Success Stories
Dr. Dick Auld
Texas Tech University
Using project funds from the 2012 South Central Sun Grant Award through USDA-NIFA, Dr. Auld investigates on how to successfully introduce a frost-seeded safflower crop that is well adapted to the Lower Great Plains (LGP) region to ensure sustainable biodiesel production. He stated that cold tolerant safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) has shown great promise as an economically viable, biodiesel feedstock in the semi arid climates of the LGP. This new class of cold tolerant safflower allows plant growth during the cooler months of early spring which minimizes evapo-transpiration and reduces demand for irrigation water during the hot summer months. He also added, “previous research had shown that safflower oils make a high yielding, premium quality biodiesel feedstock needed in this region”.
Auld’s research will develop elite lines of cold tolerant safflower that are segregating
for increased oil content (42-44%). At the end of the agronomic evaluation , they
will develop production guidelines (i.e. planting date, irrigation management, fertility
and harvesting) necessary for the successful production of frost tolerant safflower
in this region. From 2009-2012, our Sun Grant Program research showed that at production
sites above Interstate 20 (El Paso to Texarkana) winter survival of all existing winter-hardy
safflower genotypes was sporadic and limited. Observations made during these trials
indicate that level of cold tolerance in the most winter-hardy safflower lines is
substantially less than winter canola which can be successfully grown across NM, KS,
OK, and Northern TX. Early spring seeding (frost seeding) of the winter hardy safflower
produced excellent yields in comparison to conventional spring seed safflower. The
Plant Introductions we evaluated segregated for time to flower, oil content, and tolerance
to foliar pathogens. Single plant selections with excellent potential adaptation as
a frost seeded variety on the Lower Great Plains were made at Lubbock in 2009, 2010,
and 2011.
The life-cycle assessment (LCA) of cold tolerant safflower derived biodiesel showed
the total energy required to produce a gallon of biodiesel was 22,414 Btu after allocating
energy from co-products.
This study is a joint effort between Dr. Auld and Drs. Sangamesh Angadi (New Mexico
State University), Calvin Trostle (Texas A&M University), and Jason G. Warren (Oklahoma
State University).
Dr. Newell Kitchen
USDA-ARS, CSWQR Unit, Missouri
Dr. Kitchen's project is entitled Miscanthus and Switchgrass Bioenergy Production and Soil Remediation on Marginal and Vulnerable Landscapes. His 2012 South Central Sun Grant award through USDA-NIFA supported his goals to: 1) measure and model miscanthus and switchgrass production on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes, and develop management practices for producing optimal yield, 2) measure the soil remediation potential of miscanthus and switchgrass production systems as compared to grain cropping on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes, and 3) determine the profitability and equivalent foreign oil displacement of miscanthus and switchgrass bioenergy crops on marginal and vulnerable soil landscape.
Kitchen’s research team studied to: a) determine nitrogen (N) requirements and yield potentials of miscanthus in degraded claypan soils and b) determine how rhizome quality and claypan soil landscape impact initial growth and establishment of Miscanthus. They found that N fertilizer correlated with in-season plant greenness (as measured with chlorophyll content readings) early in the growing season but the effect of N fertilizer rate diminished by September. Further, only one site responded to N fertilization in 2013. This observed lack of response to N fertilization could be due to the ability of miscanthus to recycle nutrients from previous year’s growth, along with its ability to re-partition N into the most photosynthetic-active upper leaves throughout the growing season. Thus these preliminary results suggest little to no N fertilizer is needed when growing miscanthus on claypan soils. Additional years of study are needed to confirm this finding. This work will benefit farmers growing miscanthus since they have been asking questions regarding N fertilization to optimize miscanthus growth. In other studies they found that larger, longer, and active rhizomes did not result in higher yields of miscanthus grown in claypan soil. According to Kitchen, a replicate year of both studies is underway.
SPARC plot switchgrass energy component analysis results (2010-2013) from the USDA ARS lab in Lincoln, NE have been completed and an MS student, Arndt Gossel, is analyzing/interpreting the results. Other on-going research activities for this project include analysis of yield data from the 24 BCAP fields (2013 growing season) and measurements taken to compare switchgrass with corn-soybean management on hydraulic conductivity after four years of each cropping system.
Dr. Ajay Kumar
Oklahoma State University
was the recipient of the 2011 South Central Sun Grant award funded by USDA-NIFA. He used this grant for his project entitled “Value-added Utilization of Biochar in Syngas Cleanup and Conditioning”. The overall goal of this project is to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of biomass gasification through value-added utilization of biochar byproduct and effective cleanup and upgrading of syngas. Kumar worked closely with Drs. Donghai Wang (Kansas State University), Wayne Yuan (North Carolina State University), Krushna Patil, and Danielle Bellmer (both from Oklahoma State University).
