Growing Biodiesel
in Bluegrass Fields
This is a reprint of the same article in the Spring 2009 issue of Eastern Magazine.
With 60% of our nation's fuel coming from foreign sources, rising concern for environmental consequences of fossil fuel dependence and the pressing local issue of Kentucky farmers seeking new cash crops, Eastern will lead local research to develop Kentucky-based industrial scale production of biodiesel from biomass.
On December 1, 2008, President Doug Whitlock joined Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Congressman Ben Chandler and executives from San Diego-based General Atomics to announce the creation of the Eastern Kentucky University Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuel Technologies (CRAFT). Funded by General Atomics and a federal grant, CRAFT will harness algae to transform cellulosic material—or biomass—into biodiesel. News of the partnership, says Dr. Don Llewellyn of Eastern's department of agriculture, "went all over the world in two days." Students in agriculture, economics, biology, chemistry and agricultural science immediately descended on Eastern faculty members, seeking a role in what Llewellyn describes as "the biggest undertaking, the most exciting project I've ever done."
While biomass-to-ethanol technologies have been explored and prototyped since the 1980's, notes Llewellyn's colleague Dr. Bruce Pratt," with biodiesel you have a product that is going to have more industrial applications. Diesel runs industry: our trucks on the road, our trains, our freighters out on the ocean, our jets (jet fuel is not very different from diesel fuel) whereas ethanol is primarily just a gas additive for the auto industry." In fact, General Atomics, whose affiliate General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. produces the Predator® series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), is keenly interested in creating a domestic source of the diesel and jet fuels critical to national defense.
How to make biodiesel
The chemical process of creating biodiesel builds on decades of research on the production of cellulosic ethanol, Pratt explains. It can begin with a wide range of raw materials or biomass: corn stover (the corn plant minus the ears), forest and woody wastes like saw dust, tree thinnings, or pulp-mill residue, switchgrass or sorghum. This range of raw material means that biodiesel production need not directly compete with human or livestock food sources, a significant concern with the corn ethanol processes.
The basic process begins when biomass is digested by commercially available Cellulase enzymes, producing sugars. The sugars are then fed to a strain of algae called heterotrophic, meaning that they are not reliant on the sun as the source of nutrients through photosynthesis. These heterotrophic algae begin to produce oils which can be processed into biodiesel.
While biodiesel is the end product, even the by-product hold potential: once oil is extracted from the algae, the algae residue is a potential livestock feed, says Pratt, and lignan, a component of plant cell walls from the biomass, is high in phenyls, a component in the production of jet fuel from biodiesel.
Regional impact
Working closely with Dr. Frank O'Connor of Eastern's department of economics, Pratt and Llewellyn are exploring the regional economic impact of a home-grown biodiesel industry. Farmers who once grew tobacco may turn to switchgrass and other cash crops. Agricultural residues like corn stover and tobacco stalks may now have an economic afterlife. Purpose-grown biomass like switchgrass thrives on marginal land and, unlike corn, requires little or no fertilizer. "It's possible," says Pratt, "that we could grow switchgrass on reclaimed strip mines. We don't know that we can't." The wood industry in Southeast Kentucky is second only to coal, says O'Connor, and biodiesel production could generate a market for much of its waste or second-generation material.
Ultimately a full-scale industry will produce jobs in agricultural production, transportation and processing, with a wide range of secondary industries and support services. What is the potential economic impact? "We just don't know yet," says O'Connor, echoing Albert Einstein's famous dictum: "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?"
The work begins at Eastern
As monies arrived this spring, work began. General Atomics will design the processing system that will derive biodiesel from biomass and will work civil and chemical engineers and architects to create an industrial-scale plant in Clark County, Ky. Before that happens, Eastern faculty and staff face enormous and enormously exciting challenges, say Llewellyn and Pratt. They must develop a strategic plan that is functional and economically feasible, will not disrupt human or animal food supplies and will be environmentally responsible.
Specifically, the Eastern team will produce a major report: "Assessment of the Economics, Transportation & Logistics of Biomass Utilization in Kentucky for BioFuels Production." Since, as Llewellyn admits, "no single person has all the expertise for this project," the CRAFT team will look to a synergy of Eastern's agriculture, biology, chemistry, economics and environmental science departments. The finished assessment will address such key issues as:
- What types of suitable biomass sources exist or can be grown in Kentucky?
