Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Scientists, engineers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral associates, farmers interested in growing biofuel crops, bioindustry personnel, policy makers and the general public. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All projects provided opportunities such as laboratory and/or field safety training and how to conduct science-based research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations at technical conferences and through publishing of journal articles. Summaries are provided through the Sun Grant Program-South Central Region website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?All projects are completed.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Three projects, funded through the Competitive Grants Program, and one Center project were completed. "Miscanthus and Switchgrass Bioenergy Production and Soil Remediation on Marginal and Vulnerable Landscapes" (Newell Kitchen, USDA-ARS, Columbus, MO): The goal of this project was to determine the production/profitability capacity and remediation potential when growing bioenergy crops on marginal claypan soils. Specifically, the study aimed to: 1) Quantify miscanthus and switch-grass production on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes, and develop management practices for producing optimal yield; 2) Measure the soil health remediation potential of miscanthus and switch-grass systems, and compare to the soil health of grain cropping systems. Miscanthus responded to N fertilization about 30% of the time with leaf chlorophyll concentration found as an accurate indicator of fertilization need. Soil hydraulic properties improved when switchgrass was grown compared to corn-soybean cropping system (3% lower bulk density, 73% greater hydraulic conductivity, and 53% larger proportion of soil macro pores). Switchgrass planted on degraded soil (shallow top soil) had greater quasi-steady infiltration rate and field saturated hydraulic conductivity than row-crop management. Applying these results to 24-hour USDA-NRCS Type II storms, switchgrass enhanced estimated infiltration, reduced estimated run-off and decreased estimated water ponding time. Net return was greater for corn and soybean over most depth-to-claypan (DTC); switchgrass was only able to compete on very shallow DTC (<5 cm). Phosphorus increased while potassium decreased with increasing DTC. "Enhanced Biofuels Production with Genetically Optimized Feedstocks by Multistage Pyrolysis" (Laura Bartley, University of Oklahoma): Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a rapid, low-cost way to produce a dense liquid product known as bio-oil, which can be refined to transportation fuels. But, utilization of bio-oil is challenging due to its chemical complexity, acidity, and instability. This project sought to clarify how biomass chemical components and bonds relate to yield and composition of fast pyrolysis products toward providing guidance to optimize both biomass and thermal conversion. With the goal of generating multiple simplified product streams, the relationship between composition and a lower temperature thermal treatment (torrefaction) was examined. Test biomass used were switch-grass and sorghum, which have promising features under the highly fluctuating environmental conditions of the South Central U.S. This project: 1) Gathered additional detailed compositional data on a set of compositionally diverse switchgrass samples and predicted the thermal pyrolysis products of collections of switchgrass and sorghum, and 2) Distinguished among possible associations between composition and products by measuring the thermal products from selectively altered switchgrass biomass, specifically biomass that had been chemically pretreated with base, water, or enzymes and biomass that has been genetically modified to deplete S-lignin and hydroxycinnamates (HCAs) via down-regulation of the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis gene, COMT. Results showed that low S and low HCA switchgrass releases less methoxyphenols into the torrefaction product stream, rendering that product stream more amenable to catalytic upgrading and providing new directions for improving thermochemical biofuel production. "Decreasing Severity of Switchgrass Pretreatment through Biological Pretreatment" (Mark Wilkins, Oklahoma State University): The fungus Pleurotus ostreatus was applied to switchgrass to selectively degrade lignin while leaving cellulose in the grass intact. Fungus application was conducted in small-square bales using a moisture and temperature control system in a laboratory. Bales needed to be pasteurized to reduce microbial load prior to storage and fungal application. Samples from bales were pretreated with liquid, hot water pretreatment. Degradation of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose was monitored during storage of switchgrass with and without fungus applied. Use of fungus promoted lignin degradation compared to controls in both settings. Significant degradation of cellulose occurred if grass was stored with fungus for more than 55 days. In small bales, degradation of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose