Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience: Professional (scientists and business) personnel Political decision makers Farmers Extension Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? An outreach component is developed to educate local aquaculture farmersin NJ of the ability to offer a consistent supply of duckweeds, an aquatic biomass feedstock with both protein and starch content. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The insights developed were disseminated to the community via conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals, and factsheets. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? With respect to aviation fuels,there is still work needed to optimize the supply chain and cut collection and transportation costs.Costs can be cut by increasing the density of the residue collected prior to transport and better genetically assessing which feedstocks to harvest for the most optimal fuel production; assessing forest coverage and density logistics prior to feedstock-collection would lead to a more efficient transport system.Research is ongoing to develop genetic testing on residue sources to improve long-term production. The main fascination with Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is the technology's capability to "mop" up carbon; this capture and storage method effectively removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Reversing the effects of climate change may only be successful with the implementation of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. At the national level, manufacturing, agriculture, and energy sectors would benefit from the adoption of this new practice, whilst benefitting the public with cleaner air and cleaner water. Challenges in the logistics of biofuel production and conversion serve to inhibit aspects of the biofuel supply chain. Conditions for optimal biofuel supply chain management can be achieved by combatting these issues: Creating the biomass: Although a sustainable form of energy resource, certain biomass yields are diminutive in colder seasons; because of seasonal changes and land availability, biomass crops, for example soybean, are not harvested at a high rate. Competition with food crops also contributes to a lower yield for energy crops. Experts are exploring options with perennial plants, like switchgrass. Fear of overharvesting and nutrient-depletion in soil remains a deterrent. Converting the biomass:It is a challenge to establish an efficient supply chain between biomass production and biofuel production to assure overall efficiency. The U.S. has centered biofuel development around cultivating the biomass feedstock, instead of advancing conversion technology. Europe is doing the opposite. Inefficiencies in the supply chain will inhibit the ability to meet growing demand for biofuels and constrain efforts to find the most cost-effective methods of harvesting, processing, and transporting. Social implications: Impacts to the agriculture sector due to biofuel production will result in the increase of rural employment rate, but moderate increase in prices of agriculture commodities. Microbiome manipulation can ensure that crops produce in changing climates, produce with less water, and produce in degraded soil; the key to reversing soil degradation is changing and promoting the health of the soil microbiome. As of 2016, 1.5 billion people globally must depend on degraded land for food or survival. If agricultural practices stay the same for the next 30 years, the UN predicts a 12 percent decline in global food production because of land degradation and an increase in loss of biodiversity and water scarcity, which may in turn lead to the displacement of millions of people. There is potential for nutrient restoration, ecosystem stabilization, and breeding incrementalism in plant microbiome manipulation technology. Despite information gaps, fundamental studies provide evidence of the beneficial impacts of microbiome-concentrated techniques that change plant functional traits like leaf nutrient levels and plant life longevity; this provides the world with a dependable method to grow certain crops and confident food and energy security. Duckweed may be utilized at different stages of growth andprocessing for various needs: Food Chicken feed/fish food: Corn, for example, is normally used to feed livestock but remains low in protein; duckweed can supplement low-protein conventional feeds in a cost-effective manner. Similarly, it is used to feed fish like tilapia and carp. Fish, otherwise, may be placed in duckweed tanks to suppress certain pests, like mosquitos. Human food: Poor populations in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh survive on carbohydrate-rich foods which may be supplemented with duckweed as a protein or fat source. Depending on the strain of duckweed, human diets may be supplemented with different levels of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, carotenoids, and sterols. Energy Pelletize for traditional boilers: In comparison to dense wood, pelletizing duckweed would require less energy; the pellets may be burned directly for energy or further processed into fuel. Feedstock for biogas: Upon drying and pelletizing the duckweed, the pellets can be used to produce a biogas; this gas is renewable in comparison to natural gas. After further processing, biofuel: Once converted into a gas, duckweed may be further processed into methanol, and then converted into gasoline. Due to the low cost of duckweed production and maintenance, duckweed-sourced biofuel may become very cost-competitive with existing oil refineries.8 Environment Water contamination measure: The EPA currently uses a strain of duckweed, from the speciesLemena minor, to identify the level of heavy metal contamination in water. Duckweed is also utilized as a sediment toxicity indicator to test the level of nutrients or contaminants in enriched or unenriched soils; this method provides an additional, natural method to test sediment toxicity. Clean water: Duckweed's ability to uptake nitrogen and phosphorus makes it an efficient way to purify water and remove excess contaminants. Companies like BioTech Waste Management Finally, the meta-analyses suggest that corn ethanol has minor effects on greenhouse gas emissions and significant yet moderate effects on food and fuel prices. However, corn ethanol has a relatively significant impact on fuel security in terms of reductions in the import of oil to the US and its overall effect on the US balance of trade.