Kumar’s group completed studies on the effects of biomass type (switchgrass, sorghum straw and red cedar) and equivalence ratio on the physiochemical properties of char derived from fluidized-bed gasification. Results showed that the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas of most of the char were 1-10 m2/g and increased as equivalence ratio increased. Char moisture and fixed carbon contents decreased while ash content increased as equivalence ratio increased. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra showed that surface functional group of char differed between biomass types but were similar with change in equivalence ratio.
Kumar’s group also analyzed properties of biochar derived from downdraft gasifier. They showed that red cedar and sorghum chars both contain aromatic carbon, but aliphatic carbon and o-alkyl carbon are more evident in the red cedar char than in the sorghum char. Char derived from downdraft gasification had higher heating values and lower ash contents than char derived from fluidized bed gasification, indicating char derived from downdraft gasification is more suitable for applications, such as soil amendment, than char from fluidized bed gasification. Micropores and mesopores were found in both red cedar and sorghum chars. The gasification reactivity of red cedar char was higher than that of sorghum char. A provisional patent has been filed on novel biochar-based catalysts developed based on the results of this project.
Dr. Richard Mallinson
University of Oklahoma
Dr. Mallinson has been working with the South Central Sun Grant since 2013 using his USDA-NIFA funded grant. Mallinson collaborates with Drs. John Mullet (Texas A & M University) and Laura Bartley (University of Oklahoma) in his study, “Enhanced Biofuels Production with Genetically Optimized Feedstock by Multistate Pyrolysis with Catalytic Upgrading”.
Mallinson stated that a number of studies have shown that biomass pyrolysis-based processes may be the most economical for the production of 2nd generation drop-in biofuels. Present pyrolysis technologies for conversion of cellulosic biomass to liquid hydrocarbon fuels nevertheless all have low carbon yields due both to limitations of the processes and the biomass characteristics. He added that these issues limit petroleum displacement and decrease both economic and environmental benefits, thus slowing the development of non-food biofuels adoption.
Mallinson’s long term goal of this project is to develop an optimal thermochemical biorefinery platform by optimizing the biomass feedstock characteristics, with switchgrass and sorghum as the primary foci of this project. Mallinson believes that their approach will displace the maximum amount of petroleum with the greatest environmental benefits and most favorable economics compared with other proposed pyrolysis.
Dr. Clyde Munster
Texas A and M University
received a 2012 South Central Sun Grant Award, sponsored by USDA-NIFA, to study “Sustainable Feedstock Production for Bioenergy”. The underlying rationale for this research is to promote use of marginal and degraded farmland, instead of prime farmland, for production of bioenergy feedstock. To be a sustainable resource for biofuel production, these marginal and degraded lands would have biochar produced from harvested feedstock returned to the field to increase organic matter and nutrient content of the soil along with rainfall retention. The rehabilitation of marginal and abandoned farm land for bioenergy production would minimize the tradeoff of food production for fuel production.
Some of the key findings from Munster’s research group:
Wind transport of inherently low-density biochar particles is a concern during application. Adding water in the amount of 80-110% by weight to the biochar produced mixtures with the best aggregation for handling and land application to prevent wind-induced loss biochar from target application sites.
A field study was initiated to evaluate chemical and physical properties of soil and runoff from biochar-amended plots planted to bermudagrass. A weak trend of decreasing cumulative runoff depth with increasing application rate of applied biochar was observed during the first year of the study. Control plots (no biochar) produced the largest amount of runoff as expected. High rates of biochar applications increased biomass production. Munster reported that there was an inverse relationship between the total biomass produced and runoff of rainfall, especially for the plots with the highest biochar applications. “This may be true because, in general, as biomass production increases, the percentage of the soil surface covered by vegetation also increases. This should decrease raindrop impact, increase infiltration, and decrease runoff potential”, Munster said. Harvest data showed a significant increase in grass production in research plots with the highest rates of incorporated biochar addition. Water holding capacity also increased for the highest rate of incorporated biochar, likely leading to the observed increase in grass production.
The results of nutrient testing of the research plots revealed significant increases in pH and potassium content of the soil with increasing rates of biochar application, regardless of whether the biochar was unincorporated or incorporated. In addition, there was a significant increase in nitrate-nitrogen content as unincorporated biochar rates increased. A greenhouse study that mimics the field study both in biochar application rates (0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 Mg/ha) and application type (unincorporated and incorporated) and assesses soil nutrients and biomass production is underway.
Dr. Munster teamed up with Drs. Sergio Capareda, Tony Provin, Ronnie Schnell, and Kevin McInnes (Texas A&M University) and Dr. Hailin Zhang (Oklahoma State University) for this grant.
Dr. Donghai Wang,
Kansas State University
Dr. Wenqiao (Wayne) Yuan,
North Carolina State University
(formerly connected with KSU)
Dr. Yuan used his 2011 South Central Sun Grant award, sponsored by USDA-NIFA, for his project entitled “Value-Added Utilization of Biochar in Syngas Cleanup and Conditioning”. According to Yuan, very little research has been conducted on the use of biomass gasification biochar for syngas catalytic reforming. He also added that no studies have been conducted on the use of these co-products from dedicated crops or linking co-product qualities to gasification conditions and gasifier designs. This work was the first to study how biomass feedstock type, gasification conditions, and gasifier designs affect the suitability of using biochar as a nickel-catalyst support, said Yuan.
