When it comes to biofuels, there are three things in which I believe: First, biomass for biofuels has enormous potential as a primary piece of our nation’s energy program. Second, corn crop residue is one of the best types of biomass for biofuel production—it’s available in large quantities. And thirdly, corn crop residue can be—and must be—harvested in environmentally sustainable ways.
The report, which details voluntary guidelines for sustainable biomass planting and harvesting, states that corn stover makes up more than half of all crop residues in the US and is considered the most available for bioenergy purposes.
Based on current scientific knowledge vetted through scientific review and public comments, the report says, “without specific field-based assessment (e.g. a conservation plan), remove only 25% of stover to maintain soil organic carbon levels and structural stability.” Depending on soil type, even more corn crop reside can be removed while maintaining good soil conditions.
This is great news! Farmers participating in POET Project LIBERTY are right in step, harvesting about 1 bone dry ton of corn crop residue per acre, which is about 25% of the available stover per acre in the Emmetsburg, Iowa area.
POET encourages participating farmers to practice good conservation planning and follow the guidelines of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Again, Wisconsin is in alignment. Its report says that site-specific stubble height, residual cover and stover removal rates should be determined using soil conservation planning tools available from the USDA NRCS.
POET’s biomass harvest guidelines have been supported by multiple years of research conducted by Iowa State University. We now welcome Wisconsin’s support! My beliefs are solid.
It is hard to find to corn field still standing in the Emmetsburg area. The harvest is almost complete with just a handful of acres remaining. Bales and bale stacks can be seen all over the country side. Baling is not far behind that of harvest and should be wrapping up next week.
Just as one research project finishes, another starts. We completed our third year of agronomic study with ISU and Stuart Birrell at our Emmetsburg loaction. Just as it finished, we began setting up the site we will be use to look at the impact bale stacks (like above) have on production ground. This work will also be done with ISU and professors Mahdi Al-Kaisi and Roger Elmore. We will be storing numberous bale stacks and working with various treatments to see how each effects the corn crop next year.
Idaho National Labratory is finishing up the set up of their research stacks for this year. This is a continuation of their work with us last year and is now including both round and square bales, as well as First and Second Pass Bales.
The recent rains have provided a nice break for everyone. Don't get me wrong. We enjoyed the nice weather, but working long hours for such a long period took its toll on everyone. We look forward to the finalization of BCAP and the ability to start taking biomass in the stackyard. But that's a topic for another post.
When we first started looking at producing cellulosic ethanol from corn residue (cobs, leaves, husks and some of the stalk), one of the primary concerns we heard was about the impact removal of that material would have on soil quality. The farmers we talk to did not want to harm their soil, upon which their livelihood depends.
So POET embarked on a multi-year study with Iowa State University (ISU) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) on the impact that stover removal has on soil in the Emmetsburg area. We previously discussed study results and will release the finalized study. So far, the research has determined that taking less than 25 percent of the crop residue from a field is consistent with good farm management.
There was an average of 4.26 tons of crop residue per acre, and removal of about 1 ton per acre “will not require any drastic changes in fertilizer management for producers choosing to participate in the program,” according to lead researchers were Stuart Birrell with ISU’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and Douglas Karlen with USDA-ARS.
Information was based on the Emmetsburg study as well as 10 site-years of additional data.
Soil nutrient levels naturally vary within a field. The study showed that these variations are greater than levels of nutrients lost from the cob removal methods tested. They also stressed farmers need to understand their land and should not remove more stover than their fields can handle.
The research collaboration will continue next year as POET seeks more information about soil quality, cobs and stover.
At the Biomass kickoff in Emmetsburg Tuesday, Professor Birrell was on hand to discuss data from year two of the study with the farmers who have contracted with POET to deliver biomass. Here's the video from POET TV:
Since Project LIBERTY began, POET's commerical-scale cellulosic ethanol production process, I have been saying that it will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. I now have objective data that Project LIBERTY will do just that.
POET recently commissioned an independent Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for our current design of Project LIBERTY. This LCA (see image here) tracks the greenhouse gas emissions from each LIBERTY step, from the feedstock harvest to the ethanol in fuel tanks of drivers across America. It also accounts for emissions from land use change and agricultural practices provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
With all these inputs considered, the analysis shows that POET's Project LIBERTY will provide a 111% emissions reduction compared to emissions of gasoline production. That means that our process of producing 25 million gallons of clean transportation fuel annually for our nation's vehicles will be greenhouse gas NEGATIVE.
This impressive reduction is possible for many reasons, but here are three:
The LIBERTY feedstock (corn cobs, leaves, husks) is already grown each year, whether we use it for ethanol or not.
