about 500 M gallon/yr
• About 3000 acres of canola/some mustard
  currently being grown 240-500 K gal
• Note a 42-gal barrel of oil produces about
  19.5 gallons of gasoline,
• 7 gallons of diesel.

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The 1.3 Billion Ton Biomass Goal, USDOE
Billion Barrel of Oil Equivalents
DOE/EERE, 2004
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Big Picture Ethanol Biobutanol, Methanol

• Alcohols made from
• Sugar (e.g., cane and beet sugar), directly
  ferment and distill off alcohol
• Starches (e.g., grains) require conversion to
  sugar first
• Celluloses require conversion to starch then
  sugar (e.g., ag residues, wood, switchgrass)
• Biomass gasification/catalysis

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Ethanol

• Targeted to replace 25-30 of domestic gas
  consumption within 25-30 yrs
• Currently primarily from corn
• distillers dried grains are the byproduct
• _at_4.5 gal per 100 pounds of corn (60 lb bu)
• 100 M gal per year plant 37M bu
• An opportunity area is cellulosic ethanol (65-90
  gal/ton of biomass)
• Issues transportation, lack of E85 (flexfuel)
  cars, debate over net energy of ethanol (75-80
  that of gas), cost

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Biobutanol

• production could use the same feedstocks as for
  ethanol - energy crops such as sugar beets, corn
  grain, wheat, as well as agricultural byproducts
  such as straw.
• produced through a fermentation process
• may be used as a biofuel and is in several ways
  more similar to gasoline than ethanol
• same energy equivalency as gasoline
• has been demonstrated to work in some gasoline
  powered vehicles without any modification
• doesnt separate upon storage like gasoline
• military would love to use butanol instead of jet
  fuel

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Big Picture - Biodiesel

• A diesel replacement fuel manufactured from
  vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled cooking
  greases or oils.
• Any oil or fat can be used but oils and fats have
  different properties and result in end products
  with slightly different physical characteristics,
  primarily in terms of viscosity at lower temps
• Biodiesel can reduce tailpipe emissions but has
  8 less energy/gal than diesel

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Big Picture - Syngas

• Synthetic gas produced by gasification.
• Gasification relies on chemical processes at
  elevated temperatures 700C, contrary to
  biological processes such as anaerobic digestion
  that produce biogas.
• The basic process was originally developed in the
  1800s to produce town lighting and cooking, and
  has been utilized for the production of synthetic
  chemicals and fuels since the 1920s.
• It is now recognized that gasification has wider
  applications in particular the production of
  electricity, ammonia and liquid fuels (oil), with
  the possibility of producing methane and hydrogen
  for fuel cells

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Feedstocks for Syngas

• Carbon based (carbonaceous) materials, such as
  coal, petroleum or biomass
• Even waste products are now potential feedstocks

Wood gasifier on a Ford truck converted to a
tractor (an EPA tractor).
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Big Picture BioProducts

• Biofuel feedstocks can be grown in the West
• Yet, we are unlikely to grow enough biomass
  locally, or nationally, given current technology,
  to replace a significant amount of fossil fuels
  with biofuels
• Biofuels can be valuable in rural economic
  development, farm sustainability and achieving
  some level of energy independence
• But food to fuel debate may affect the amount of
  crops diverted for biofuels
• It makes more sense for the West to focus on
  higher value bioproduct use of crops

Biomass
BioProducts processing/conversion
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BioProduct Examples
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A Mussel-based Adhesive
Soy Plant
Kaichang Li - Wood Science And Engineering
Wood composites made with environmentally
friendly soy-based wood adhesives
Soybean
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Bioplastics
What do you get when you cross a crabshell with
food and agricultural residues?
coating fresh strawberries with thin,
antimicrobial film
Yanyun Zhao, Food Science Technology
biodegradable horticultural pots
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Energy Recovery from Wastewater

• Methane generation by anaerobic digestion
• Electricity generation using microbial fuel cells

Hydrogen generation by bio-electrolysis
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Wastewater as a crop