Publications

• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sarubbi, J. (2017). Integrating duckweed into an aquaponics system (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University-Graduate School-New Brunswick).
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Preethy Thangaraj and Gal Hochman. (2018). FACTSHEET: Manipulation to Improve Sustainability of Biomass Production. Office of Chief Economist, USDA.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Preethy Thangaraj and Gal Hochman. (2018). FACTSHEET: Alternative Aviation Fuel. Office of Chief Economist, USDA.
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: P. Thangaraj, S. Okoye, B. Gordon, D. Zilberman, and Gal Hochman. (2018). FACTSHEET: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage. Office of Chief Economist, USDA.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Preethy Thangaraj, David Zilberman, and Gal Hochman. (2018). FACTSHEET: Biofuels. Office of Chief Economist, USDA.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: P. Thangaraj, B. Gordon, D. Zilberman, Dustin Wang, and Gal Hochman. (2018). FACTSHEET: Bioproducts. Office of Chief Economist, USDA.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hochman, G., & Zilberman, D. (2018). Corn Ethanol and US Biofuel Policy 10 Years Later: A Quantitative Assessment. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100(2), 570-584.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes practitioners and decision-makers, as well as scholars and future researchers Changes/Problems:Purchasing the barramundi fish was a major challenge. We, therefore, decided to go with a different fish, the red belly pacu, which turned out to be a wise choice for several reasons. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training students, professional and technicians and teaching them to use our technologies, seeing its value, and thus helping in the dissemination of this technology. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results are being disseminated to the fisheries and those working in these areas in NJ, as well as in the Northeast region through seminars and meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to develop a second experiment that will help us further understand the value of the pacu-duckweed system, and how to optimize it. Work with the Rutgers Aquaculture Innovation Center (AIC) in Cape May, NJ will also help disseminate our findings to the industry and thus facilitate its developments, resulting in added economic value to the various stakeholders.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This last reporting period, we have been working on a study that investigates the barriers to the use of technologies that convert pollution and waste in one process to an input to another process. The study highlights the importance of information and knowledge in the use of these technologies, and it shows the role institutions can play via cooperatives to facilitate the extensive use of these technologies. If the cost of using these technologies is sufficiently low, utilizing pollution as an input results in a positive externality. We used an aquaponics case study to show that the negative externalities could be internalized without regulatory intervention through a combination of fish farming and hydroponics. The introduction of aquaponics diversified the sources of income, yielded savings in the cost of water purification and the cost of fertilizer for the plants' growth, and resulted in more fish output than the unregulated scenario. We hope to publish this study in the coming year.

Publications

• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Gal Hochman, Michael Traux, & David Zilberman. (2017). US biofuel policies and Markets. In Handbook of Bioenergy Economics and Policy: Volume II. M. Khanna & D. Zilberman (eds.). Elsevier.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Gal Hochman & David Zilberman. (2016). Corn-Ethanol and the US Biofuel Policy 10 Years After: A Meta-Analyses Originally presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics (AAEA) 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, 2016, Boston, Massachusetts. Available at http://ageconsearch.umn.edu//handle/235467
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Preethy Thangaraj, Eric Lam, & Gal Hochman. (forthcoming) "Aquatic plant and the bio economy." Factsheet

