WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University agricultural economist and energy policy analyst has changed his tune on renewable fuels.

“We don’t just talk about ethanol. We talk about biofuels,” said Wally Tyner.

“Ethanol is the product from corn, but you also can produce gasoline and diesel directly from cellulosic feedstocks. And when you bring up the blending wall for ethanol, that means the door may be open wider for processes that will take us directly from corn stover, switchgrass and Miscanthus to biogasoline and biodiesel. We need to be thinking in those terms.”

Tyner and fellow Purdue agricultural economist Steven Wu will discuss biofuels and the future of renewable energy during Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability. The Dec. 1 conference is a collaborative effort between Purdue and sister land-grant universities in 11 other Midwest states.

Purdue Extension and Purdue’s Energy Center at Discovery Park are hosting a conference viewing site in Stewart Center on the university’s West Lafayette campus. The conference also can be viewed online.

The event is geared toward anyone with an interest in biofuels. Conference topics range from advances and breakthroughs in biofuels to biochar, which is the leftover material after cellulose is converted into fuel.

Tyner said there’s still a future for ethanol, but much of the future growth will be in cellulosic biofuels. Cellulose for liquid fuel comes from plant material, including the non-grain parts of corn.

Ethanol growth is restrained by a “blending wall” – the amount of ethanol gasoline companies are permitted by law to blend with petroleum-based fuel. Current federal standards set the amount at 10 percent of gasoline consumption.

No such blending limit exists with cellulosic biofuels, Tyner said. There are other differences between biogasoline and ethanol, he said.

Biogasoline is produced through a refining process and is chemically similar to petroleum-based gasoline, while ethanol is produced by a fermentation process, Tyner said. Biogasoline can be transported through gasoline pipelines; ethanol is corrosive to pipes and must be transported by rail or truck.

However, cellulosic biofuels face three challenges, Tyner said.

“You’ve got market uncertainty, technology uncertainty and government policy uncertainty,” he said.

There are no commercial cellulosic biofuels plants operating in the United States, Tyner said. Getting them built likely will require biofuels companies to enter into new kinds of contracts with the farmers supplying the feedstock. Dedicated energy crops like switchgrass and Miscanthus, a similar grass, produce for 10-15 years. A 50-million-gallon biofuels plant would need a truckload of cellulose every 10 minutes from day one.

“These plants cost $400 million to build, and nobody’s going to sink $400 million into concrete and steel until they’ve got a guaranteed supply of feedstock,” Tyner said. “And getting a guaranteed supply of feedstock means convincing farmers that they are going to be there 10 years from now to take their Miscanthus or switchgrass. The plant has to be convinced that the farmer is going to be there 10 years from now, as well. It’s a whole new ballgame.”

Government subsidy programs for renewable fuels would need to change, as well, for the biofuels industry to take off, Tyner said.

“Right now, everything in the U.S. is on a per-gallon basis. So today, for cellulosic biofuels you get $1.01 per gallon whether you’re producing ethanol or biogasoline,” he said. “Biogasoline has 50 percent more energy than bioethanol, yet it gets the same subsidy. We could consider moving to the kind of system Europe has, where everything is based on energy content. That would level the playing field.”

Wu’s presentation follows Tyner’s. Wu will discuss contracting issues for second generation perennial energy crops.

The conference’s keynote speaker is James Lovelock, a renowned thinker on global environmental science. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu are invited speakers.

The conference runs from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST.

Registration is $75 for those viewing the conference at Stewart Center and $50 for online viewing. Complete registration information is available by visiting the Purdue Conference Division’s upcoming events page at https://www.cec.purdue.edu/ec2k/Upcoming.asp and clicking on the link to Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability. Registration is recommended by Nov. 24.

For a complete conference agenda, visit the conference Web site at http://www.bioeconomyconference.org. Additional information also is available by contacting Chad Martin, Purdue Extension renewable energy specialist, at 765-496-3964, martin95@purdue.edu.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — More of the fertilizers and pesticides used to grow corn would find their way into nearby water sources if ethanol demands lead to planting more acres in corn, according to a Purdue University study.