occurred in control bales due to microorganisms already present in the bales, but degradation of lignin and hemicellulose was less than that observed in bales to which fungus was applied. Fungal application had no effect on glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated samples. Washing samples after pretreatment reduced glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis. In the laboratory, copper, manganese and glucose were added to grass along with fungus to determine if these supplements would improve lignin degradation by P. ostreatus. Other literature suggested that these supplements would boost lignin degrading enzyme activity. All of the supplements added decreased lignin degradation compared to no supplementation. Result indicates that all of the nutrients needed for fungal growth are present in switchgrass, and costly supplementation is not required. "Hydrocarbon Fuels, Chemical and Intermediates from a Novel Biomass Pyrolysis Technology" (Ajay Kumar, Oklahoma State University): A synergistic reaction scheme, which consists of activation of methane and deoxygenation of pyrolysis-derived volatiles in presence of metal-loaded HZSM-5 catalysts was done. This project demonstrated the feasibility of production of hydrocarbon fuels through co-conversion of biomass and methane by accomplishing the following objectives: 1) investigating the effect of methane environment on the yield and selectivity of aromatic hydrocarbons obtained from pyrolysis of biomass major constituents (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin), 2) synthesis and evaluation of the performance of various metal-loaded HZSM-5 catalysts towards co-conversion of switchgrass and methane, and 3) determination of the effects of operation conditions (pyrolysis temperature at 400/500/600/700/800 ºC and torrefaction temperature 230/270 ºC) on the yield and selectivity of aromatic hydrocarbons during co-conversion of torrefied switchgrass and methane. Results showed that methane significantly improved the yield and selectivity for formation of aromatic hydrocarbons in the bio-oil obtained from catalytic pyrolysis of biomass. Specifically, methane did not show effective improvement in the yield of aromatic hydrocarbons from cellulose and hemicellulose in the presence of Mo-modified HZSM-5 catalysts, but significantly improved the aromatic hydrocarbon yield from lignin. Bimetallic-modified catalysts (e.g. MoZn/HZSM-5 and MoAg/HZSM-5) exhibited higher catalytic efficiency than single-metal catalysts (e.g. MoO3/HZSM-5 and Mo2C/HZSM-5). The maximum aromatic hydrocarbon yield of 39.31 wt.% was obtained at 700 ºC in presence of MoZn/HZSM-5. Torrefaction pretreatment did not increase the aromatic hydrocarbon yield because it unfavorably altered the biomass composition by reducing cellulose content while concomitantly increasing lignin content. Moreover, the aromatic hydrocarbon yield decreased as the torrefaction temperature increased.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Conway, L., N.R. Kitchen, M.A. Yost, K.A. Sudduth, and D.B. Meyers. 2015. Evaluating topsoil depth effects on phosphorus and potassium nutrient dynamics of grain and switchgrass productions systems. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN. 15-18 Nov. 2015.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conway, L.S., M.A. Yost, N.R. Kitchen, K.A. Sudduth, and D.B. Myers. 2016. Claypan depth effect on phosphorus and potassium dynamics soils. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (unpaginated, online). Jul 31-Aug 4, Monticello, IL: International Society of Precision Agriculture.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Gehle, S., M. Buser, S. Marek, D. Carrier, M.R. Wilkins, A.S. Turay, and C.C. Craige. 2016. Investigating fungal degradation of switchgrass in a controlled storage environment. 2016 ASABE Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 17 20, 2016. Poster.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Turay. A.S., S. Gehle, C.C. Craige, K. Rajan, M. Buser, D. Carrier, and M.R. Wilkins. 2016. Effect of mushroom inoculation during switchgrass storage on digestibility. 2016 ASABE Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 17 20, 2016. Oral.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Waters, C., F. Lin, R. Mallinson, L. Lobban and L. Bartley. 2016. Predictive modeling of switchgrass thermochemical products from biomass compositional features. 21st International Symposium on Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, Nancy, Franc.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Waters, C., S. Crossley, D. Resasco, R. Mallinson and L. Lobban. 2016. Enhanced thermal segregation of lignin and cellulose decomposition products: an analytical study of time and temperature effects. 21st International Symposium on Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, Nancy, Franc
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conway, L.S., M.A. Yost, N.R. Kitchen, K.A. Sudduth, A.L. Thompson, and R.E. Massey. 2016. Topsoil thickness effects on corn, soybean, and switchgrass production on claypan soils. Agron. J.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Lin, Waters, Mallinson, Lobban, Bartley. 2015. Relationships between biomass composition and liquid products formed via pyrolysis. Frontiers in Energy Research. DOI: 10.3389/fenrg.2015.00045
