Progress 09/15/01 to 09/30/03
Outputs The desire to control the processing/ultimate sale of farm commodities and to reap the full economic benefit from planting a seed to final product is common to many farmers and farm organizations. In the case of soybean processing, capital investment can reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Typically farm cooperatives cannot produce as economically as world scale plant complexes. Their main advantages will be where they can operate using locally produced soybeans and sell to markets that are reasonably close or are not being served by major producers. This will include some markets for specialty products, such as partially defatted soybean meal. Our findings show that, within limits, small expeller plants should be able to operate profitably in large portions of the US. The very smallest expelling units, designed for use by a single farm operation, did not appear to be profitable in any case. There is a limit below which any margin created by processing will not
return a reasonable profit on labor. We have made economic assessments based on published commodity prices and interviews with local suppliers and purchasers to determine best estimates of selling prices for specialized products. This project explored the conversion of soy oil and meal into industrial products such as fuels, plastics and deicing compounds using small scale expeller/extruder technologies. This work was generally successful in developing new product applications, some of which are currently being commercialized, but due to regulatory and commodity pricing issues, final economics are not conclusive. As a general statement it can be said that conversion of expelled soybean oil into industrial products, such as biodiesel, will require a larger scale processing facility than the minimum scale required for profitable expelling. This finding could mean scaling individual plants up or it could mean groups of expellers jointly investing in further processing facilities. Fuel
uses will vary in economic viability depending on the relative economics of soybean oil prices and energy. These uses will also be highly influenced by public policy toward energy, including the availability of subsidies and/or tax abatements. Long term predictions of the price of soybean oil is favorable vs. petroleum prices. The application of soy flour in polyurethanes does not appear technically feasible at this time, though it shows viable economics if further research should overcome technical hurdles. Each of the proposed industrial products did show some environmental benefit. The process of expelling itself uses more energy than solvent extraction, which should be at least partially offset by reduced transport of the raw beans and finished products. A primary environmental advantage accruing to all soy industrial products is the sequestration of carbon dioxide by the plant during growth. When used as a feedstock or fuel, the net gain in CO2 is reduced by 2.77 lbs per pound of
soybean oil consumed compared to an equivalent petro-fuel or feedstock. For feedstock uses, this factor may often result in a net carbon credit.
Impacts The use of soybean oils and derivatives as replacements for petrochemical products and intermediates is a critical opportunity for agricultural rural development. The use of small scale extrusion-based processing holds promise of rural scale industrialization to improve rural economics and vertical industrial integration in the rural environment. Our work has demonstrated economic feasibility for small scale extrusion/expeller processing for rural scale and technical feasibility for several novel products that are being commercialized.
Publications
- Martin, J., 2004, Value-Added Products from Soybeans An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Potential Products Using Expelled Soybean Oil and Meal, Omni Tech International, Ltd.,
- VanLanningham, N. W., 2003, Soybean Oil Containing Triglycerides as a Renewable Component in Residential Heating Applications, MS thesis, Purdue University
- Smith, J. A., 2004, Initial testing of biobased aviation deicer fluids, MS thesis, Purdue University
- Smith, W. T., 2004, Glycerine-based aviation deicers and anti-icers, MS thesis, Purdue University
- Bist, S. and B. Y. Tao, 2004 in press, Controlled Cloud Point Depression of Soybean Methyl Esters by Urea Inclusion, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc.
- S. Bist and B. Y. Tao, 2004, U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. Method for Separating Saturated and Unsaturated fractions of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters and Controlling the Cloud Point Depression thereof,
- Tao, B. Y., 2004 in press, Industrial Applications for Plant-Based Oils and Lipids, in Bioprocessing for Value-Added Products from Renewable Resources., S. T. Yang, ed., Elsevier Publ.
- Tao, B. Y., 2004 in press, Biofuels for Home Heating Oils, In Industrial Uses of Vegetable Oils, S. Erhan, ed., Am. Oil Chem. Soc. Press
- J. G., Verkade, 1991, A Powerful Proton Abstracting Agent U.S. Patent 5,052,533
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Progress 10/01/02 to 09/30/03
Outputs The objective of this work is to develop value-added industrial products from soybeans at the local rural community by combining existing small scale expeller processing equipment capacity with soybean utilization technologies. The goal is to produce profitable scaled processes and production that are compatible with local rural community infrastructures. The aviation deicer product has proven to be very promising commercially. The crude glycerol stream from methyl ester production has been shown to have equivalent or superior anti-.deicer performance to existing commercial products from ethylene and propylene glycols. In addition to complete biodegradability, these glycerol solutions are also approximately 1/10th of the cost of EG/PG materials. Current work involves completing a marketing/life cycle analysis, product testing in wind tunnel and on 727 aircraft, and finally FAA certification. The heating fuel group has also been very successful at developing a home
heating fuel that incorporated up to 30% degummed soybean oil in commercial heating fuels that has a price advantage vs. current petroleum-based fuels working in existing commercial equipment with decreased sulfur oxide emissions. These fuels are being commercially tested in 2 households and we are seeking industrial partners for this technology adoption. The polyurethane foam group has determined that prototype soy-based foams made from finely ground soymeal from the expeller process do not support significant microbial activity/degradation. These foams are slightly too dense for insulation applications, but may be effectively used as architectural structural foams. The mechanical extrusion/extraction group has developed a model relating the rheological parameters of soybean to processing parameters of temperature, moisture content, and oil content using different soybean varieties with rheological measurement methods (capillary rheometry, mechanical spectrometry and squeezing flow).
The consistency coefficient (k) and flow behavior index (n) were calculated and models developed. The results indicate that temperature, moisture and oil content have a significant effect the apparent viscosity of the soy products. In the lower shear rate region, there is a five-fold difference in apparent viscosity over the 45oC temperature range at a moisture content of 17%. The n value decreases with increase in temperature for moisture contents of 20% and 25%. It is also found that oil content has an effect on n value. Temperature has a weak effect on n value. Soybean variety appears to have little effect on viscosity for high shear rate.
Impacts The use of soybean oils and derivatives as replacements for petrochemical products and intermediates is a critical opportunity for agricultural rural development. The use of small scale extrusion-based processing hold is the promise of rural scale industrialization to improve rural economics and vertical industrial integration in the rural environment. Our work to date has demonstrated technical feasibility for several products that will shortly be used to generate economic models for rural development feasibility.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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