Progress 10/01/02 to 09/30/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. This project supports both undergraduate graduate student training as well as some "seed" faculty/staff activity over the broad range of these areas including energy(including bio based), bioprocessing,natural resources and environment, agricultural safety and health, waste management,and machinery systems. Over the past year, three graduate students have been supported by this project: During 2010, Nate Dudenhoeffer, advised by Assistant Professor Matt Digman, worked on forage harvesting systems analysis research. Nate is developing computer software to determine from the GPS data what factors affect the productivity and efficiency of the harvest. The output from this software will be useful for dairy farmers and custom operators analyzing the costs associated with harvesting forages, and can also be used for inputs to computer models of either forage or biomass harvesting systems. In 2010, under the direction of Professor Xuejun Pan, Dongsheng Zhang worked on a project "Sulfite pretreatment of switchgrass for fuel ethanol production". The results demonstrated the advantages of sulfite (SPORL) pretreatment over dilute acid and alkali pretreatments in terms of enzymatic hydrolysability. Sodium sulfite in SPORL pretreatment had a positive effect on pretreatment of switchgrass in removing lignin, improving digestibility, and limiting the formation of inhibitors. It appears that switchgrass requires high acid loading to achieve satisfactory pretreatment effects. Compared with acidic SPORL and dilute acid pretreatments, alkali pretreatment preserved most hemicellulose in substrate and therefore had a slightly poorer hydrolysability, although alkali pretreatment removed more lignin. In addition, cellulose was not pre-hydrolyzed in alkali pretreatment, as was in SPORL and dilute acid pretreatment, which might be another reason for the poor digestibility of alkali substrate. In 2010, under the direction of Professor Troy Runge, Pam Wipperfurth did considerable research in both solid and liquid biofuels. Pam wrote a paper that provides a techno-economic analysis of a simple biorefinery concept which uses acid pretreatments to create both an improved solid fuel and a sugar stream which could be further converted into liquid fuel. A variety of acid treatments were investigated that demonstrate it is possible to extract 25% of sugars, while increasing the gross heating value of the biomass by 10%. Additionally oxalic acid treatment verse sulfuric acid treatment will provided a greater reduction in potential air polluting contaminants. PARTICIPANTS: Professor Xuejun Pan; Dongsheng Zhang, graduate student; Pamela Wipperfurth, graduate student; Professor Troy Runge; Nate Dudenhoefer, graduate student; Biological Systems Engineering; UW-Madison; Matt Digman USDA-USDFRC Madison WI TARGET AUDIENCES: Bioenergy industry and scientists, Custom operators and farmers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
1. Custom harvest operators will be provided management information to improve their work efficiency and economic return. Farmer will benefit by improved quality and reduced costs. 2. Bioenergy production has conversion processes to improve conversion efficiency and reduce costs.
Publications
- Dudenhoeffer, N.and M. Digman. On-Farm Analysis of Corn Silage Harvesting Systems Observation and Data Processing Techniques. Paper# 1009925, ASABE Annual International Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 20 - June 23, 2010.
- Runge, T., Zhang, C., Wipperfurth, P., November 2010: Forest Biorefinery For Fuel and Fiber. ISETPP, Guangzhou, China.
- D.S. Zhang, J.Y. Zhu and X.J. Pan. Performance of SPORL in pretreatment of switchgrass for ethanol production. The 221st Symposium on Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol, Chemicals and Materials at PacifiChem 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, December 15-20, 2010.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. This project supports both undergraduate graduate student training as well as some "seed" faculty/staff activity over the broad range of these areas including energy(including bio based), bioprocessing,natural resources and environment, agricultural safety and health, waste management,and machinery systems. Over the past year, one student has been supported under this project to address problems in the environmental engineering area and completed his degree and thesis this spring. Three new graduate students began work related to bioprocessing and bioenergy. PARTICIPANTS: Graduate student Timothy Radatz was advised by Professor Anita M. Thompson. They worked with the Discovery Farm System in Wisconsin. Larry Chapman (staff) was supported to investigate some agricultural safety related funding opportunities, and has written two grant proposals. Graduate students, Sofie Cattoir, Pamela Wipperfurth and Dongsheng Zhang, have began graduate work related to bioprocessing and bioenergy under the direction of Professors Gunasekaran, Runge and Pan respectively. TARGET AUDIENCES: Biological Systems/Agricultural Engineering professionals, food engineers, environmental engineers, Extension personnel, agricultural producers and professionals PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Professionals who work with manure management and water quality issues will be provided with guidelines for manure application and land management that will help minimize runoff and water contamination.
Publications
- Radatz, Timothy. 2009. "Soil Moisture and Rainfall-Runoff Response of Agricultural Basins in Southwestern Wisconsin During Non-Frozen Ground Periods". MS Thesis, University of Wisconsin--Madison.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. This project supports graduate student training over the broad range of these areas. Over the past year, one student has been supported under this project to address problems in the environmental engineering area. This student is expected to complete his degree and thesis this spring. PARTICIPANTS: Graduate student Timothy Radatz is being advised and mentored by Professor Anita M. Thompson. TARGET AUDIENCES: Biological Systems/Agricultural Engineering professionals, food engineers, environmental engineers, Extension personnel, agricultural producers and professionals PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
New models of soil interaction and transport being developed will assist both regulators and producers to better manage and control residual phosphorus and nitrogen entering farm ecosystems from concentrated agricultural operations.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. This project support graduate student training over the broad range of these areas. Over the past year, four graduate students have been supported to address problems in the food and bioprocess and the environmental engineering areas. One of these students completed a Masters degree with the others continuing in progress.