The overall goal of this project was to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of biomass gasification through value-added utilization of biochar byproduct and effective cleanup and upgrading of syngas. Yuan’s work is novel, since, as it develops an inexpensive catalyst for effective syngas cleanup and conditioning, and provides a value-added use of gasification by-product. Dr. Yuan collaborated with Dr. Donghai Wang (Kansas State University), and Drs. Dani Bellmer, Krushna Patil, and Ajay Kumar (Oklahoma State University).
Yuan’s research group generated biochar from a fixed-bed updraft gasifier, a downdraft gasifier, and a fluidized-bed gasifier at varying combustion zone temperatures, for three biomass feedstock types (woody biomass, grass and agricultural residual). They also determined correlations among biochar yield and properties, syngas quality, gasification energy balance, biomass type, combustion zone temperature, and operating conditions. This information will be used by syngas producers to guide selection of biomass, optimize gasification conditions, and improve gasification system design to obtain a desirable biochar and maximum syngas production, and optimize catalytic cracking conditions for syngas cleanup and conditioning, said Yuan.
During the 2nd year of project implementation, Dr. Donghai Wang assumed as the main Principle Investigator (PI) when Yuan moved to North Carolina State University. Wang ‘s research group did the biochar composition, elemental and heating value anaylses.
Dr. Jason Warren
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Warren was the recipient of the 2012 South Central Sun Grant Award sponsored by USDA-NIFA. Using the funds, he established field studies on “Development of Safflower as a New Biomass Energy Crop for the Lower Great Plains”. Warren collaborated with Dr. Dick Auld (Texas Tech University), Dr. Sangamesh Angadi (New Mexico State University), and Dr. Calvin Trostle (Texas A&M University). Four varieties with excellent frost seeding adaptation were screened at Stillwater and Fort Cobb, OK (2012-2013 growing season) and at Stillwater and Chickasha, Ok (2013-2014 growing season). Warren’s research group conducted stress physiology and agronomy trials in these diverse locations in Oklahoma to develop practices that optimize safflower production in the region.
“Yield was only collected from the third planting date due to poor stand establishment and winterkill for each of the fall planting dates”, Warren said. He added that drought conditions and colder than normal temperatures in the fall and over the winter, resulted in a zero percent survival rate. They revealed that yield data collected from the Stillwater location showed significant difference between safflower variety means. With variety TTU 651 producing a significantly higher yield than TTU 615 with no differences between these varieties and the remaining varieties. At the Chickasha location, TTU 580 produced significantly lower yields than remaining treatments. Furthermore, the Stillwater location produced an average of 1326 Kg ha-1 which was significantly greater than yields of approximately 617 kg ha-1 achieved at the Chickasha location.
Plant stand data collected from the Stillwater and Chickasha locations showed no significant difference between safflower variety means. However, the research team found that there was a significant difference in plant stand counts with the Stillwater planting location producing 10 plants per meter which was greater than 6 plants per meter achieved at the Chickasha location. This difference was apparently due to lower moisture status of soils at the Chickasha location at planting.
At the conclusion of the study, Warren stated, “a public safflower production meeting will be held in Oklahoma to highlight safflower and the findings of the research. Existing resources for safflower will be revised and updated to reflect new knowledge on safflower, and this information will be maintained ‘live’ in a web-based setting at the http://lubbock.tamu.edu/safflower, which will be developed as part of this program”.
Dr. Mark Wilkins
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Wilkins used his 2013 South Central Sun Grant Award (USDA-NIFA) to research on “Decreasing Severity of Switchgrass Pretreatment through Wet Storage and Biological Pretreatment". He collaborated with Dr. Michael Buser (Oklahoma State University) and Dr. D. Julie Carrier (University of Arkansas).
Biorefineries face logistical issues due to the low bulk density of lignocellulosic biomass. According to Wilkins, storage facilities must have large capacities to store feedstocks for a minimum of six months to ensure a continuous operation. Hence, their goal is to overcome the issues of physico-chemical pretreatment and reduce cost by adapting a holistic approach of exploiting a part of storage time for a biological pretreatment process.
The team completed compositional analyses on all from square bales and 8 samples from round bales. In square bales, they observed that extractives content was greater at the bottom of the bales than in the middle and top of the bales, which was indicative of more fungal and other biological activity occurring in the top of the bale that was exposed to more air resulting in more activity. The extractives largely consist of sugars that are easily digested by fungi and other organisms. They also found that glucan content was less in the bottom of the bale than at the top and middle. In round bales, extractives content was lower in mushroom-treated bales than in control bales, which was which was indicative of more fungal and other biological activity occurring in the mushroom treated bales, which was expected. Currently, the team is doing controlled studies in a lab environment to determine mushroom loading and moisture contents for a future bale study in a controlled environment.