Sustainable Production and Distribution of Bioenergy for the Central USA

1. Sustainable Production and Distribution of Bioenergy for the Central USA Agro-ecosystem Approach to Sustainable Biofuels Production via the Pyrolysis-Biochar Platform (USDA-NIFA AFRI CAP)

2. Oil Prices Source: EIA for history, NYMEX for future

3. Population Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base

4. Liquid Fuel Usage Source: Energy Information Administration

5. Renewable Fuels Standard

6. Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable BioenergyThis AFRI Challenge Area focuses on the priority to secure America's energy future. It supports the development of regional systems for the sustainable production of bioenergy and biobased products that contribute significantly to reducing dependence on foreign oil, have net positive social, environmental, and rural economic impacts, and are compatible with existing agricultural systems. The long-term outcome for this program is to implement regional systems that materially deliver liquid transportation biofuels to help meet the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 goal of 36 billion gallons/year of biofuels by 2022 and reduce the National dependence on foreign oil. USDA’s Initiative

7. Create a regional system for producing advanced transportation fuels derived from perennial grasses grown on land that is either unsuitable or marginal for row crop production.Improve the sustainability of existing cropping systems by reducing agricultural runoff of nutrients and soil and increasing carbon sequestration. Midwest Sustainable Biofuel Vision

8. The Grand Vision

9. Key Feature: Distributed Processing

10. Target: Land Least Suitable for Corn/Soybean Production Sources: NRCS , Purdue University , and Iowa State University

11. Pyrolysis Processing Rapid thermal decomposition of organic compounds in the absence of oxygen to predominately produce liquid product known as bio-oil. Biochar Co-product biochar is produced at yields of 12-20 wt% biomass. Fast pyrolysis can be built at small scales suitable for distributed processing. Bio-oil is refined like petroleum into synthetic gasoline and biodiesel.

12. CenUSA Program Areas • Feedstock Development • Sustainable Production Systems • Feedstock Logistics • System Performance • Feedstock Conversion • Markets and Distribution • Health and Safety • Education • Extension and Outreach

13. CenUSA Team Led by ISU Agronomy professor Ken Moore Researchers from Iowa State University, Purdue University, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin, University of Vermont, Idaho National Laboratory and USDA Agricultural Research Service offices in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Iowa

14. Feedstock Development Goal: to develop improved perennial grass cultivars and hybrids that can be used on marginal cropland in the Central US for the production of biomass for bioenergy Switchgrass Big bluestem Indiangrass Ken Vogel (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Mike Casler (USDA-ARS, UWM)

15. Sustainable Production Systems Goal: to conduct comparative analyses of the productivity potential and the environmental impacts of promising bioenergy crops and management systems using a network of 14 fields strategically located across the Central US Rob Mitchell (USDA-ARS, UNL) and Jeff Volenec (Purdue)

16. Feedstock Logistics Goal: to develop systems and strategies to enable sustainable and economic harvest, transportation, and storage of feedstocks to meet the needs of industry Stuart Birrell (ISU) and Kevin Shinners (UWM)

17. System Performance Goal: to provide detailed analyses of feedstock production options to help policymakers, farmers, and the bioenergy industry make informed decisions about: which bioenergy feedstocks to grow where to produce them what environmental impacts they will have how biomass production systems are likely to respond to and contribute to climate change or other environmental shifts Jason Hill (UMN) and Cathy Kling (ISU)

18. Feedstock Conversion Goal: to perform a detailed economic analysis on the performance of a refinery based on pyrolytic processing of biomass into liquid fuels and provide biochar to other researchers on the project Robert Brown (ISU)

19. Markets and Distribution Goals: study farm level adoption decisions, exploring the effectiveness of policy, market and contract mechanisms that facilitate broad scale voluntary adoption by farmers evaluate impacts of expanded advanced biofuel system on regional and global food, feed, energy and fiber markets Keri Jacobs and Dermot Hayes (ISU)

20. Health and Safety Goals: conduct a detailed analysis of all tasks associated with biofeedstock production for hazard targets of personnel, equipment, environment, downtime, and product determine potentially hazardous respiratory exposure limits associated with the production of biofeedstocks Charles Schwab and Mark Hanna (ISU)

21. Education Goal: Provide rich interdisciplinary training and engagement opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in all areas of the bioenergy value chain to meet the workforce challenges of the bioeconomy Raj Raman (ISU) and Pat Murphy (Purdue)

22. Extension/Outreach Goal: to deliver science-based information and informal educational programs for agricultural producers, general public, and youth audiences regarding perennial grass and biochar agriculture and biofuel production Jill Euken (ISU) and Deana Covert (UNL)

23. Advisory Committee Members

24. The Grand Vision

25. Thank you for your time and attention.Any questions?For more information, seewww.cenusa.iastate.edu