- What lands area available for purpose-grown crops like switchgrass?
- What are optimum processes for establishing, maintaining and harvesting biomass?
- What are the most economical ways to transport bulky, low-value biomass?
- What enzymes and algae are best suited to the production process?
- What by-products and co-products of the process might have an economic value and how might that value be maximized?
- Can algae residues, for example, have industrial or agricultural uses?
The task is large, but all over Eastern, faculty, staff and students are eager to begin an adventure which, says Pratt, "makes agriculture a player in the energy process."
Value-added education
Agriculture majors Sandra Hoormann, Annette Dean and Gary Selby are three of the Eastern students eagerly awaiting work on the biodiesel project. After moving from the Chicago suburbs to a five-acre farm in Kentucky, Hoormann began raising and showing sheep for 4-H. A hobby grown to a career goal of livestock production drew her to Eastern. This spring she'll be working with Llewellyn in the agriculture labs, analyzing the potential of using agricultural residues as feed additives. Eventually, she hopes, nutritious feeds may be more economically produced through a renewable energy source that "helps us all out."
Non-traditional agriculture student Annette Dean divides her time between helping her husband manage a 180-acre farm and beef cattle operation and pursuing a B.S. in agriculture with a business minor that will take her into the financial lending field "definitely in Kentucky." She'll be looking closely at the regional economic impact of biodiesel. She's optimistic that an industrial-level operation will be "really big for our farmers" by creating a market for excess product like corn stover as well as a way to use marginal lands for purpose-grown biomass.
Gary Selby entered the field through a high school passion for horticulture. At Eastern he turned his eye to research and education, aiming for a Ph.D. from Eastern and a college teaching post. So when he heard first reports of the CRAFT project, Selby immediately contacted Llewellyn, anxious to enrich his résumé with cutting-edge research. The major challenge for biofuels, says Selby, is efficiency: "Our first step is to find efficient crops which give us maximum cellulose and glucose for the least input costs."
"A steady course"
Of course no emerging technology is without risks or setbacks, but it is important, says Pratt, to keep a "steady course" in exploring energy options. He cites the "boom and bust “cycle of public interest in corn ethanol. Similarly, President Obama has characterized U.S. energy policy as " moving from panic to trance"—sudden interest in alternative sources when foreign oil prices rise, followed by lethargy when oil prices dip. Only on-going and wide-ranging research today can begin to establish the foundations for the future’s renewable, dependable energy supply, says Pratt.
Thus, while some critics cite the high energy cost of transforming biomass into liquid fuels, Pratt responds that "costs" are relative and a moving target. Many factors enter the cost equation, and renewable energy sources have environmental and public health benefits which may tip a scale. In terms of national security, he adds, reliable domestic supplies of biodiesel for national defense make the United States less dependent on foreign sources "which are not necessarily friendly to us." Further, consider the regional benefits if growing biomass feeds Kentucky farm families, supports our wood industry, reclaims mine fields, provides jobs and respects our environment.
As biodiesel research gears up in Eastern's biology and chemistry labs, on spreadsheets and in field work on our farms and field sites, Don Llewellyn looks forward to an undertaking that "will positively transform the lives of so many people locally, regionally and globally." As agriculture student Annette Dean observes, growing biodiesel on our land, generating renewable energy and capturing by-products as nutritious livestock feed is "a continuous cycle in which everybody benefits."
Green power partners
EKU President Doug Whitlock:
This partnership links Kentucky and EKU with an international business leader that is turning its focus and considerable resources to biomass-to-fuel initiatives and is important to Kentucky's farmers looking for cash crops to replace tobacco, to the Commonwealth's carbon footprint, and to making Kentucky a leader in emergent technology.Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear:
It is vital that we examine innovative, long-term solutions to the energy issues we face. Due in part to our fertile fields, Kentucky has the ability to greatly contribute to the research and development of alternative fuel sources.Congressman Ben Chandler:
I am thrilled that I was able to secure $4 million of federal money to make alternative fuel production in Kentucky a reality, creating jobs and giving Kentucky, especially Eastern Kentucky University, the opportunity to be a national leader in the field.General Atomics Vice President for Biofuels Development Bill Davidson:
We are very excited by this opportunity to work with EKU to develop and deploy a technology that we believe has great economic, environmental and strategic potential.