EPA noted that there is no land use cost, either at home or abroad, associated with using this feedstock to make ethanol.
The waste stream from the LIBERTY process will be used to make enough power to operate not only the LIBERTY plant, but also to completely replace natural gas at the adjacent grain-based ethanol plant with some power left over.
This third point is very exciting. POET cellulosic ethanol replaces gasoline. A waste from the POET cellulosic ethanol process replaces natural gas. POET: reducing the need for fossil energy sources; reducing greenhouse gases that cause global warming; reducing America's dependence on foreign oil.
I recently had spare time at our Scotland, S.D. plant and found some POET Research folks working on pre-treatment tests for cellulosic ethanol.
Lab Technician Shannon Urban (pictured, right) told me that the feedstock (ground up cobs), acid, water, heat and time are important ingredients in the process. But there’s a virtual chasm between having an ingredient list and having a recipe.
Pre-treatment is easy to do, hard to do right, Urban said.
“It’s a relatively simple process, but it’s just the small changes and tweaks at every step,” he said.
Nature provides the best model, he said. Every day, animals eating grass and leaves do exactly what we’re doing with corn cobs and high-cut material: break down the cellulose to tap the energy inside.
“We’re basically a cow’s stomach,” Urban said. “In a lot of ways, that’s what we’re trying to emulate here, a cow’s stomach.”
All those pipes, gauges, levers, tanks, bells and whistles, just to recreate what the grazing cattle I passed on the highway do every day. Following nature’s path: That’s part of the beauty we see in what we do and why we call ourselves “POET.”
OK, maybe a cow’s digestive system isn’t exactly “beautiful” in the traditional sense. Our CEO’s recent words for Arbor Day invoke a more traditionally “beautiful” image of our work as ethanol producers.
“Among the many benefits of trees is their ability to absorb sunlight into energy for the world, which is the inspiration and model for what we do. We see poetry in nature and poetry in our mission each day at POET. Arbor Day is the perfect time to celebrate that.”
We follow where Mother Nature has trod in both our grain-based and cellulosic processes. It’s a lofty standard, and occasionally we step in a cow pie along the way. But we’ve become very good at making those “small changes and tweaks” that allow us to keep moving forward on that road.
There has been a lot of talk about the final rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) released recently by the U.S. EPA (funny how 3,000 pages will do that). Most of that talk has centered on what the rules mean for the existing corn ethanol, which the EPA determined meets the threshold of emitting at least 20 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.
But what hasn't generated nearly as much discussion is what the document had to say about cellulosic ethanol. The cellulosic biofuel requirement in RFS2 is 16 billion gallons by 2022. The law had called for 100 million gallons this year, but the EPA reduced it to 6.5 million due to a projected production shortfall.
In their analysis of cellulosic ethanol made from crop residues such as corn stover using a biochemical process like we're employing for Project LIBERTY, the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction is 130 percent in comparison to gasoline. In other words, driving your car with POET's cellulosic ethanol actually takes carbon out of the atmosphere.
For this reason and because of the availability of agricultural residue, the EPA expects it, and especially corn stover, to be the feedstock that contributes the most cellulosic ethanol toward meeting the 36 billion gallon target. On page 184 of the preamble, they state:
Agricultural residues are expected to play an important role early on in the development of the cellulosic ethanol industry due to the fact that they are already being grown...The most common residues are corn stover (the stalks, leaves, and/or cobs) and straw from wheat, rice, barley, and oats. These U.S. crops and others produce more than 500 million tons of residues each year, although only a fraction can be used for fuel and/or energy production due to sustainability and conservation constraints. Crop residues can be found all over the United States, but are primarily concentrated in the Midwest since corn stover accounts for half of all available agricultural residues.
The EPA sites one recent study showing that "under current rotation and tillage practices, about 30 percent of corn stover produced in the U.S. could be collected, taking into consideration erosion, soil moisture concerns and nutrient replacement costs." The ultimate amount removable by the farmer will of course vary by geographic location, soil quality and tillage practice, the EPA noted.
The EPA goes on to say: "Our agricultural modeling suggests that corn stover will make up the majority of agricultural residues used by 2022 to meet the EISA cellulosic biofuel standard (4.9 ethanol-equivalent Bgal)." Although we're only producing small amounts of cellulosic ethanol now, POET would like to be a big part of that big goal.
This past week, POET hosted part of the first day of the BIOFUELS JOURNAL 2nd Annual Commercial Ethanol Technology and Research Workshop at our headquarters in Sioux Falls. On the second day, Dr. Mark Stowers, Vice President of Science & Technology for POET, gave the conference an update on Project LIBERTY. Here is his presentation:
