Source: NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV submitted to
THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FOR A BIOBASED INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1002449
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
ND01476
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
S-1041
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 28, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2018
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Pryor, S.
Recipient Organization
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
FARGO,ND 58105
Performing Department
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Non Technical Summary
Development of biobased industries to reduce the need and impact of fossil fuel use requires new technologies and a workforce educated in fundamental technologies and the outstanding challenges. Energy beets are a developing non-food crop that has potential to be an economical source of sugars for biofuel and chemical production. Although energy beets are similar to sugar beets, storage and processing of energy beets will be different than technologies used for crystal sugar production. New technologies will be developed to accelerate industry development and impact to rural communities.Development of bioindustries that use other forms of biomass remains hindered by the logistical difficulties of storage and handling. Biomass densification has been seen as too costly but allows for improvements in energy and economic efficiency during processing at the biorefinery. These efficiencies may enable the densification and processing technologies to develop simultaneously leading to more rapid development of biomass-based industries.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
20%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
4022099202045%
4021629202020%
4021599202020%
9036099202015%
Goals / Objectives
Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy
Project Methods
Efforts:Energy beets will be milled using a hammermill and other communition equipment prior to juice extraction, ensilage, or fermentation.Methods will be developed and tested for storage of whole energy beets, milled energy beets, or extracted juice.Various biomass feedstocks will be densified using pelleting or other equipment and the densified biomass will be used for experiments testing pretreatment, hydrolysis, and/or fermentation.Traditional university courses will be taught with content related to biobased energy and bioprocess engineering fundamentals.Evaluation:Energy beet preprocessing, storage and processing techniques will be evaluated based on energy requirements, mass balances on sucrose or other valuable components, material flowability, and fermentation rates and yields.Densification technologies will be evaluated based on required pretreatment severity, enzyme loadings, and solid loadings required to achieve acceptable rates and yields of fermentable sugars or fermentation products.University courses will be evaluated based on numbers of students enrolled and achievement of course objectives.

Progress 01/28/14 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural producers, biofuel and biomass processors, biofuel investors, other researchers, university students Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Approximately 15 graduate students were trained through this project. Investigators attended 1-2 conferences per year to make presentations and discuss technical challenges and progress with colleagues from other land grant universities and USDA research sites. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at regional national and international conferences or other meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Effect or organic acids for the preservation of sugars in beet juice was studied. Mineral acid preserves sugar in industrial beet juice under non-freezing conditions at pH less than 3.5 and solids content less than 64.5%. Organic acids produced in-situ at the start of storage may also be effective in preserving sugar; however, there is no study that has shown the potential of using organic acid to preserve beet juice. Use of butyric acid at pH 4.25 and acetic acid at pH 3.5 resulted in retention of 85% of sugar after 38 storage days. A life cycle assessment approach was used to compare primary fossil energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from using pelleted and non-pelleted corn stover as a biorefinery feedstock. Operations considered were densification, transportation, and soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatment. SAA-pretreatment of pelleted biomass required lower energy inputs (89%). Higher pretreatment solid loadings possible with pelleted biomass also significantly reduced chemical and water use. This study demonstrated that SAA-pretreatment may be a feasible option when using densified biomass as biorefinery feedstock. Two major studies focused at infield biomass bale aggregation logistics scenarios and the impact of equipment due to field operations. An automatic bale-picker (ABP) capacity of 8 bales/trip produced the least operating time for the field areas (8-259 ha), and was about 5.0 and 2.6 times lesser than the tractor with bale capacity 1 and 2 bales/trip, respectively. Overall, an ABP with a capacity of 8 bales/trip, which can also handle 11 bales/trip, was recommended considering its less soil impact pressure compared to higher capacity ABPs. Equipment impacted area simulation indicated that the infield bale logistics had a significant reduction of track impacted areas with ABP compared to the control method. Results indicated that the harvester followed by baler produced the most impacted area and the ABP the least impacted area. Soaking in Aqueous Ammonia pretreatment was done at 6 different severities, including a nonpretreated control, using loose corn stover. Severity was varied by increasing pretreatment time, temperature, and ammonia concentration. As expected, results showed increasing delignification (lower residual lignin content) with increasing pretreatment severity. All samples were hydrolyzed under low, moderate, and high cellulase and hemicellulase loadings. The same pretreatment conditions were tested with pelleted stover to test differences in delignification and subsequent impact on hydrolysis yields. Use of pelleted stover allowed reduction in pretreatment conditions, enzyme loadings, and hydrolysis time. At the highest enzyme loadings, hydrolysis time could be reduced from 48 to 24 with biomass pellets while still achieving 90% glucose yields. Pretreatment time, temperature and ammonia concentration could also be reduced compared to required conditions with loose stover. Using lower enzyme loadings, several pretreatment conditions allowed for 90% hydrolysis yields with pelleted stover while no conditions produced those yields with low enzyme loadings and loose stover. Cellulase enzymes were conjugated on a PGMA-PEG polymer for development of an engineered cellulosome. Initial testing showed that conjugated enzymes performed better than free enzymes at low enzyme loadings. At more typical enzymes loadings, free and conjugated enzymes performed similarly. Preliminary results showed that the effects of enzyme product inhibition from glucose release were negligible for the polymer-enzyme conjugate while the same system resulted in a 50% activity reduction for the free enzymes.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pandey, R., Nahar, N., and S.W. Pryor. 2018. Quantifying Reduction in Soaking in Aqueous Ammonia Pretreatment Severity and Enzyme Loadings for Corn Stover Pellets, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 1800286 Detroit, MI. July 29-Aug 1, 2018.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sunoj, S., C. Igathinathane, N. Saliendra, J. Hendrickson, and D. Archer. 2018. "Color Calibration of Digital Images for Agriculture and Other Applications." ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 146: 221-234.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Cobb, B.F., J. Kallenbach, C.A. Hall III, and S.W. Pryor. 2018. Optimizing the Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Lutein from Corn Gluten Meal, Food and Bioprocess Technology, 11(4):757-764.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Igathinathane, C. and Sanderson, M. 2018. Biofuel feedstock: challenges and opportunities In Green Chemistry for Sustainable Biofuel Production V. G. Gude (eds), Apple Academic Press (AAP), Distributed by CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group), USA. ISBN: 9781771886390. Chapter 2. Pages: 15-55. Published May 2018.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kohut, A., Pryor, S., Voronov, A., and S. Minko. 2017. Enzymogel Nanoparticles Chemistry for Highly Efficient Phase Boundary Biocatalysis. In P. Grunwald (Ed.), Biocatalysis and Nanotechnology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Monono, E., and D. Wiesenborn. 2018. Design and Testing of a Prototype Distillation Unit: A student Class Project. Paper No. 11800968 ASABE International Meeting Detroit, MI July 29-Aug 1, 2018.


