Spring 1993
U.S. Department of Energy
Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Energy Crops Forum was published periodically by the Bioenergy
Feedstock Development Program, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC., for the U.S. Department of
Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.
|
Table of Contents
|
|
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, hosted the 1992 Biofuels
Feedstock Development Program's (BFDP) Subcontractors' Workshop on November
9-13. Sixty people from universities, private companies, and government
programs in the United States and Canada attended the 3½ day meeting. The
presentations and reports reflected the challenges facing biomass energy
systems--resource availability, land suitability, environmental concerns,
economic competitiveness, harvesting--and recent research progress in BFDP.
John Ferrell, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Biofuels System Division, led off
the meeting with a discussion of BFDP's history coupled with proposed future
directions. Bob Rabson of DOE's Bioenergy Sciences Program outlined that
Program's efforts to use basic sciences and biotechnology to understand plant
growth and development. Rabson's presentation provided insights into the
potential such an effort would have on the development of biomass energy crops.
Jane Turnbull of the Electric Power Research Institute spoke about
commercialization strategies. Wayne Hoffman of the National Audubon Society
briefly described the Biofuels Roundtable, a coalition of environmental groups,
research institutions, and others devoted to finding potential solutions to
environmental problems. An environmental assessments session was chaired by
Jack Ranney, BFDP.
After progress reports by principal investigators, BFDP's Jerry Tuskan unveiled
a proposed plan for the management and research direction of the short-rotation
woody crops (SRWC) projects. Under the proposed plan, seven cooperative
development centers would be established: three for poplars and four for other
species--sycamore, silver maple, black locust, and willow. Breeding programs
that focused on genotype assembly, pedigree development, and clonal release
would be combined with physiology, molecular biology, pathology, entomology,
and silvicultural studies. This approach will lead to appropriate crop
production systems, superior plant materials, developed genetic resources, and
an immediate, cost-effective increase in research knowledge. BFDP currently
supports Populus development centers in the north-central region and the
Pacific Northwest. A request for proposals for a Populus center for the
Southeast is planned for 1993. Centers will be established for other species as
funds become available. The plan also includes support for SRWC projects that
have broad applicability or are exploratory in nature. Anticipated studies
include development of site quality/site index prediction functions for
poplars; vegetative propagation of selected sycamore genotypes; physiological
characterization of root growth, specifically related to adaptation to stress;
and continued testing and development of stem borer resistance in black locust
with gene transformation techniques.
The potential for producing high-yielding woody crops in a cooperative
development center was featured in a talk by Paul Heilman, Washington State
University. He reported that irrigated stands of poplar clones, developed at
the University of Washington center and planted in eastern Washington by Boise
Cascade, occasionally approached 50 ft high by age 3. Heilman also noted that
growing irrigated hybrid poplars for pulp in that region will produce more
income per acre than alfalfa, corn or wheat. His report also emphasized the
necessity of continued genetic selection. Of the 50 clones being commercially
produced, only a few are resistant to rust.
The workshop marked a period of transition for herbaceous energy crops research.
Variety trials, species-site trials, and cultural management investigations to
identify production issues and limitations have been under way for 8 years.
Principal investigators from Iowa State University, the University of Kentucky,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service at
Lincoln, Nebraska, reported on work nearing completion. Results include
identification and biochemical characterization of best-yielding species and
varieties of herbaceous energy crops, documentation of consistent switchgrass
yields across soil types and climatic conditions, optimization of fertilization
practices and harvesting strategies, identification of dormancy and
establishment limitations, and quantification of impacts on soil erosion and
soil organic matter.
Attention then shifted to progress reports for 6 new switchgrass projects
started in 1992. Research at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University (Virginia Tech), Auburn University, and Texas A&M University is
designed to improve production and management strategies. Studies to test
variety performance were established at 18 field stations in 1992, representing
significant progress toward evaluating the regional potential of switchgrass
for the southern United States.
Three other new projects, more basic in nature, are designed to enhance and
sustain switchgrass growth potential. At Oklahoma State University, Charles
Taliaferro has successfully demonstrated the detached culm technique which will
accelerate breeding cycles. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers are
comparing gas exchange physiology and carbon allocation patterns of eight
switchgrass varieties. At the University of Tennessee, Bob Conger has developed
basic tissue culture techniques for regenerating switchgrass from callus
tissue.