U.S. Department of Agriculture data has shown that corn acreage has increased with the demand for ethanol, with 93 million acres in 2007, an increase of 12.1 million acres that year.

The study of Indiana water sources found that those near fields that practice continuous-corn rotations had higher levels of nitrogen, fungicides and phosphorous than corn-soybean rotations. Results of the study by Indrajeet Chaubey, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Bernard Engel, a professor and head of agricultural and biological engineering, were published in the early online version of The Journal of Environmental Engineering.

“When you move from corn-soybean rotations to continuous corn, the sediment losses will be much greater,” Chaubey said. “Increased sediment losses allow more fungicide and phosphorous to get into the water because they move with sediment.”

Nitrogen and fungicides are more heavily used in corn crops than soybeans, increasing the amounts found in the soil of continuous-corn fields. Sediment losses become more prevalent because tilling is often required in continuous-corn fields, whereas corn-soybean rotations can more easily be no-till fields, Engel said.

“The common practice is there is a lot of tillage to put corn back on top of corn,” Engel said. “Any time we see changes in the landscape, there is a potential to see changes in water quality.”

Chaubey said there was no significant change in the amount of atrazine detected in water near fields that changed to continuous-corn rotations. The commonly used pesticide sticks to plant material and degrades in sunlight, keeping it from reaching water through runoff or sediment.

U.S. Department of Agriculture data has shown that corn acreage has increased with the demand for ethanol, with 93 million acres in 2007, an increase of 12.1 million acres that year.

“As we look forward here, if corn stover is going to be a preferred bio-feedstock, we would see more corn acreage being planted,” Engel said. “We need to know how that will affect water quality.”

The USDA and Purdue funded the study. Chaubey and Engel are expanding their research to Iowa, Tennessee and Arkansas. That three-year study will include impacts of various biofeedstock, such as switch grass, and developing management practices to reduce sediment, nutrient and pesticide losses.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Jim Danielson and Sean Kleinschmidt spent the summer before their freshman year at Purdue University turning a Porsche with a blown engine into an electric-powered vehicle.

Purdue Freshmen Jim Danielson and Sean Kleinschmidt spent last summer turning a 1987 Porsche 924S -- like the one pictured above -- into an electric-powered vehicle.

Their red, 1987 924S will be one of the featured vehicles at the alternative and fuel-efficient transportation show that is part of Purdue’s Green Week. The show will be from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 24) on the west side of Stewart Center.

Danielson of Arlington Heights, Ill., and Kleinschmidt of Prospect Heights, Ill., are high school friends who are now first-year engineering students. They started work on the car in late May and finished in early August.

They bought the Porsche for $500, then sold parts from it that they didn’t need for about the same amount. They spent about $6,000 on the conversion. They hope to get $4,000 of that back through an Illinois program that rebates costs for alternative-power conversions.

The car runs on a deep-cycle, lead acid marine battery and a forklift motor. At this point, it can reach a speed of 55 miles an hour. But the Porsche has a range of only about 50 miles on each battery charge, so Danielson and Kleinschmidt will bring it to West Lafayette on a trailer.

The Purdue Sustainability Council is sponsoring the Green Week transportation show. It also will feature vehicles from Purdue’s hybrid fleet, student-built solar race cars, a battery-powered Volkswagen Beetle built by a professor, a Volkswagen Rabbit converted to run on biodiesel fuel including used vegetable oil, and even a motorized couch.

Judged and people’s choice awards will be given in the fuel-efficient and alternative-powered categories.

Alternative and fuel-efficient vehicles still can be entered in the show. To enter, e-mail Robin Ridgway, Purdue’s director of sustainability and environmental stewardship, at rmridgway@purdue.edu

Also during the transportation show, the Boiler Green Initiative will offer free bicycle tune-ups.