• Municipal wastewater has 9.3 more energy than
  treatment consumes (ShizasBagley, Univ. Toronto)
• With about 10 recovery of that potential energy
  into electricity, the wastewater treatment
  plants could produce enough electricity for their
  own operation
• Energy in food processing wastewater Energy in
  domestic wastewater
• Energy in animal wastes 3 Energy in domestic
  wastewater
• 33 billion gallons of domestic wastewater is
  treated each day in the US at annual cost of over
  25 billion, about 45 billion is needed for
  infrastructure improvement over the next 20 years

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The Sun Grant Initiative
An Integrative Role for University
Research and Education
Science
Contact Jan Auyong, OSU College of Agricultural
Sciences
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Mission
Western Region Oregon State University

• Develop, distribute and implement biobased
  technologies to
• Enhance Americas national energy security
• Promote agricultural diversification and
  environmental sustainability
• Promote opportunities for economic
  diversification in rural communities.
• Enhance efficiency of research by partnering with
  federal and state agencies and laboratories,
  industry and others.

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Five Regional University Centers

• Based at Land-Grant Universities (LGU)
• Facilitate coordination and communication at the
  regional level
• In partnership with state and federal
  laboratories and agencies

www.sungrant.org
Western Regional Sun Grant Center http//sungrant.
oregonstate.edu/
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Funding Parameters- Western Region
Western Region Oregon State University
Western Region Oregon State University

• Biomass conversion, including mixed biomass
• Specialty crops and bioproducts for value-added
  production
• Enhancing efficiencies in existing technologies,
  and utilizing waste stream feedstocks
• Economic analyses for production decision-making
  and economies of scale
• Paradigm shift from centralized to distributed
  fuel production

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Some Sun Grant activities

• Competitive USDOT funded grant program,
  900K/year for four years
• Biomass Partnership workshops with USDOE and
  Governors Associations
• regional workshops to examine biomass potential
  and evaluate billion ton goal
• USDOE collaboration beginning
• resource assessement (GIS)
• crop productivity and enhancement
• communications outreach (bio-Web)

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Roles for Extension

• The Sun Grant Initiative expects to utilize the
  three Land Grant University mission areas
  research, extension, and education
• The Western Region seeks integrated projects, not
  just research projects
• The Regional Center will look for projects that
  include extension and users in the planning and
  execution of projects, as well as the
  dissemination of findings

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Roles for Extension

• Biomass programs seek to identify where and how
  much biomass is available locally and regionally
• For example, DOE has proposed a resource
  assessment, including a GIS-based tool to collect
  data
• USDA and agricultural scientists have begun
  collecting data that could be used in this GIS
  tool, which could assist growers and energy
  producers choose the best varieties and locations
  for energy crops
• Extension faculty often are repositories of data
  on production efficiencies and soil-climate-crop
  relationships

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Roles for Extension

• Extension faculty can help
• change attitudes about directions
• stakeholders better utilize informational
  repositories
• agencies and researchers better deliver
  information
• create linkages between users and researchers
  and agencies
• identify informational gaps and misconceptions
• create opportunities for dialogue

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Roles for Extension

• eXtension
• is one potential tool what will it take to
  create a community of practice?
• What other Extension tools or strategies might
  foster interactions?
• What audiences need to be targeted and how?
• What tactics are needed to bring the Western
  region up to speed with other regions, for
  example, the MidWest about biofuels, bioenergy,
  bioproducts?

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Discussion

• How does the West fit into a biobased economy?
• What information is needed? In what form or
  media? What kinds of activities are needed?
• What staffing development is needed long-term?
• What additional mechanisms are needed to provide
  clarity on this topic and the role for the LGUs
  and Extension?

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Some Information Sources

• Feedstock Assessments
• Dept. of Energys Biomass Program
  http//www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/
• Dept. of Energys Energy Information
  Administration http//www.eia.doe.gov/
• Biofuels
• Pacific Biomass Biodiesel Oilseed Crops in the
  PNW Studies, factsheets, reports
  http//www.pacificbiomass.org/
• State Departments of Agriculture, Energy and
  Forestry

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Western Region Oregon State University
Western Region Oregon State University
Thank you for your attention