John Cundiff, an agricultural engineer from Virginia Tech on sabbatical at ORNL,
presented the results of his analysis of harvesting and transportation
strategies from an agricultural systems perspective. The meeting closed with a
brief description by Anne Ehrenshaft, BFDP, of the development of a database to
capture herbaceous crop production and establishment data.
Plans for the 1993 BFDP subcontractors workshop are underway. It will be the
week of September 26 on the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. For
additional information about the meeting, contact BFDP's Linda Cooper, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6352 USA;
615-576-8143.
|
|
|
An announcement in the April 1, 1993 issue of the Commerce Business Daily
invited interested parties to contact the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) for information on a proposed project entitled Economic Development
Through Biomass Systems Integration. The objective of the project is to
promote the development of integrated biomass production and conversion
technologies. NREL anticipates releasing a formal solicitation for Letters of
Interest (LOI).
The project will support DOE's efforts to assist in the commercialization of
biomass energy systems by inviting proponents of integrated biomass production
and conversion systems to share the cost of feasibility studies. The studies
are being undertaken in anticipation that demonstration and commercialization
will be undertaken by means of cosponsored projects under various provisions of
the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
The Electric Power Research Institute is supporting the solicitation by
encouraging its member utilities to respond. Cost-sharing at a minimum level of
50% is required for electricity production proposals. EPRI anticipates joining
with DOE in sharing the other 50% of the total costs. Cost share will also be
considered in liquid fuels proposals but a minimum requirement has not been
established. It is the intent of NREL to make multiple awards on a cost sharing
subcontract basis as a result of this solicitation.
Responses to the solicitation prepared in accordance with specific requirements
and conditions will be due to NREL by approximately July 30. ORNL and NREL
staff with technical expertise in biofuels and biomass power are not eligible
to participate or collaborate in responses to the LOI.
All questions or inquiries concerning the solicitations must be in writing and
should be addressed to:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
ATTN: Doug Mourning
Subcontracts Section
LOI No. RCA-3-13326
1617 Cole Boulevard
Golden, CO 80401-3393
|
|
|
Linda Beth Schilling; Office of Industrial Technologies, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
A renewables-based chemical processing sector is evolving in the United States
through strategic alliances between chemical and agriprocessing companies.
Recent advances in metabolic engineering, bioprocessing, catalysis, fast
pyrolysis, and separations technologies currently provide an unprecedented
opportunity to overcome key technical and economic challenges that have limited
new industrial applications of agricultural and forestry materials. The U.S.
Department of Energy's Alternative Feedstocks Program is using a national team
approach in developing its program in close cooperation with industry, national
laboratories, universities, and other federal and state agencies.
The goal of the Alternative Feedstocks Program is to develop precompetitive and
environmentally acceptable technologies for the production of chemicals and
materials from agricultural and forestry resources. Program elements consist of
bioprocessing, thermal/chemical processing, and hybrid systems combining
biological, thermal, and chemical conversion and separation technologies. Using
agricultural and forestry materials as chemical feedstocks can potentially
encourage economic development, environmental improvement, and energy security
benefits to domestic industries. Approximately 3 quads or approximately 170
million barrels of oil are currently consumed as energy feedstocks for nonfuel
chemical and material products.
For additional information, the author may be contacted at U.S. Department of
Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., EE-233, Washington, D.C. 20585, U.S.A.
|
|
|
As Energy Crops Forum begins its second year of publication, it is time
to remind readers of the newsletter's mission statement: to facilitate
communications among a community composed of researchers, policy makers, and
potential users and producers of energy crops. The publication intends to
highlight important developments wherever they occur rather than focus on a
particular institution or point of view.
The Energy Crops Forum is a product of the Biofuels Feedstock Development
Program, managed since 1978 by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S.
Department of Energy. Much of the program's research is conducted by
cooperators at universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture research
facilities. The program funds 25 to 50 research and development projects each
year, most of which are multiyear in scope. In addition, ORNL performs
research, analysis, and information synthesis at regional and national levels.