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

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural producers, biofuel and biomass processors, biofuel investors, other researchers, university students Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?NDSU faculty and students attended and/or presented at several conferences including regional and international meetings for the ASABE. Conferences provided an opportunity to present research, hear about others' work, and strengthen professional networks for future collaborative projects. Graduate and undergraduate students participated in research activities, attended research meetings and conferences, and presented their work in front of colleagues. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Most results were disseminated through traditional methods of classroom instruction, conference presentations, and journal publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work in progress includes projects on biomass densification and pretreatment, Biomass collection logistiocs, use of immobilized cellulases to improve biomass processing, and biodiesel processing.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective A. Reduce costs of harvesting, handling, and transporting biomass to increase competitiveness of biomass as a feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and biochemicals. Task 2: Develop and evaluate harvest, process and handling methods. Effect or organic acids for the preservation of sugars in beet juice: Mineral acid preserves sugar in industrial beet juice under non-freezing conditions at pH <3.5 and solids content ≤ 64.5%. Organic acids produced in-situ at the start of storage may also be effective in preserving sugar; however, there is no study that has shown the potential of using organic acid to preserve beet juice. A storage study was then conducted at room temperature to evaluate the effectiveness of using acetic, butyric, citric, lactic, propionic, and pyruvic acids at three target pH levels (3.5, 4.25, and 5). It was determined that butyric acid at pH 4.25 and acetic acid at pH 3.5 retained over 85% of sugar after 38 storage days. Therefore, it is important to conduct an in-depth study on the combined effect of pH and solids content using butyric and acetic acids between pH 3.5 and 4.25. Task 3: Model and analyze integrated feedstock supply and process systems. A life cycle assessment approach was used to compare primary fossil energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from using pelleted and non-pelleted corn stover as a biorefinery feedstock. Operations considered were densification, transportation, and soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatment. Transportation energy use and emissions were 25% less with pelleted corn stover than with non-pelleted material. Our process energy analysis showed that SAA pretreatment was unrealistic for non-pelleted material because of high energy requirements for maintaining reactor temperature for an extended time (24 h). However, SAA-pretreatment of pelleted biomass required significantly lower energy inputs (89%) due to the effectiveness of lower severity pretreatment in terms of temperature and time. Higher pretreatment solid loadings possible with pelleted biomass also reduced the amount of chemicals and water used in pretreatment by 56% and 49%, respectively. This study demonstrated that although SAA-pretreatment of non-pelleted cellulosic biomass may be unrealistic from an energy use perspective, it may be a feasible option when using densified biomass as biorefinery feedstock. Two major studies focused at infield biomass bale aggregation logistics scenarios and the impact equipment tract impacted area generation due to field operations. Infield bale aggregation logistics simulation indicated that the logistics distance of ABP (8-259 ha) with 8 bales/trip was 82.9 % ± 0.01 % and 66.9 % ± 0.01 % compared to that of the tractor with 1 and 2 bales/trip. The field middle outlet produced the least aggregation distance (≈ 44 % of origin) followed by the mid-edge (≈ 30 % of origin) and the origin outlet the most. An ABP of capacity 8 bales/trip produced the least operating time for the field areas (8-259 ha) was about 5.0 and 2.6 times lesser than the tractor with bale capacity 1 and 2 bales/trip, respectively. Specific bales/trip logistics distance prediction models using field area following the power model; and generalized model for logistics distance and operation time using both field area and bales/trip following the modified Henderson model produced good performance (R2 ≥ 0.98). Overall, an ABP with a capacity of 8 bales/trip, which can also handle 11 bales/trip, was recommended considering its less soil impact pressure compared to higher capacity ABPs. Equipment impacted area simulation indicated that the infield bale logistics had a significant reduction of track impacted areas with ABP compared to the control method. Prediction models using linear, power, and multi-variable nonlinear models following isotherms of good performance to determine the curvilinear track path from Euclidean distances, impacted area from the field area for different and combined operations, as well as overall operational time were developed. Results indicated that the harvester followed by baler produced the most impacted area and the ABP the least. Objective B. Improve biofuel production processes B.1. Biological conversion processes Task 1: Develop pretreatment methods for biological conversion processes Soaking in Aqueous Ammonia pretreatment was done at 6 different severities, including a nonpretreated control, using loose corn stover. Severity was varied by increasing pretreatment time, temperature, and ammonia concentration. As expected, results showed increasing delignification (lower residual lignin content) with increasing pretreatment severity. All samples were hydrolyzed under low, moderate, and high cellulase and hemicellulase loadings. The same pretreatment conditions will be tested with pelleted stover to test differences in delignification and subsequent impact on hydrolysis yields. With non-pelleted stover, no combination of pretreatment and enzyme loadings were sufficient to reach 90% glucose hydrolysis yields by 24 h. Only the two most severe pretreatments reached 90% glucose yields under moderate enzyme loadings at 48 h. High enzyme loadings were sufficient to enable hydrolysis glucose yields of at least 90% for almost all pretreatments. Only the least severe pretreatment and the non-pretreated sample did not achieve 90% glucose yields. The most promising SAA treatment for loose stover is 55° C, for 19 h, with 16% ammonia; this treatment had a mean glucose yield of 97.2% after 48 h with moderate enzyme loadings (15 FU, 15 CBU, and 300 XU per g glucan). 