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Lin, F., Fagerstrom, A., Manisseri, C., Williams, B., Chiniquy, D., Saha, P., Peck, M., Pattathil, S., Vega-Sanchez, M., Zhu, L., Hahn, M.J., Willats, W., Scheller, H.V., Ronald, P. and Bartley, L.E. 2016. Correlations among cell wall components and candidate biosynthesis gene expression during rice development. Plant Cell Physiol. DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcw125
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Randall, B.K., M.A Yost, N.R. Kitchen, E. Heaton, E. H. Stelzer, and A. Thompson. 2016. Impact of rhizome quality on miscanthus establishment in claypan soil landscapes. Industrial Crops and Products 85:331-340. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2015.12.040.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Zaibon, S., S.H. Anderson, N.R. Kitchen, A.L. Thompson, and S. Haruna. 2016. Soil Hydraulic Properties Affected by Topsoil Thickness in Cultivated Switchgrass and Corn-Soybean Rotation Production Systems. SSSAJ
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Zaibon, S., S.H. Anderson, A.L. Thompson, N.R. Kitchen, C.J. Gantzer, and S.I. Haruna. 2016. Soil water infiltration affected by topsoil thickness in row crop and switchgrass production systems. Geoderma
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Yang, Z., A. Kumar, A. Apblett. 2016. Integration of biomass catalytic pyrolysis and methane aromatization over Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts. J. Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 120:484-492. doi:10.1016/j.jaap.2016.06.021
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conway, L.S. 2016. Topsoil depth impact on corn, soybean, and switchgrass productivity and soil nutrient dynamics. MS Thesis. University of Missouri.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Gehle, S. S. 2016. Investigation of Pleurotus ostreatus pretreatment on swithcgrass for ethanol production. M.S. Thesis. Oklahoma State University
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
McKinley, B. 2016. Biochemical, Molecular, and Genetic Analysis of Cell Wall Biogenesis and Carbohydrate Accumulation of the Stem During the Phenology of Sorghum Bicolor. Ph.D. dissertation. Texas Agriculture and Mines University
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Waters, C. 2016. Understanding Thermochemical Process and Feedstock Compositional Impacts on Strategies to Control Pyrolysis and Torrefaction Product Distributions. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Oklahoma
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Yang, Z. 2016. Enhanced Pyrolysis of Biomass for Hydrocarbon Fuels and Chemicals Production Ph.D. dissertation. Oklahoma State University
|
Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Scientists, engineers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral associates, farmers interested in growing biofuel crops, bioindustry personnel, policy makers and the general public. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Most projects, at the principal investigator level, would have opportunities such as laboratory and field safety training and how to conduct science-based research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations at technical conferences and through publishing of journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?At the Center level, ensure good progress on projects continues through receipt and review of quarterly reports from principal investigators.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Although the following three (3) projects were selected for funding and were approved by USDA Program Manager for processing on December 2014. The projects were approved by USDA last February 2, 2015 and funds were only released to Principal Investigators in mid-May 2015. Hence, accomplishments of these on-going projects are limited. "Enhanced Biofuels Production with Genetically Optimized Feedstocks by Multistage Pyrolysis". Dr. Laura Bartley (University of Oklahoma): The goal of this project is to determine how chemically and physically altering sorghum and switchgrass biomass impact production of biofuels using two stage thermal processing. The objective is to test the result that hydroxycinnamic acids (HCA, such as ferulic acid (FA) and p coumaric acid (pCA) influence the yield of alkylphenols as has been indicated by the correlation model development. A sodium hydroxide-based method was developed to chemically remove HCA esters from biomass. Switchgrass genotype "464" with a medium amount of HCA's was used for this experiment. The biomass samples were treated with different concentrations of NaOH for 24 h, or, 2M NaOH for 1h, 12h, 18h, 24h, and 48h. The extracts were analyzed by HPLC for HCA quantification and for pyrolysis GC-MS analysis. Different amounts of HCAs from biomass were removed by extracting biomass with different concentration of NaOH. In the samples treated with 2 M NaOH for different time periods, it was found that longer treatment times (above 12h) did not significantly change the amount of