More information on Green Week is available at http://www.purdue.edu/sustainability/

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A blend of degummed soybean oil and No. 2 fuel oil can be used as an alternative heating fuel and reduce sulfur emissions, according to a Purdue University scientist.

Purdue researcher Klein Ileleji found that a 20 percent blend of degummed soybean oil performed well in home furnaces and reduced sulfur emissions. (Purdue Agricultural Communications photo/Tom Campbell)

Klein Ileleji, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, tested blends of 20 percent, 50 percent and 100 percent degummed soybean oil – an unrefined and cheaper product to produce than soy methyl esters, commonly known as biodiesel – and found that the 20 percent blend didn’t degrade a home furnace’s parts or heat output. The only issue found with the 20 percent blend was a slight early degradation of the furnace’s seals and gaskets, which manufacturers could fix by switching to a higher quality product. Ileleji’s findings were reported in the recent early online version of the journal Fuel.

“You are going to reduce the sulfur emissions with degummed soybean oil. The things you should be worried about with a biofuel, such as the pour point temperature and heating ability, were not affected,” Ileleji said. “You want to keep the properties of your No. 2 fuel oil, and at 20 percent degummed soybean oil, you would minimally affect those properties.”

Removing gumming agents from soybean oil eliminates its harmful effects on fuel injection nozzles, gaskets and other parts, and creates a combustible biofuel. Like some other biofuels, its properties can be less desirable than traditional fuels. Ileleji’s study showed that 100 percent degummed soybean oil and a 50 percent blend had reduced flashpoints, making them more difficult to ignite; reducing heat content; creating higher temperatures associated with cold filter plugging points; and leading to early degradation of seals and gaskets.

“Overall, using 20 percent degummed soybean oil, you can get by using existing furnace designs,” Ileleji said. “You can use a 20 percent blend without changing your combustion system, and you will not be changing its performance. What you will be getting is the benefit of lower sulfur emissions, which is good for the environment.”

Ileleji’s work was a continuation of a project started by Harry Gibson, a retired Purdue professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Gibson’s graduate student, Bradley Kaufman. The Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana United Soybean Board funded the research.

Ileleji said he is testing the degummed soybean blends with farm grain dryers to see if the biofuel could be used efficiently with those devices’ burners.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Landowners wanting to try out their green thumbs and earn extra income are encouraged to attend the Natural Resource Enterprises Workshops on Sept. 2 and 3.

Small-scale biodiesel production is one of the new income avenues that will be showcased at the September 3rd workshop.

“The workshops will help landowners and farmers seek new and innovative ways to earn an extra income to help keep their family farm,” said Brian MacGowan, Purdue University Extension wildlife specialist. “They are designed for landowners interested in learning about developing enterprises from the natural resources on their property or simply learning more about wildlife and business management.”

Attendees will learn how to manage natural resources on their land, ways to market their enterprise, cost-share programs that are available and ways to reduce their liability. The workshops are co-sponsored by Purdue.

“Both of the workshops will allow people to learn everything they need to know about starting a natural resources-based business, and they will have the chance to see examples of successful ventures and speak with the hosts about what they learned,” MacGowan said.

Each of the workshops will feature three field tour stops relating to natural resources enterprises.

The workshop on Sept. 2 will be on the Wilkin’s Farm, located at 1935 W. County Road 1000 N., Linden, and will highlight small-scale lumber production, agritourism and timber management. The Sept. 3 workshop will be at the Woodling’s Farm, located at 7092 N. Shilo Road, Unionville, and will showcase small-scale lumber manufacturing, biodiesel production and hunting.

Registration for each workshop is $25, which includes a 600-page reference notebook, lunch and breaks. For more information about each workshop or to register, visit http://www.wildlifeworkshop.msstate.edu

“By hosting these workshops, we hope this will give landowners and farmers a jump-start to begin their natural resources-based enterprises on their own properties, while giving them the information and contacts to manage their property for wildlife and other resources,” MacGowan said.