PARTICIPANTS: Amanda Crowe, Jiang Yang, Eric Storvik, and Michael Nimmer are graduate students in Biological Systems Engineering. They were advised by Professors Thompson, Gunasekaran,and Karthikeyan.
TARGET AUDIENCES: Biological Systems/Agricultural Engineering professionals, food engineers, environmental engineers, Extension personnel, agricultural producers and professionals
Impacts
Research in bioprocessing and biproduct utilization promises to help answer key economic challenges facing the implementation of a new bioeconomy in Wisconsin and across the nation. New models of soil interaction and transport being developed will assist both regulators and producers to better manage and control residual phosphorus and nitrogen entering farm ecosystems from agricultural operations.
Publications
- Crowe, A.D. 2007. Environmental Outcomes of Management Intensive Rotational Grazing. M.S. Thesis. University of Wisconsin - Madison.
- Gu, C., K.G. Karthikeyan. 2007. Sorption of the Antibiotic Tetracycline to Humic-Mineral Complexes. Journal of Environmental Quality (in press).
- Sun C, S Gunasekaran, MP Richards. 2007. Effect of xanthan gum on physicochemical properties of whey protein isolate stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. Food Hydrocolloids 21(4):555-564.
- Sun C, S Gunasekaran. 2007. Effects of protein concentration and oil phase volume fraction on the stability and rheology of oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by whey protein isolate. Food Hydrocolloids (in press).
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
The department continued to build upon its already broad research mission by expanding into the bioprocessing research arena to assist with national goals to increase use of biomass for energy and other products. Significant current research includes single pass harvesting of agricultural crops and investigation of nutritional aspects of animal diets which include the biproducts of biomass fuel production such as distillers grains and soy meal. Additional progress has been made in areas such as the environmental impacts of agricultural runoff on streams and groundwater. Department faculty are also conducting research into more environmentally sound building construction technology such as developing construction material which does not require the use of hazardous preservatives. Food quality and safety research continues to work toward improved methods of process and pathogen control.
Impacts
Research in biomass harvesting and biproduct utilization promises to help answer key economic challenges facing the implementation of a new bioeconomy in Wisconsin and across the nation. New models of soil interaction and transport being developed will assist both regulators and producers to better manage and control residual phosphorus and nitrogen entering farm ecosystems from concentrated agricultural operations.
Publications
- Cabot, P.E., K.G. Karthikeyan, Miller, P.S., and P. Nowak. 2006. Sediment and Phosphorus Delivery from Alfalfa Swards. Transactions of the ASAE. (in press; Mar-Apr. issue).
- Shin, E.W., Karthikeyan, K.G., and M.A. Tshabalala. 2006. Adsorption Mechanism of Cadmium on Juniper Bark and Wood. Bioresource Technology (in press).
- Karthikeyan, K.G., and M. T. Meyer. 2006. Occurrence of Antibiotics in Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Wisconsin, USA. Science of the Total Environment Bonilla, C.A., Kroll, D.G., Norman, J.M., Yoder, D.C., Molling, C.M., Miller, P.S., Panuska, J.C., Topel, J.B., Wakeman, P.L., K.G. Karthikeyan. 2006. Instrumentation for Measuring Runoff, Sediment and Chemical Losses from Agricultural Fields. J. Environmental Quality. 35:216-223.
- Shinners, K.J., G.S. Adsit, B.N. Binversie, M.F. Digman, R.E. Muck and P.J. Weimer. 2006. Single-pass, split-stream of corn grain and stover. Transactions of the ASAE. In Press.
- Shinners, K.J., B.N. Binversie, R.E. Muck and P.J. Wiemer. 2006. Comparison of wet and dry corn stover harvest and storage. Biomass & Bioenergy. In Press.
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. All program names were changed from Agricultural Engineering to Biological Systems Engineering in 2003. The undergraduate program is ABET accredited through 2007. Extension/outreach programs are conducted in each of the four research areas.
Impacts
The research continues to provide vital information to the state's regulatory officials regarding environmental protection and soil conservation. Continuing research into biomass harvesting is promising in this growing field. Research has also led to patents in food safety.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. All program names were changed from Agricultural Engineering to Biological Systems Engineering in 2003. The undergraduate program is ABET accredited through 2007. Extension/outreach programs are conducted in each of the four research areas.
Impacts
The research led to patents in food safety and forage harvesting. A technique used to reduce erosion due to wind was very successfully applied to the problems associated with landing helicopters on extremely dry sandy soil. The soil movement created by the down draft from the helicopters was dramatically reduced by applying polymers to the soil. Pilot visibility and engine performance were greatly enhanced. The military continues its interest in supporting additional research in this area.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
The faculty of the Biological Systems Engineering Department conduct research in machinery systems, food and bioprocess engineering, natural resources and environment, and structural systems. Undergraduate (Bachelor of Science) and graduate (Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) programs in Biological Systems Engineering are administered by the BSE faculty. All program names were changed from Agricultural Engineering to Biological Systems Engineering in 2003. The undergraduate program is ABET accredited through 2007. Extension/outreach programs are conducted in each of the four research areas.
Impacts
The research lead to patents in food safety and forage harvesting. A technique used to reduce erosion due to wind was very successfully applied to the problems associated with landing helicopters on extremely dry sandy soil. The soil movement created by the down draft from the helicopters was dramatically reduced by applying polymers to the soil. Pilot visibility and engine performance were greatly enhanced.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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