East Lansing, Michigan
September 28, 2007
Some call it corn, others call it
maize, but at Michigan State
University (MSU), it’s what is driving research to fuel the
emerging bioeconomy.
Corn has been produced as food for thousands of years, but until
recently, exploring its role in producing energy was a new
frontier.
So, how exactly does corn figure into the energy equation?
Through ethanol, a grain alcohol produced from plants such as
corn. Compared with conventional gasoline, ethanol is a high
quality, high octane renewable and alternative fuel source shown
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and potentially reduce the
country’s dependence on foreign oil.
“With a growing demand for corn grain to supply the burgeoning
ethanol market, the time had come to find an effective way to
identify which hybrids would yield the highest amounts of
ethanol,” says Kurt Thelen, MSU associate professor of crop and
soil sciences. “This type of work had never been done, so a lot
of basic questions had to be answered.”
Thelen’s research will benefit growers seeking higher
ethanol-yielding hybrids, the biorefineries set up to process
corn into ethanol, and the end user who fills his or her vehicle
or farm machinery tanks with ethanol-based fuel.
“The work we’re doing is directly applicable to Michigan
growers. It will not only benefit our state economically, but it
will ultimately provide us with access to more sustainable and
environmentally beneficial energy sources,” he says. “As a
state, Michigan is committed to becoming the leader in
developing alternative energy sources, and research such as this
helps to establish our position as a leader.”
Thelen and his colleagues compared 286 hybrids under Michigan
growing conditions to measure the differences in the amounts of
starch-generated ethanol produced. They were surprised to find
up to a 22 percent difference among hybrids.
“The variability between hybrids was surprising. We have
confidence in our methods because our average ethanol yield
matched up with the national average of 2.8 gallons of ethanol
per bushel, but we were also surprised by the percentage
differences in variability within individual fields and also
across the state,” he says.
The difference of a few percentage points can make a difference
of thousands of dollars in return.
“A little ‘back-of-the-envelope’ math shows that for a plant
producing 50 million gallons of ethanol per year, even a small
increase of 4 percent in hybrid ethanol yield results in
significant returns,” Thelen says. “Fifty million gallons
multiplied by 4 percent would result in 2 million additional
gallons of ethanol per year, and at $2 per gallon for ethanol,
this equals out to $4 million.
“This is a conservative estimate,” he adds. “Our initial
findings have shown even greater hybrid variability in ethanol
yield than this.”
Thelen notes that researchers are only beginning to understand
how crop genetics, landscape and environmental characteristics
contribute to the variability of ethanol yield.
“An interesting trend we observed with the 2006 crop was that
the farther north we sampled in the state, the higher the
ethanol yield. Additionally, we saw swings of 20 percent in the
gallons of ethanol produced per bushel of corn depending upon
where it was grown in the same 120-acre field,” he says.
“Ongoing work will focus on identifying how field-level and
latitudinal variability contribute to differences in ethanol
yield.”
Eventually, researchers hope to develop quicker and easier
methods in the lab for determining ethanol yield.
“We need another year of wet chemistry results to come up with
the calibrations for a predictive model,” Thelen says. “By using
NIRS [near-infrared spectrometry], we can reduce the turnaround
time for measuring ethanol yield of grain samples from 3 days to
several minutes. This will benefit the entire industry.”
The next logical step will be to apply the same types of
experiments being used with corn to cellulosic sources of
ethanol such as switchgrass and corn stover.
“Right now we need to answer the underlying starch questions
because of the country’s heavy investment in corn ethanol
production, but eventually we’ll branch out into oil crops and
cellulosic crops,” Thelen says. “We are also looking at how
these crops perform on marginal lands. It’s quite possible that
we could be looking at returning some of the state’s unused
ground into productive and profitable acreage.
“Branching off into switchgrass and other crops to determine the
role they can play in the ethanol industry will help minimize
the potential ramifications of the food versus fuel debate,” he
adds. “We believe we can supply both markets.”
Findings from this study will be shared at winter grower
meetings and presented to industry colleagues at regional and
national meetings.
Funding for this project was provided by Project GREEEN,
Michigan’s plant agriculture initiative at MSU, a U.S.
Department of Energy grant, and Daimler Chrysler, with
participatory support provided by the plant industry groups.
Founded in 1997, Project GREEEN (Generating Research and
Extension to meet Environmental and Economic Needs) is a
cooperative effort between plant-based commodities and
businesses together with the Michigan Agricultural Experiment
Station, MSU Extension and the Michigan Department of
Agriculture to advance Michigan’s economy through its
plant-based agriculture. Its mission is to develop research and
educational programs in response to industry needs, ensure and
improve food safety, and protect and preserve the quality of the
environment.
To learn more about Michigan’s plant agriculture initiative at
MSU, visit <www.greeen.msu.edu>. |
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