48-h xylose hydrolysis data showed similar trends, but maximum yields were closer to 70%. B.3. Biodiesel production processes Task 3: Develop and characterize innovative processes for biodiesel production Industrial spent coffee grounds (IND-SCG) are a potential non-edible biodiesel feedstock due to their abundant global supply and high oil content. In this study, an in-situ transesterification was developed and scaled up for IND-SCG biodiesel production. Several hurdles must be overcome, including the high acid value, and wide range in particle size of IND-SCG. Washing IND-SCG with methanol reduced its high acid value with negligible loss of oil. Size reduction and an increase of the reaction temperatures were found to improve the biodiesel yield significantly. The whole deacidified IND-SCG was processed at 50 C; and a maximum biodiesel yield of 77% was achieved within 3 h. The process was successfully scaled up for processing 4 kg IND-SCG with a yield comparable to the 30-g scale. The IND-SCG biodiesel met the ASTM biodiesel standard in terms of total glycerin, water content, kinematic viscosity and oxidative stability index (OSI), but its acid value exceeded the standard. A simple process modification using acidic water to neutralize alkaline catalyst during refining step, instead of strong acid, enabled the IND-SCG biodiesel to meet the standard for acid value. The oxidative stability index of the in-situ IND-SCG biodiesel was superior to that of the conventional process, probably due to the co-extraction of natural antioxidants. Objective C. Identify, develop, and evaluate sustainable processes to convert biomass resources into biochemicals, biocatalysts, and biomaterials (non-fuel uses) Task 4: Develop enabling technologies for biochemical production. Cellulase enzymes were conjugated on a PGMA-PEG polymer for development of an engineered cellulosome. Initial testing showed that conjugated enzymes performed better than free enzymes at low enzyme loadings. At more typical enzymes loadings, free and conjugated enzymes performed similarly. Preliminary results showed that the effects of enzyme product inhibition from glucose release were negligible for the polymer-enzyme conjugate while the same system resulted in a 50% activity reduction for the free enzymes.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Nahar, N., and S.W. Pryor. 2017. Effects of Reduced Severity Ammonia Pretreatment on Pelleted Corn Stover, Industrial Crops and Products, 109C:163-172.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J.M., Ripplinger, D., Wiesenborn, D.P., and S.W. Pryor. 2017. Carbon footprint of industrial-beet sugars stored as raw thick juice for use as a fermentation feedstock, Journal of Cleaner Production, 162:1418-1429.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Nahar, N., Ripplinger, D., and S.W. Pryor. 2017. Process yield and economic trade-offs for enzymatic hydrolysis of alkaline pretreated corn stover. Biomass and Bioenergy, 99: 97-105.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Pryor, S.W., Smithers, J., Lyne, P. and R. van Antwerpen. 2017. Impact of Agricultural Practices on Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions for South African Sugarcane Production, Journal of Cleaner Production, 141:137-145.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Subhashree Navaneetha Srinivasagan. 2017. Infield Biomass Bales Aggregation Logistics and Equipment Track Impacted Area Evaluation. MS Thesis. Major Advisor: Igathinathane Cannayen
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Nahar, N., and S. Pryor, 2017. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for Corn Stover Pellets in Comparison with Baled Corn Stover, ASABE Annual International Meeting, Spokane, WA. July 17-20, 2017.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Isaac, I.C., S.A. Wootton, T.J. Johnson, E.L. Baldwin, L. Gu, B. Karki, A.N. Williams, C. Halfmann, R. Zhou, H. Zhu, J.M. Vargas-Ramirez, D.P. Wiesenborn, and W.R. Gibbons. 2017. Optimizing limonene production from sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) juice using genetically engineered E. coli W (ATCC 9637). Industrial Crops & Products, 108:248-256.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sitz, E.D., D.S. Bajwa, D.C. Webster, E.M. Monono, D.P. Wiesenborn, and S.G. Bajwa. 2017. Epoxidized sucrose soyateA novel green resin for crop straw based low density fiberboards. Industrial Crops & Products. 107:400-408.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tuntiwiwattanapun, N., E. Monono, D. Wiesenborn, and C. Tongcumpou. 2017. In-situ transesterification process for biodiesel production using spent coffee grounds from the instant coffee industry. Industrial Crops & Products, 102:23-31.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Nahar, N., Pandey, R., and S. Pryor, 2017. Implications of Using Pelleted Corn Stover as a Cellulosic Biorefinery Feedstock. S1041 Annual Meeting - S1041: The Science and Engineering for a Biobased Industry and Economy. Washington DC. July 10-11, 2017.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Subhashree, S.N., and Igathinathane, C. 2017. Efficient Biomass Bale Aggregation Logistics using an Automatic Bale Picker. 2017 Bio Industry Summit, Delta by Marriot, Fargo, ND, November 2, 2017. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Subhashree, S.N., and Igathinathane, C. 2017. Biomass Bale Infield Logistics Scenario using Automatic Bale Picker. ASABE Paper No. 1700598, 2017 ASABE Annual International Meeting held in Spokane, WA July 16th - 19th, 2017 (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Subhashree, S.N., and Igathinathane, C. 2017. Equipment Track Impacted Field Areas during Harvesting, Baling, and Infield Bale Logistics. ASABE Paper No. 1700599, 2017 ASABE Annual International Meeting held in Spokane, WA July 16th - 19th, 2017 (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Subhashree, S.N., and Igathinathane, C. 2017. Simulation on Track Impacted Field Areas during Harvesting, Baling, and Infield Bale Logistics: Farming and Ranching for the Bottom Line Conference, Bismarck State College National Energy Center of Excellence, Bismarck, ND, February 28, 2017 (Poster Presentation).