HCAs released. With different NaOH extraction conditions, the HCAs in biomass are removed to a different degree. For the concentration series, the pCA and FA in biomass are gradually reduced as the increase of NaOH concentration. Increasing NaOH concentrations in general seemed to decrease torrefaction yields across most of the compound groups, with a spike in furfural yields at the highest concentration. For the time series, a slight increasing yield of furfurals was observed with longer treatment times at torrefaction conditions, but overall the treatment duration has minimal impacts on the product distributions for the two-stage case. The single-stage yields for all but the methoxyphenols were seen to be decreasing with time. This suggests that, should any benefits to thermal segregation be established, that the treatment be limited to an hour (or less) to maximize overall yields. This effect may be due to multiple effects of the NaOH treatment on biomass. "Investigating Fungal Degradation of Switchgrass in a Controlled Storage Environment". Dr. Mark Wilkins (Oklahoma State University): Several lab-scale experiments were conducted on optimizing the moisture content and fungal loading needed to achieve reduced lignin content and increased sugar yields after fungal treatment in switchgrass. Switchgrass samples were pretreated by fungus and were subjected to simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) to assess fungal pretreatment effect. Switchgrass with high fungus loading under moisture contents of 30, 50, and 75% were observed. Fungus did not grow well on samples with 30% moisture content and the ethanol yield after SSF was much lower than that of samples with 50 and 75% moisture content after 60 days fungal pretreatment. Switchgrass samples were also treated with low fungal loading under moisture contents of 50 and 75% for 80 days. Fungal treated switchgrass samples under moisture contents of 50 and 75% both exhibited biomass delignification and ethanol production after SSF; however, 75% moisture samples showed better results. There were no differences in SSF ethanol yields between samples with high fungus loading and low fungus loading. However, higher fungus loading lead to faster fungal colonization of samples, which helps to fight unwanted microorganisms contamination, which is critical for large scale applications with no sterilization step. In another experiment, nine bales were inoculated for each of three fungal loading conditions: 2% grain control, 2% fungal spawn, and 3% fungal spawn (by mass). The bales were sampled at 25, 53, and 81 days after inoculation, with nine bales being removed each time (three bales for each loading condition). For each bale, the moisture content after grinding and the ash content were determined. The bale samples for the first and second sampling were extracted using the NREL procedure "Determination of Extractives in Biomass" in duplicate with water then ethanol using a Dionex ASE 300. The amount of extractives was determined and compositional analysis was done on the extracted biomass. The bale samples from the third sampling have not been extracted at the time of this report. "Miscanthus and Switchgrass Bioenergy Production and Soil Health Remediation on Marginal and Vulnerable Landscapes". Dr. Newell R. Kitchen (USDA-ARS, University of Missouri. Senior Personnel): The goal of this research project is to assess soil health remediation and production capacity of miscanthus and switchgrass bioenergy cropping systems on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes. Specifically, the project aimed to: 1) Quantify miscanthus and switchgrass production on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes, and develop management practices for producing optimal yield, 2) Measure the soil health remediation potential of miscanthus and switchgrass production systems, and compare to the soil health of grain cropping systems, and 3) Considering both market risk and the production risk findings from Objective 1, determine the profitability and equivalent foreign oil displacement of miscanthus and switchgrass bioenergy crops on marginal and vulnerable soil landscapes. In the SPARC plot study, evaluation of topsoil depth effects on phosphorus and potassium nutrient dynamics of grain and switchgrass production systems was done. SPARC plots were also used to determine how topsoil depth influences yield, N concentration, N uptake, and N requirement of switchgrass grown on claypan soils. In the Nitrogen rate trials, four field studies were conducted examining miscanthus N needs on claypan soils and SPAD readings were obtained. In season chlorophyll measurements were also regularly made. Center Activity The Center issued an internal call for proposals to support biofuels, bioenergy and bioproducts related projects conducted by Oklahoma State University Principal Investigators. Among the eight (8) proposals reviewed, Dr. Ajay Kumar's (PI) proposal on "Hydrocarbon Fuels, Chemical and Intermediates from a Novel Biomass Pyrolysis Technology" was selected for funding under the South Central Sun Grant's 2015 Center Grants Program. The Co-PI's for this project are Drs. Allen Apblett and Francis Epplin (Oklahoma State University).