The need to communicate within the program and, equally important, to publicize
developments by others outside this network led to the creation of this
newsletter. Articles from outside ORNL and its cooperators are invited.
|
|
|
Ed White; State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and
Forestry
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
(ESF) launched a Fast-Growing Hardwoods Program in 1983. In the years since
then, financial support has come from the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority, Gas Research Institute, New York Gas Group, Niagara
Mohawk Power Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy Biofuels Feedstock
Development Program, Electric Power Research Institute, and Empire State
Electric Energy Research Corporation. The University of Toronto, Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation
Service, Reynolds Metals Company, and New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation have also cooperated in the research or have
provided services which have made the research possible.
Following a successful effort with the short-rotation intensive culture of
hybrid poplar, ESF researchers studied the potential suitability of Salix
(willow) as a high-yielding biomass feedstock. Research has emphasized the
development and refinement of establishment, tending, and maintenance
techniques. Complementary studies on breeding, coppice physiology, pests,
nutrient use, wood quality, and bioconversion to energy products were also part
of the program. Using Salix clones developed in cooperation with the
University of Toronto, current yields in New York are ~20 oven dry tonnes per
hectare per year, the most promising results to date in the northeast. We at
SUNY plan to continue the strong integrated research program on short-rotation
intensive culture of woody biomass plantations. The knowledge developed over
the past decade will be used to establish a 40-ha Salix large-scale
bioenergy farm to demonstrate current biomass production technology. The farm
will be large enough to test new commercial harvesters, provide opportunities
to accurately assess economics of the systems, and provide large quantities of
uniform biomass for pilot-scale conversion facilities.
|
|
|
Professionals with expertise relevant to energy crop development and
commercialization should consider a sabbatical with BFDP at ORNL. Both the
program and the visitor would benefit. A few years ago, Dr. David Betters of
Colorado State University spent three months at ORNL with the program. His
visit began a relationship that resulted in co-authored papers, ORNL staff
serving on graduate student committees at Colorado State, and continuing
collaboration on several projects. More recently, Dr. John Cundiff, a professor
of agricultural engineering at Virginia Tech, completed a six month sabba tical
with the BFDP. He said about his experience:
"I have been well pleased with my support and opportunity to contribute to the
work being done (at ORNL). Because of the program's needs, the research that I
did was different from my original plan. This change in direction is not
surprising and was ultimately beneficial. I assimilated information from the
group . . . and broadened my view of the biomass-for-fuel industry . . . I feel
I am returning to my faculty position with a much improved understanding of the
BFDP and a much improved understanding of how my engineering efforts can
contribute to the program. The setting at a national laboratory is
significantly different from the setting we face on campus and this change is
refreshing."
Most sabbaticals are arranged through an educational consortium such as Oak
Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). The first step, however, is to find out
if a match exists between research interests and the program's needs. Faculty
members interested in sabbatical opportunities with BFDP are urged to contact
Lynn Wright, Deputy Program Manager, BFDP, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O.
Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831-6352.
Persons interested in sabbaticals with the BFDP must be able to cover their own
salary during the sabbatical period. The BFDP may be able to provide limited
support for travel and lodging depending on available funds.
Other educational opportunities also exist at ORNL. Through a variety of
innovative programs from elementary through postgraduate levels, hundreds of
students, teachers, and visiting researchers work with ORNL scientists each
year. The BFDP is interested in hosting a limited number of students who have
interests and experience corresponding to research areas funded by the program.
For more information on ORNL's education programs, contact ORNL's Science
Education Programs and External Relations, 105 Mitchell Road, Oak Ridge, TN,
37831-6496; 865-574-5921.
|
|
-
English, B. C., et al. 1991. Development of a farm-firm modelling
system for evaluation of herbaceous energy crops. ORNL/Sub/88-SC616/2.
-
Graham, R. L., L. L. Wright, and A. F. Turhollow. 1992. The potential for
short-rotation woody crops to reduce U. S. CO2 Emissions. 1992. Climatic Change
22:223-238.
-
Marland, G. and S. Marland. 1992. Should we store carbon in trees? 1992. Water,
Air, and Soil Pollution
64: 181-195.
-
Perlack, R. D., J. W. Ranney, and L. L. Wright. 1992. Environmental emissions
and socioeconomic considerations in the production, storage, and transportation
of biomass energy feedstocks. ORNL/TM-12030.
-
Wright, L. L., et al. 1992. Biofuels Feedstock Development Program
annual progress report for 1991. ORNL-6742.
|
|
|