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

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural producers, biofuel and biomass processors, biofuel investors, other researchers, university students Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?NDSU faculty and students attended and/or presented at several conferences including regional and international meetings for the ASABE. Conferences provided an opportunity to present research, hear about others' work, and strengthen professional networks for future collaborative projects. Graduate students and postdocs participated in research activities, attended research meetings and conferences, and presented their work in front of colleagues. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Most results were disseminated through traditional methods of classroom instruction, conference presentations, and journal publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A more comprehensive baseline analysis of the effects of corn stover pelleting on pretreatment requirments will be initiated. A project to develop an anlyze a system for immobilization and reuse of enzymes for hydrolysis of celluloisc biomass will commence. Complete an evaluation of the effect or organic acids (especially acetic and butyric acid) for the preservation of sugars in beet juice. Work will continue on infield biomass bale logistics studies: (i) in pivot irrigated fields of circular shapes, (ii) application of automatic bale picker for bale logistics. Research of track impacted areas while harvesting, baling, and infield logistics will be conducted.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective A. Reduce costs of harvesting, handling, and transporting biomass to increase competitiveness of biomass as a feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and biochemicals. Task 1: Quantify and characterize biological feedstocks. Crambe seed is a relatively new oilseed produced primarily for industrial oil use. Oilseeds are often stored for extended periods before processing; thus, crambe oil quality may decline during storage. The objective of this study was to correlate oil quality to crambe storage conditions. Variations in relative humidity did not significantly correlate with variations observed with the measures of oil quality. Time and temperature significantly correlated with peroxide value and free fatty acids, but not with oxidative stability. oxidative stability remained high under nearly all storage conditions, showing excellent ability of crambe oil to resist deterioration. Task 2: Develop and evaluate harvest, process and handling methods. Concentrated, non-purified juice can be produced from industrial beets and stabilized to retain sugars and extend the processing campaigns of newly envisioned, non-food fermentation industries. However, juice concentration and acidification pre-storage (to enable long-term sugar retention), and juice conditioning post storage (to enable ethanol fermentation) could impact yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) performance. In our work, ammonium and sodium salts were synthesized in diffuser juice acidified from pH 6.5 to 3.5 with one of three mineral acids--hydrochloric, sulfuric, or phosphoric--and partially neutralized to pH 4.8 with one of two bases--sodium hydroxide or ammonium hydroxide. Alternatively, juice was directly supplemented with salts in the quantities synthesized in situ. A follow-up experiment was conducted to confirm the effects detected on yeast fermentation of sugars in diffuser juice. Pre-storage acidification and post-storage partial neutralization of concentrated beet juice could be used to synthesize ammonium salts that can improve yeast fermentation rates. Task 3: Model and analyze integrated feedstock supply and process systems. Two distinct scenarios were identified for the storage and processing of raw thick beet juice for conversion to ethanol, and then a sensitivity analysis was conducted on the carbon footprint of each scenario. The first scenario consisted of excluding frozen beet pile storage, which is representative of beet-growing regions that undergo mild winters that do not allow frozen pile storage. The second scenario consisted of varying the sugar content in beets to account for variability in beet sugar content across growing seasons. Fermentable sugars stored as raw thick juice have a carbon footprint that is about 30% and 50% lower than those of fermentable sugars from conventional processing of beet and corn grain, respectively. The largest contributors to the footprint of sugars in raw thick juice are beet production and raw juice concentration, representing 37% and 26%, respectively, of the total. Beet ethanol produced under the assumed scenarios could enable a greenhouse-gas reduction of up to 57% and would therefore qualify as an advanced biofuel in the U.S. under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Logistics of biomass bales infield aggregation through field stacks: For better management of bale logistics, producers often aggregate bales into stacks so that bale-hauling equipment can haul multiple bales. The effect of various field and operating variables of infield bale logistics with field stacks were studied. Major results of this study indicate: Forming bales into subfield stacks decouples aggregation and transportation; Increased subfield stacks and transported bales/trip make efficient logistics; Except for swath and windrow variation, field parameters significantly affected the logistics; Stacks at subfield middle and outlet at a corner with ≥ 6 bales/trip is a practical solution. Optimized location of field stacks: In another study the question of "Which location is best for bale stacks so that the logistics distances will be the minimum?" was researched. Major results include: Developed R simulation program evaluated six-bale stack location methods against areas; Geometric median is the most and medoid the least efficient method for aggregation; Methods, except origin, mostly were not significantly different among field areas; Aggregation was 76% and transport was 24% of the total, and total was 65% of origin; Field middle was practical and recommended method and its logistics fitted power models well. This work received a second-place MS category award from an ASABE subcommittee. Objective B. Improve biofuel production processes B.1. Biological conversion processes Task 1: Develop pretreatment methods for biological conversion processes Preliminary models were developed to determine the effect of reduced soaking in aqueous ammonia severity [time, temperature, and ammonia concentration] on the structure and hydrolysis yield of pelleted corn stover. Glucose yields of 95% were achieved with 3 hour pretreatment and ammonia concentrations as low as 8%. B.3. Biodiesel production processes Task 3: Develop and characterize innovative processes for biodiesel production As a step towards developing in-situ transesterification (in-situ TE) for seed-to-biodiesel production, four solvents (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and acetone; neat and in blends) were investigated for their potential in soybean oil extraction. Neat isopropanol compared favorably with the other solvents tested in terms of oil yield and properties of biodiesel product; thus, isopropanol was selected for process optimization of liquid-solid ratio (L-S ratio), shaking speed, extraction time and temperature. L-S ratio had the most significant effect on oil yield, and an increase in extraction temperature was able to reduce the solvent loading and improve the oil yield. Finally, in-situ TE