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Yost, M.A., N.R. Kitchen, E. Allphin, and K.A. Sudduth. 2015. Switchgrass canopy reflectance as nitrogen management tool on variable claypan soils. In: Proc. 13th Nitrogen Use Efficiency Conf., Auburn, AL. 4-5 Aug. 2015. Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Lin, Waters, Mallinson, Lobban, Bartley. 2105. Relationships between biomass composition and liquid products formed via pyrolysis. Frontiers in Energy Research. doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2015.00045
|
Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Scientists, engineers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral associates, farmers interested in growing biofuel crops, bioindustry personnel, policy makers and the general public. Changes/Problems: A major delay is being experienced in the release of funds from USDA-NIFA. This will likely impact the investigators of selected projects in accomplishing their goals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? At the time of this report, the Center is awaiting release of funds from USDA-NIFA. After receipt of funds, the Center will issue sub-award agreements for selected projects.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Given that this was a stand-alone award and the funds available for the regional competition were relatively small, the Sun Grant Program-South Central Center Administration decided to run a limited competition among the active regional USDA-supported Sun Grant projects. This concept was approved by the USDA Program Manager. An abbreviated RFA was developed outlining the proposal requirements including scope of work, budget and budget justification. Funds were to supplement existing research and/or educational activities. Submitted projects were reviewed by a panel consisting of Center and OSU Division of Agriculture administrators. The criteria, which had been used in previous review processes, consisted of: a) Scientific and technical merit (50%); b) Qualifications of investigators, adequacy of the facilities, project management, and costs (25%); and c) Project relevance (25%). Following the review, three (3) projects were selected for funding. These project proposals were recommended to USDA-NIFA for funding. Upon review, the USDA Program Manager approved the following proposals and forwarded these for processing. 1) "Enhanced Biofuels Production with Genetically Optimized Feedstocks by Multistage Pyrolysis". Principal Investigators and affiliations: Richard Mallinson, University of Oklahoma. Senior Personnel: Laura Bartley and Lance Lobban, University of Oklahoma. Collaborator: John Mullet, Texas A&M University. Total funds: $110,000. 2) "Investigating Fungal Degradation of Switchgrass in a Controlled Storage Environment". Principal Investigators and affiliations: Mark Wilkins, Oklahoma State University. Senior Personnel: D. Julie Carrier, University of Arkansas; Michael Buser and Stephen Marek, Oklahoma State University. Total funds: $110,000. 3) "Miscanthus and Switchgrass Bioenergy Production and Soil Health Remediation on Marginal and Vulnerable Landscapes". Principal Investigators and affiliations: Newell R. Kitchen, USDA-ARS, University of Missouri. Senior Personnel: Kenneth A. Sudduth, Robert Kremer, Kristen Veum, Allen Thompson, D. Brenton Myers, and Ray Massey, University of Missouri, Emily Heaton, Iowa State University. Collaborator: Jared Wilmes, MFA Oil Biomass. Total funds: $110,000.
Publications
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