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience includes practitioners and decision-makers, as well as scholars and future researchers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project led to a thesis, and is the foundations of work am doing with plant biologists where we are developing a pilot as proof of concept to our arguments. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We disseminated the new knowledge on the use and deployment of intensive farming technologies through paper and presentations. Work on bioenergy was disseminated via conferences and presentations, and is the foundations of future work we plan on doing in this area. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?With respect to the bio-products, we plan to develop theintensive fish farming and the use of duckweeds into a small scalepilot. With respect to the bioenergy, we plan to continue work in this area and further understand technology and the best policy path forward.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project was expanded to include bio-products. This part begins with a study that shows how the use of technology leads to internalization of the negative externalities, through a combination of fish-farming with hydroponic, namely, aquaponics systems. Because this method internalizes the negative externalities without the need for regulatory intervention, there is a larger output of fish than the regulated outcome and cost-savings in the fish-farming process due to decrease in the need to purchase fertilizers. We also derive a simple optimal decision rule that is based on a limited amount of data: the alternative cost of maintaining the fish-cycle for another period is equated to the marketing of the current fish-cycle. In addition, a numerical analysis compared the system of growing fish in aquaculture systems and the combined growth of fish with plant growth in aquaponics system. The aquaponics systems diversify the sources of income of the farmer as well as the resulting "double dividend" from savings in water purification and savings in the purchase of fertilizer for plants growth. A thesis on this topic then follows, and shows thataquaponics, the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, can lead to sustainable food production. This study shows how duckweed can add value to an aquaponics system. It builds off of a previous case study that explored the addition of hydroponic grown buttercrunch lettuce to a barramundi fish production system. That case study concluded that the benefits of the integrated system include the reduction in barramundi effluent disposal costs, and saving of water and nutrient costs of the lettuce system. We build off that analysis by adding duckweed to the integrated system, and compare the variable costs and revenue of a production system of barramundi and lettuce, to that of barramundi, lettuce, and duckweed. Duckweed serve as fish feed and a biological filter. The addition of duckweed results in a decrease in feed cost and effluent disposal cost, as well as significantly reduced the area needed to build the integrated system. With respect to bioenergy, this study uses data and estimates on biofuel impacts reported in the literature to assess some of the controversy surrounding the introduction of biofuels by conducting meta-analyses on the impacts of corn-ethanol on food and fuel prices, greenhouse gases, employment, rural income, balance of trade, and learning-by-doing. The meta-analyses suggest that corn-ethanol has had a relatively significant impact on the income of agricultural and related agribusiness industries, employment in farm states, fuel security in terms of reducing the import of oil from abroad, and the overall balance of trade. These effects are likely the main drivers behind biofuel policies.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Mook Bangalore, Gal Hochman, and David Zilberman. Policy Incentives and Adoption of Agricultural Anaerobic Digestion: A Survey of Europe and the United States. Renewable Energy, 97, 2016; 559-571
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Gal Hochman and David Zilberman. "Corn-Ethanol and the US Biofuel Policy 10 Years After: A Meta-Analyses." WEAI 91st Annual Conference - Western Economic Association International, Portland OR, 2016
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Gal Hochman and David Zilberman. "Corn-Ethanol and the US Biofuel Policy 10 Years After: A Meta-Analyses." Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, Boston MA, 2016