was accomplished by applying the optimal conditions of isopropanol soybean oil extraction together with use of sodium catalyst. Applying optimal catalyst concentration and other process conditions, the yield of fatty acid isopropyl ester was 86.7% of the maximum theoretical yield. Moreover, the biodiesel had a low cloud point with −10 deg C. This promising biodiesel yield, simple process and superior cold flow property suggests in-situ TE may be feasible as a small decentralized process for rural areas. Objective C. Identify, develop, and evaluate sustainable processes to convert biomass resources into biochemicals, biocatalysts, and biomaterials (non-fuel uses) Task 4: Develop enabling technologies for biochemical production. Two experiments were completed to develop methods for extracting xanthophylls from corn industry co-products, post fermentation (PF) corn oil and corn gluten meal (CGM). A solid phase extraction (SPE) method was used to fractionate a xanthophyll-rich portion of PF corn oil by varying conditioning and eluting solvents used with a diol SPE column. Conditioning with dichloromethane yielded highest xanthophyll fractionation, 86.5%. The elution solvent selected did not impact fractionation based on a two-way ANOVA. Supercritical fluid extraction of xanthohpylls from CGM was modeled using a Box-Behnken design, varying temperature, pressure, and co-solvent ratio. The optimum conditions were determined to be 40 °C, 6820 psi, and 15% co-solvent, which would extract 85.4 µg lutein/g CGM, 2.6 times more lutein than an ethanol and chloroform: dichloromethane solvent extraction. Co-solvent was the most influential extraction parameter and increasing it further could yield higher xanthophyll recovery. With further studies, this work has industrial potential.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Tuntiwiwattanapun, N., C. Tongcumpou, and D. Wiesenborn. 2016. Optimization of alcoholic soybean oil extraction as a step towards developing in-situ transesterification for fatty acid isopropyl esters, Industrial Crops & Products, 94:189-196.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., Haagenson, D. M., Pryor, S., Wiesenborn, D. (2016). Beet tissue ensiling: An alternative for long-term storage of sugars in industrial beets for nonfood use. Biomass & Bioenergy, 85, 135-143.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., Pryor, S., Wiesenborn, D. (2016). Effects of Pre-Storage Concentration and Acidification and Post-Storage Conditioning of Non-Purified Beet Juice on Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) Fermentation. Industrial Biotechnology, 12(4), 245-253.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Biersbach, G., Rijal, B., Pryor, S., Gibbons, W. R. (2015). Effects of Enzyme Loading, Densification, and Storage on AFEX-Pretreated Biomass for Ethanol Production. Appl Biochem Biotechnol., 177(7):1530-1540
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Manamperi, W. A., Espinoza-Perez, J. D., Haagenson, D. M., Ulven, C., Wiesenborn, D., Pryor, S. (2015). Influence of oil extraction method on properties of canola biodiesel, epoxies, and protein-based plastics. Industrial Crops and Products, 77, 133138.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Monono, E. M., Bahr, J. A., Pryor, S., Webster, D., Wiesenborn, D. (2015). Optimizing Process Parameters of Epoxidized Sucrose Soyate Synthesis for Industrial Scale Production. Organic Process Research & Development, 19(11), 1683-1692.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Igathinathane, C., J. S. Tumuluru, D. Keshwani, M. Schmer, D. Archer, M. Liebig, J. Halvorson, J. Hendrickson and S. Kronberg (2016). Biomass bale stack and field outlet locations assessment for efficient infield logistics. Biomass & Bioenergy 91: 217-226.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Cobb, B., Extraction of Carotenoids from Corn Milling Coproducts, North Dakota State University, Fargo, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Monono, E., Wiesenborn, D., Pryor, S., Bahr, J., and D. Webster. 2016. Optimizing the Reagent Amounts and Process Conditions of Epoxidized Sucrose Soyate for Industrial Scale Production. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162461770 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Nahar, N., and S.W. Pryor. 2016 Reduced severity ammonia pretreatment and lowered enzyme loading with pelleted corn stover, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162443765 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., Wiesenborn, D., and S.W. Pryor. 2016 Effects of pre-storage concentration and acidification, and post-storage conditioning of non-purified beet juice on yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) fermentation, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162461633 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Pryor, S.W., Tweddle, P., and Smithers, J. 2016 Impacts of Agronomic Practices on a South African Sugarcane LCA, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162431731 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., Ripplinger, D., Wiesenborn, D., and S.W. Pryor. 2016 Cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of industrial-beet sugars for nonfood fermentations, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162461527 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Cobb, B., Pryor S.W., Kallenbach, J., and C. Hall. 2016 Extracting Carotenoids from Corn Gluten Meal with Supercritical CO2, ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 162432587 Orlando, FL. Jul 17-20, 2016.


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

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural producers, biofuel and biomass processors, biofuel investors, other researchers, university students Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?NDSU faculty and students attended and/or presented at several conferences including regional and international meetings for the ASABE. Conferences provided an opportunity to present research, hear about others' work, and strengthen professional networks for future collaborative projects. Graduate students (4) and postdocs (1) participated in research activities, attended research meetings and conferences, and presented their work in front of colleagues. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Most results were disseminated through traditional methods of classroom instruction, conference presentations, and journal publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work will continue on interaction of biomass densification and low-cost processing for cellulosic biofuels. Projects are being developed using new feedstocks and low-cost pretreatment technologies. Sugarbeet processing will continue to be a local project emphasis with concentration on front-end processing and storage and fermentation of juice or crushed sugarbeets.