Washington, DE
August 27, 2008
By Stacy Kish, CSREES Staff
Native grasses are reaching new heights of importance through
potential use in the biofuels industry and in restoration of
reclaimed or disturbed lands.
Producers in the native seed industry have responded to
increased commercial demand, but current harvesting techniques
for many grass species have not been up to the task. With
funding from the USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
program, a project team in Montana has developed new equipment
to efficiently harvest more types of seed.
The structure of native grass seed makes harvesting with current
equipment complicated. Specifically, this equipment is unable to
effectively dislodge, separate, convey and offload grass seed,
resulting in low harvests, limited supplies and high prices.
Lee Arbuckle and colleagues at Arbuckle Ranch, Inc., received a
series of SBIR Phase I and Phase II funding to develop
technologies in a break-though grass seed harvester, the
Arbuckle Native
Seedster.
Arbuckle used the SBIR funding to develop and patent
counter-rotating combs and brushes to effectively dislodge, or
"pluck," the seed from difficult-to-harvest grass species. This
cost-effective technology is easy to manufacture and maintain.
The Seedster collects a high percentage of standing seed with
minimal impurities, which eliminates the need for in-field
separation of seed and chaff. The Seedster effectively harvests
at higher ground speed for more productivity.
The second SBIR-funded project dealt with transporting seed
without plugging the Seedster's internal system. Arbuckle's
group developed two systems to achieve this goal. First, the
Pneumatic Conveyance System (PCS) uses a vacuum fan and cyclone
separator to suck plucked seeds through tubing for collection in
a standard seed tote bag situated on a trailer.
The second system uses the integrated dislodgement, conveyance
and collection hopper in a single loader mounted unit on a
tractor. A simple mechanism supplements the air flow produced by
the brush and combs to thrust dislodged seed into a collection
hopper. A load of up to 1,500 pounds of seed easily dumps into a
truck or trailer. This design was developed in late 2007 and is
particularly appropriate for tall grass species, such as
switchgrass.
The PCS model was released commercially in late 2007. One
customer stated, "I believe your machine is probably the best
harvester available for native seed that I've found."
In January 2008, Native Seedster entered a contractual agreement
with Ceres Inc., an energy company, to design and produce a seed
harvester to harvest upland and lowland switchgrass. Ceres will
manufacture switchgrass, high-biomass sorghum and other crops
from thousands of acres near St. Joseph, Mo., to support a
next-generation bio-refinery engineered by ICM, Inc., a leading
biofuel process technology provider.
Dr. Ken Vogel of USDA's Agricultural Research Service also
reported in January 2008 the results of a three-state, five-year
study showing that switchgrass ethanol produces 540 percent as
much energy as it consumes and reduces greenhouse gasses by 94
percent compared with petroleum.
CSREES funded this research project through the SBIR program.
Through federal funding and leadership for research, education
and extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science
and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and
the nation's future. For more information, visit
www.csrees.usda.gov.
Visit
www.nativeseedsters.com for more information on the Arbuckle
Native Seedster.
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