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience: Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The insight developed was be disseminated to the community via conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters. An outreach component was also developed to educate local administration in NJ of the benefits of using waste to energy. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? While energy is an engine of development and economic growth via direct, indirect and induced benefits, it is also the source of many of the economic and environmental problems we face. Clean and affordable energy services are not only essential for a sustainable society, but locally available energy sources lead to poverty alleviation. When energy sources are locally available, they provide a host of other development benefits, such as mobilization of investment, generation of jobs, improvement of urban and rural public health, and the development of local self-reliance. Most of these benefits are retained locally thus reducing poverty. Initially, biofuels were viewed as an energy source of much potential that is local and thus can also alleviate poverty. Many, including environmentalist groups, placed much hope in the development of biomass to energy, and supported the development of this technology to replace fossil fuels. However, as time passed, concerns emerged and unintended consequences assessed. Those that oppose biofuels presented large indirect land use effects and large economic cost of biofuel policies, yet those that support biofuels present a much more optimistic biofuel picture. Am currently performing a meta-analysis that contrasts and combines results from different studies in the hope of identifying patterns among study results. The meta-analysis will combine results from different studies in the hope of identifying repeating patterns and disagreements, as well as study trends. It will help us better understand what did we gain from the introduction of biofuels, and at what cost.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Not only is land area called on for food production, but also for biomass production that will be converted to biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. The goal of this project is to better understand the economics, as well as environmental implications, of renewable energy productionsystems that include production of power and second-generation liquid biofuels and biomass-derived power generation. To advance this goal, cost-benefit analysis of various facets of bioenergy production systems will be performed and conceptual and empirical analysis will beconducted. For example, the economic and environmental benefits from using landfills to generate electricity and produce co-product digestate in the state of NJ will be assessed and the conclusions will be disseminated among policy makers and practitioners. Another example includesbetter understanding of the US biofuel policy, its effect on the petroleum industry, and its substantial side effect on foreign exchange. My work evolves in response to feedback as well as economic and technological reality. This work builds on existing knowledge of work in the biomass to energy domain. This work also benefits from collaboration with faculty at Rutgers, as well as faculty located at the University ofCalifornia Berkeley, and from work with undergraduate and graduate students. The insight developed in this project is disseminated to the community via conferences, as well as publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters. More specifically, this projectutilizes system analysis to support development of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable solutions for a bio-based economy. Itdeveloped integrated system models to configure, analyze and optimize bioenergyand biofuel production systems: waste to energy and biomass to PLA.?

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gal Hochman, Shisi Wang, Qing Li, Paul Gotlieb, Fuqing Xu, and Yebo Li. Cost of organic waste technologies: A case study for New Jersey. Energy 2015; 104. DOI: 10.3934/energy.2015.3.450
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Shisi Wang, Qing Li, Paul Gotlieb, Gal Hochman, Fuqing Xu, and Yebo Li. A sustainable waste to energy path: The benefits from organic waste and manure in New Jersey. Proceedings of Dairy Environmental Systems and Climate Adaptation Conference and Tours, Cornell University, July 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gal Hochman and David Zilberman. "Biofuels: the good, the bad, and the ugly." Berkeley Bioeconomy conference: April 1-2, 2015

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Professional (scientists and business) personnel Decision makers Farmers Utility companies Energy start ups Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Undergraduate students were trained and are now continuing to higher degrees. We also developed a simulated biorefinery and knowledge that is now used by several student to further their understanding of various processes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results have been presented in numerous conferences and also presented to private and public personnel working on waste management and waste to energy, What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We are extending our biorefinery to incorporate an option to produce other bioproducts and search for the optimal use of waste, while evaluating its energy, economic and environmental impacts.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project evaluated the benefitsand costs of converting food waste and manure to biogas and/or fertilizers. It focused on four available waste treatment technologies: direct combustion, landfilling, composting, and anaerobic digestion. The technologies are simulated using availabledata fromNew Jersey municipalities. The advantages of utilizing food waste and manure in terms of energy, economics, and the environment, are identified. The results indicated that upgrading traditional landfills to anaerobic digester results in the highest methane generation, but that composting was the best technology if the objective was to generate fertilizer. Given the relative advantages of the various technologies, we calculated the benefits to New Jersey from using these technologies were calculated. Anaerobic digesters can supply nearly ten thousandlocal families with electricity, but in terms of economics, aerobic composting methods are the least costly and have the highest net income. In comparison, direct combustion is by far the most costly of all four technologies. The project led to collaboration with Agriculture Engineering at Ohio State University and to the development of an integrated biorefinery, which is the project I am pursuing this year.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gal Hochman, Deepak Rajagopal, Govinda Timilsina, and David Zilberman. Quantifying the causes of the global food commodity price crisis. Biomass & Bioenergy.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gal Hochman. Biofuels at a crossroad. Choices, May 2014