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective A. Reduce costs of harvesting, handling, and transporting biomass to increase competitiveness of biomass as a feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and biochemicals. Task 1: Quantify and characterize biological feedstocks. Corn gluten meal, distillers dried grains with solubles, and post-fermentation corn oil are being tested for extraction for carotenoids and other antioxidants. Solid phase extraction is being used for concentration from oil samples, and supercritical carbon dioxide and accelerated solvent extraction are being used for solid samples. Integral reaction heat for pyrolysis and combustion for switchgrass, big bluestem and corn stalks were determined using TGA/DSC in the temperature range of 30 to 700°C. A concept of iso-conversion differential reaction heats was used to determine the differential reaction heats of each thermal characteristics segment of these materials. Results showed that the integral reaction heats were endothermic from 30 to 700°C for pyrolysis of switchgrass and big bluestem, but they were exothermic for corn stalks prior to 587°C. However, the integral reaction heats for combustion of the materials followed an endothermic to exothermic transition. Task 2: Develop and evaluate harvest, process and handling methods. Process interactions between biomass densification and pretreatment and hydrolysis continue to be tested using corn stover. Evaluation of pelleting impacts is being planned using life cycle assessment. Industrial-beet tissue was ensiled for 8 wk at 23 °C and various combinations of pH, moisture content (MC), and sugar:solids (SSR). MC and pH had statistically significant effects on sugar retention in beet tissue silage, whereas SSR had no significant effect. Some combinations of pH≤4.0 and MC≤67.5 % enabled high (≥90 %) sugar retentions in ensiled tissue; in one instance, retention was significantly >100% indicating some hydrolysis of polysaccharide. Sulfuric acid costs (on dry-basis sugar) to achieve effective 2.0≤pH≤4.0 for sugar retentions ≥90 % range from 3.7 $ Mg-1 to 13.9 $ Mg-1. The effect of water temperature and application of thin juice, in place of ambient tap water, in front-end processing (FEP) of extracting the raw juice from frozen and fresh industrial beets were determined. Form the study it is recommended that frozen beets are more suitable for extraction and 60°C hot water for fresh beets and 50°C for frozen beets for efficient juice extraction. Thin juice of <5°Brix instead of water was found efficient, considering the dilution effect and evaporation loads. On average, application of hot water (savings of $6.5/t of beets) and thin juice (savings of $1.8/t of beets) produced good cost saving in FEP of beets with ambient water. A novel theoretical size reduction specific energy consumption model that used physical parameters, such as mechanical shear stress, particle size distribution, and screen size was developed and tested for size reduction of corn stalks in knife mill at three moisture contents. The model fitted the experimental observation well (R2 ≥ 0.95), and the ANOVA indicated that the moisture content followed by screen size significantly influenced the energy consumption, but not the shear stress. Task 3: Model and analyze integrated feedstock supply and process systems. Break even distance (BED), the distance a solid biofuel can be moved utilizing its energy content, was evaluated for several solid fuels in comparison with fossil fuel energy used in three modes of transport (truck, rail, and ship). Results indicated that the moisture content affected the BED negatively and ship transport is more efficient followed by rail and truck. It was found that a standard truck of wood chips has 2.6 times the energy required to travel along US perimeter, and interstate transport (<2680 miles) of biomass is possible while utilizing only a fraction of energy. Logistics work on biomass bales aggregation and field stacks location and distribution is in progress. Preliminary results indicate that the total aggregation distance for making field stacks reduced substantially (50% to 96%) and the total additional transportation distance reduced (42% to 3.6%) as the number of field stacks increased (1 to 196; 1 quarter section field) when compared to aggregating all the bales to the corner outlet point. Logistics simulation research on anticipatory grain cart movement in coordination with combine harvester is also in progress. Practical scenarios of grain cart movement and the savings in terms of driving distances and fuel consumed will be studied and compared as affected by various field variables. Objective B. Improve biofuel production processes B.1. Biological conversion processes Task 1: Develop pretreatment methods for biological conversion processes Preliminary work has shown that pelleting improves the effectiveness of using ultrasound as a biomass pretreatment. Ultrasound had had little to know impact on loose biomass slurries but increased subsequent hydrolysis yields from pelleted biomass by 20-30%. Task 2: Develop conversion processes A study was completed showing that β-glucosidase supplementation during biomass hydrolysis can be reduced by 80-90% from what is typically reported in the literature with no significant effect on hydrolysis rate or yield. B.3. Biodiesel production processes Task 3: Develop and characterize innovative processes for biodiesel production The production of biodiesel from spent coffee grounds (SCG) is being investigated in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. SCG is a byproduct of the instant coffee industry, and contains up to 20% oil (db). A major challenge is the high moisture content of SCG, which leads to high levels of free fatty acids, depending upon the length of storage before drying and the drying method. In situ methods for simultaneous extraction plus transesterification achieved biodiesel yields >90%, and the biodiesel passed several common tests for quality, including OSI. Objective C. Identify, develop, and evaluate sustainable processes to convert biomass resources into biochemicals, biocatalysts, and biomaterials (non-fuel uses) Task 4: Develop enabling technologies for biochemical production. The epoxidation of sucrose soyate (ESS) was optimized for five parameters using mini-plants (30-g product per batch) and a Box-Behnken experimental design. Samples epoxidized at 60 - 65 oC for 4.5-5 h had conversion >98% even when reagent amounts were reduced 18-20%. Similar resin quality was observed when one of the optimal conditions was scaled-up to a 3 kg batch. Objective D. Identify and develop needed educational resources, develop distance based delivery methods, and develop a trained work force for the biobased economy. Task 2: Distribute new knowledge to train the work force and general public in biobased products and processing. A series of 5 educational videos were written and filmed to answer basic questions and technoeconomic goals and challenges for biomass resources and biobased fuels. Videos are aimed at undergraduate students and for use as outreach in secondary schools or with Extension agents. A technical workshop and demonstration on "Flood Affected Woody Biomass Utilization" was conducted at NGPRL, USDA-ARS, Mandan, ND arranged by Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, NDSU. The educational material developed addressed woody biomass status in ND, characteristics of feedstocks, high value (e.g., lumber, pellet) and low value (e.g., firewood, mulch, chips, shaving, sawdust, etc.) products production, and economic analysis of high and low value products.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Monono, E.M., D.C. Webster, and D.P. Wiesenborn. 2015. Pilot scale (10 kg) production and characterization of epoxidized sucrose soyate. Industrial Crops and Products, 74:987-997.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Plata, V., D. Haagenson, A. Dagdelen, D. Wiesenborn and V. Kafarov. 2015. Improvement of palm oil filterability by adsorption methods. Journal of the American Chemists Society, 92(6):893-903.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, and S. Kronberg. 2015. Profile based image analysis for identification of chopped biomass stem nodes and internodes. Industrial Crops and Products, 70: 374-382.