[Terrapreta] Pure switchgrass stands may not be best for ethanol by Dale Hildebrant

[Larry Williams]

Laurens, Michael-------My soul enjoys reading research that discovers  
the value of ecology to sequester carbon in the soil, in this case -  
prairie ecology, over monoculture farming. Prairie ecology resolves  
benefits for using marginal farm lands to improve our energy needs  
(bio-fuel), improving prairie ecology and reducing the use of fossil  
fuels.

There is another part of this picture that is missing in this  
research. It is the role that buffalo play in the prairie's plant  
community and the prairie's hydrological cycle. Between the  
importance that their hoof prints play in reseeding prairie plants  
and that of buffalo wallows (Water: a natural history, Chapter Five -  
A Sea of Grass) which improve animal health and allow water to  
infiltrate into the semi-arid soil profile, the net result is the  
capture and storage of atmospheric carbon in the soil.

In Africa, I understand that water buffalo serve a similar function  
as the American buffalo do in the American prairie states.

Also, I'll bet that the fungal family of glomales is involved in the  
storage and capture of CO2-------enjoy our world

Psst! and for the locals - consider some early evening pleasures with  
glass of Buffalo Wallow from Mac's Creek...



------------from-----------
1)     From: 	  michaelangelica at gmail.com
	Subject: 	Re: [Terrapreta] Your input needed: "Soil health" at  
Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
	Date: 	May 11, 2008 12:35:35 PM PDT

	@ Tom Miles:  http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org

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2) http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/11716-what-plants-might- 
grown-just-bio.html


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3)  http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2007/04/13/ag_news/ 
regional_news/region02.txt

Pure switchgrass stands may not be best for ethanol
By DALE HILDEBRANT, Farm & Ranch Guide
Friday, April 13, 2007 9:18 AM CDT


 From the President's State of the Union Address to a wide variety of  
renewable fuels articles, the terms cellulosic ethanol and  
switchgrass seem to go together hand in hand. But University of  
Minnesota Research Associate Dr. Jason Hill says the work he has done  
indicates there are much better choices for cellulosic ethanol  
production than switchgrass. Hill made this announcement during  
testimony before a Field Hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on  
Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which held in Fargo on April 3  
and chaired by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

For over a decade Hill and others at the U of Minn. have been  
experimenting with various mixtures of prairie plants in an effort to  
determine which were best for producing biofuels such as ethanol.  
Their work, which was conducted at the Cedar Creek Natural History  
Area in East Bethel, Minn., involved planting 168 plots with either  
one, two, four, eight or 16 different native prairie species on  
agriculturally-degraded farmland. During this time the total biomass  
produced for each plot was measured along with the total amount of  
carbon dioxide removed from the air and stored in the soil.

According to Hill, their study found that mixtures of 16 native  
prairie species produced 238 percent more energy on average than a  
single prairie species such as switchgrass and as an added bonus, the  
stands made up of the plant mixtures removed large amounts of carbon  
dioxide from the air and stored it in the soil, but that the single  
species stands did not.

“The environmental benefits of producing biofuels from diverse  
prairie biomass are striking,” Hill said in his testimony. “Most  
amazingly, producing and using ethanol from diverse prairie biomass  
can actually reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  
This is because a diverse prairie removes more carbon dioxide from  
the air and stores it in the soil than is released into the air when  
fossil fuels are burned to farm prairie biomass and convert it into  
ethanol. This, along with the nitrogen added to the soil by native  
legumes, actually restores fertility to degraded farmlands, and, a  
prairie also provides wildlife habitat and reduces soil erosion and  
pollution of waterways with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.”

Hill, who is a member of the Departments of Applied Economics and  
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, told the hearing that using a  
diverse prairie biomass has large advantages for both farmers and the  
biofuels industry.

The benefit to farmers comes from the fact that the prairie biomass  
can be grown on marginal and highly-erodible lands like those put  
into CRP and CSP programs, which in turn spares our most fertile  
farmland for traditional crop production. Once a diverse prairie  
system is established, biomass can be grown at considerably less  
expense to the farmer than either corn or switchgrass, Hill noted.  
This is because a prairie needs to be planted only once, and  
maintaining it requires no pesticides or herbicides and only trace  
amounts of fertilizer in certain cases.



The advantage to the biofuels industry arises from the fact that an  
acre of prairie biomass grown on this marginal land can yields as  
much or more net energy in biofuels as an acre of corn produced on  
fertile crop land. This is because the fossil fuel energy  
requirements for growing prairie biomass and converting it into  
ethanol are so low relative to the amounts of energy needed to grow  
corn and convert it into ethanol.

In his remarks, Hill challenged the Senators on the panel to find a  
way to reward those who undertake such a prairie biomass program by  
either making incentive payments to the farmers or to the biofuel  
producers who purchase biomass grown in environmentally-beneficial  
ways, who would then pass at least part of these payments on the  
farmers in the way of better prices.

Hill also praised the efforts of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who  
was a member of the hearing panel and has proposed legislation  
providing for direct support for farmers who grow diverse prairie  
biomass.


“We are at a time when the rapidly expanding biofuel industry has  
effectively wed together three of our fundamental needs - energy,  
food and a healthy environment,” Hill noted. “Our challenge is to  
find and promote solutions that mutually benefit our nation on all  
three fronts. Biofuels from diverse prairie biomass provide us with  
an opportunity to do that.”

Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), a hearing panel member, asked Hill  
when it would be feasible to begin the commercial production of  
prairie biomass which would eventually lead to cellulosic ethanol  
production and Hill responded we could begin today, using existing  
ethanol facilities and integrating biomass into the process.

“Current corn ethanol production uses large amounts of fossil fuels  
at the ethanol plant for milling, fermentation, and distillation,”  
Hill said. “Diverse prairie biomass could be used in their place,  
thereby reducing fossil energy use, fostering a fledgling cellulosic  
biomass production industry and realizing the many environmental  
benefits of restoring native grassland ecosystems. This would then  
develop the large-scale biomass production system that is necessary  
to establish stable and cost-effective supplies that will be used  
when actual cellulosic production begins.”

This process, according to Hill, will solve the “which comes first  
the chicken or the egg” problem, where large-scale biomass production  
will occur only if there is a biomass market with prices that cover  
production costs to the farmer, including land rental, establishment  
and harvesting, and transportation; and a biomass market itself will  
exist only if stable and cost-effective supplies are available to  
those industries that can use biomass for energy and other high-value  
products.




Comments »
Switchgrass Varietys wrote on Jan 10, 2008 3:45 PM:
" Trailblazer, Sunburst, Summer, Shelter = NY4006, REAP 921,  
Pathfinder, Pangburn, Nebraska 28, Kanlow, Forestburg, Dacotah, Cave- 
in-Rock, Carthage = NJ-50, Caddo, Blackwell, Alamo "


John Turner wrote on Dec 30, 2007 4:00 PM:
" Your accessment is beneficial, but it fails to answer the question  
it poses? Which varieties of Switchgrass are best combined to produce  
the optimal fuel and food conversion. Please be specific?

Regards, John Turner
john.turner5 at comcast.net
tel: 303-774-8167 "


Curious wrote on Aug 29, 2007 11:16 AM:
" Would the names and amounts of the "mixtures of 16 native prairie  
species" be released? "


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