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, J. Shen, K. Nichols, and D. Archer. 2015. Milled industrial beet color kinetics and total soluble solid contents by image analysis. Industrial Crops and Products, 65: 159-169.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pryor, S. W., and Nahar, N., 2015. ?-glucosidase supplementation during biomass hydrolysis: How low can we go?, Biomass and Bioenergy, 80:298-302.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Monono, E., Pilot Scale Production, Characterization, and Optimization of Epoxidized Vegetable Oil-Based Resins, North Dakota State University, Fargo, 2015.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Shen, J., C. Igathinathane, M. Yu, and A.K. Pothula. 2015. Biomass pyrolysis and combustion integral and differential reaction heats with temperatures using thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry. Bioresource Technology, 185: 89-98.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez., J.M., D.M. Haagenson, S. Rahman, D.P. Wiesenborn, and J.M. Vargas-L�pez. 2014. Cambio en azucares fermentables en la remolacha azucarera almacenada en atmosferas aerobia y anaerobia para la producci�n de etanol, Epistemus, accepted. (Title in English: Change in fermentable sugars in sugar beet stored under aerobic and anaerobic conditions for the production of ethanol; accessed through Latindex: www.latindex.unam.mx ).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, M., C. Igathinathane, J. Hendrickson, M. Sanderson, and M. Liebig. 2014. Mechanical shear and tensile properties of selected biomass stems. Special Issue on Advances in Biomass Pretreatment & Conversion. Transactions of the ASABE, 57(4): 1231-1242.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, M., C. Igathinathane, J.R. Hendrickson, and M. Sanderson. 2014. Moisture sorption kinetics of switchgrass, big bluestem, and bromegrass biomass. Special Issue on Advances in Biomass Pretreatment & Conversion. Transactions of the ASABE, 57(4): 1219-1230.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., Technical and Economic Assessments of Storage Techniques for Long-Term Retention of Industrial-Beet Sugar for Non-Food Industrial Fermentations, North Dakota State University, Fargo, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Cobb, B., and S. W. Pryor, Antioxidant Concentration of Post-fermentation Corn Oil from Dry Grind Ethanol Production, RRV15-042 ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting. Fargo, ND. Apr 10-11, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Igathinathane, C. 2015. A simplified machine vision method based particulate material particle size distribution. 2015 ASABE North Central Intersectional Conference, North Dakota State University, April 10  11, 2015, Fargo, ND. Paper number: RRV15-015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Igathinathane, C., R. Visvanathan, G. C. Bora, and S. Rahman. 2015. Axisymmetrical agricultural produce multiple and mean dimensions measurement using image processing. 2015 ASABE North Central Intersectional Conference, North Dakota State University, April 10  11, 2015, Fargo, ND. Paper number: RRV15-012.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Igathinathane, C., U. Ulusoy, and Yu, M. 2015. Biomass and particulate material particle size distribution models software development. 2015 ASABE North Central Intersectional Conference, North Dakota State University, April 10  11, 2015, Fargo, ND. Paper number: RRV15-008.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Momin, M. A., C. Igathinathane, and J. Shen. 2015. Economic analysis of small scale industries for affected woody biomass. 2015 Bio-Industry Summit, NDSU Fargo, ND, May 28, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Momin, M. A., C. Igathinathane, and J. Shen. 2015. Economic analysis of flood affected woody biomass utilization. 2015 ASABE North Central Intersectional Conference, North Dakota State University, April 10  11, 2015, Fargo, ND. Paper number: RRV15-022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Momin, M.A., R.M. Towfiqur, S.M. Sabrina, and C. Igathinathane. 2015. Computer vision system for grading mangos in Bangladesh. Paper number: 152189402. 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 26  29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Monono, E.M., D.P. Wiesenborn. Heat transfer analysis of a 38 L reactor for the production of epoxidized sucrose soyate, Paper No. 152190724. ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, LA Jul 26-29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Nahar, N. Higher Pretreatment Solid Loading and Lower Enzyme Loading Using Corn Stover Pellets. NDSU, RRV15-037 ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting. Fargo, ND. Apr 10-11, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, M. A. Momin, and R. Whittaker. 2015. Effect of thin juice concentration in multiple extraction of juice from industrial beets. 2015 ASABE North Central Intersectional Conference, North Dakota State University, April 10  11, 2015, Fargo, ND. Paper number: RRV15-018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, M. A. Momin, R. Whittaker, and J. Halvorson. 2015. Effect of water temperature on milled industrial beet multiple extraction. Paper number: 152189954. 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 26  29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, R. Whittaker, and M. A. Momin. 2015. Hot water and thin juice for industrial beets juice extraction. 2015 Bio-Industry Summit, NDSU Fargo, ND, May 28, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pryor, S. W., Using Prerecorded Lectures to Increase Student Interaction in Introductory and Applied Engineering Courses. Scott Pryor, NDSU, RRV15-029 ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting. Fargo, ND. Apr 10-11, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tumuluru, J.S., C. Igathinathane, and D. Archer. 2015. Energy analysis and break-even distance for transportation for biofuels in comparison to fossil fuels. Paper number: 152188618. 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 26  29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tuntiwiwattanapun, N., C. Tongcumpou, D. Wiesenborn. Determining crucial parameters to maximize biodiesel yield of in-situ transesterification process with acetone co-solvent, Paper No. 152178906. ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, LA Jul 26-29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vargas-Ramirez, J., A. Pothula, I. Cannayen, S. W. Pryor, D. Haagenson, D. Wiesenborn, Sugar retention in ensiled industrial-beet tissue Paper No. 152190193. ASABE International Meeting. New Orleans, LA Jul 26-29, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Yu, M., and C. Igathinathane. 2015. Biomass size reduction energy generalized regression model. 2015 Bio-Industry Summit, NDSU Fargo, ND, May 28, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Yu, M., and C. Igathinathane. 2015. Biomass size reduction model based on particle size distribution, mechanical shearing stress, and biomass species. Paper number: 152190065. 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 26  29, 2015.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Jun, H.-I., D. Wiesenborn, and Y.-S., Kim. 2014. Antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from canola (Brassica napus) seed, Food Science & Biotechnology, 23(6):1753-1760.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Monono, E.M., D. Haagenson and D. Wiesenborn. 2015. Characterizing the epoxidation process conditions of canola oil for reactor scale-up. Industrial Crops and Products, 67:364-372.


Progress 01/28/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Agricultural producers, biofuel and biomass processors, biofuel investors, other researchers, university students Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? NDSU faculty and students attended and/or presented at several conferences including regional and international meetings for the ASABE. Conferences provided an opportunity for to present research, hear about others' work, and strengthen professional networks for future collaborative projects. Graduate students (5) and postdocs (1) participated in research activities, attended research meetings and conferences, and presented their work in front of colleagues. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Most results were disseminated through traditional methods of classroom instruction, conference presentations, and journal publications. One undergraduate female student from a HBCU who was particpiating in an NDSU summer research program conducted research on cellulosic biofuel production. She presented her work to other colleagues participating in the program as well as other members of the NDSU community attending the final presentations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Work will continue on interaction of biomass densification and low-cost processing for cellulosic biofuels. Projects are being developed using new feedstocks and low-cost pretreatment technologies. Sugarbeet processing will continue to be a local project emphasis with concentration on front-end processing and storage and fermentation of juice or crushed sugarbeets. Bioenergy videos developed primarily in the last reporting period will be distributed for use.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: NDSU worked on project goals for evaluating biomass delivery to increase biofuel competitiveness, for developing conversion technologies for biofuels and other bioproducts, and for educating university students to succeed in biobased industries. These goals are vital to strengthen the ability of biobased industries to compete with conventional energy and material industries. We must be able to efficiently grow, harvest, collect, deliver, and process biomass into a wide variety of fuels and materials. We also need to have a professional workforce that understands the opportunities, challenges, and technologies for these industries. Goal 1: Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. Quantify and characterize biological feedstocks. Mechanical properties, such as shearing, cutting, and compression of frozen and thawed beets were evaluated and found significant difference between these conditions. Machine vision approach was used to study the color kinetics of the crushed beets and models predicting kinetic characteristics and the soluble solids content (most sugar) from the color measurements were developed. Machine vision method was also used to identify nodes and internodes, these components having significantly different chemical composition, and algorithm based on (a) color along the axis and (b) roughness of the profile were developed. Effective moisture diffusion coefficient on the initial stage of biomass pyrolysis, and reaction heats during biomass pyrolysis were determined from the standard TGA characteristics. Develop and evaluate harvest, process and handling methods. Process interactions between biomass densification and pretreatment and hydrolysis continue to be tested using pelleted switchgrass and corn stover. Downstream process improvements should make pelletization more economically feasible. The novel front-end processing of extracting the raw juice from energy beets for biofuel production was developed, tested, and reported. Past experiments used tap water at ambient temperature. The future experiments will focus on (a) hot water application for extraction, (b) thin juice from previous batch for extraction to minimize the dilution, and (c) time reduction effect during pressing. Long-term storage techniques to preserve fermentable sugars from sugar beets continues to be an important focus area. High-yielding sugar beet varieties (referred to as “energy beets”) may qualify as advanced biofuel feed stocks in the US. The focus in the past year was on the storage of the beets themselves, as opposed to storage of thick, raw juice which was the previous focus. Beets stored aerobically at room temperature for 36 weeks had excellent sugar retention, but this approach may not be economically feasible when scaled up to commercial needs. Storage in sealed containers resulted in severe sugar loss, and surface treatments (two acidulants and one senescence inhibitor) showed no benefit. Beet-to-beet variability was higher than expected, and must be taken into account in future experimental design. Model and analyze integrated feedstock supply and process systems. Size reduction energy requirement models as a function of particle size parameter and mechanical strength properties were developed for corn stalks, switchgrass, and big bluestem using a knife mill. A generalized size reduction energy model, that can evaluate the energy requirements irrespective of biomass crop, is being developed. Goal 2: Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. Task: Develop pretreatment methods for biological conversion processes for cellulosic biofuels Soaking in aqueous ammonia pretreatment conditions were tested using pelleted switchgrass and pelleted corn stover. Pelleted corn stover showed similar benefits in terms of improved hydrolysis yields. The use of pelleted feedstocks also enable increasing pretreatment solid loading two-fold without a decrease in effectiveness. Task: Develop conversion processes for cellulosic biofuels Cellulase enzymes attached to polymer brushes grafted to silica or ferromagnetic core particles were used to test enzyme recovery and reuse. Models were developed showing the impact of pH and temperature on efficacy of immobilized enzymes. A study was completed to determine the optimal carrying capacity of the enzymes on the brush particles. Task: Develop and characterize innovative processes for biodiesel production Palm oil biodiesel (POB) is characterized by a very high cold soak filtration time (CSFT). The effect of four adsorbents on the CSFT, precipitate content and other POB quality factors was determined. Acid activated bleaching earth was especially effective, and the ASTM limit for CSFT was achieved in 10 min at room temperature with a modest adsorbent loading (0.65%). Task: Develop enabling technologies for biochemical production. Novel epoxidized vegetable oils continue to be of current interest for a variety of applications in coatings and polymeric materials. Samples are needed at quantities beyond gram scale to test such applications. The epoxidation reaction is highly exothermic and takes several hours to achieve high conversion. One particular focus of the past year has been to minimize the initial upward spike in reactor temperature without unduly extending the reaction time. The set point temperature and reactant addition rate were related to the magnitude of the temperature spike and important functional properties of the product. Goal 3: Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy. Task: Distribute new knowledge to train the work force and general public in biobased products and processing. 10 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students enrolled in a Biobased Energy course to learn about biobased resources and conversion technologies for biofuels and biopower. Lectures were provided via a "flipped classroom" approach where all lecture materials were shared online prior to class so that class time could focus on discussion. A series of 5 educational videos are being developed to answer basic questions and technoeconomic goals and challenges for biomass resources and biobased fuels. Videos will be aimed at undergraduate students and used for outreach in secondary schools or with Extension agents. Educational material on the “Flood affected woody biomass utilization opportunities” is being developed. The material will outline the various pathways of utilizing the affected woody biomass. Workshops with technical demonstration are planned for this program.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Nahar, N., and S. W. Pryor 2014. Effect of pH, temperature, and enzyme loading on hydrolysis of soaking aqueous ammonia pretreated corn stover, Paper No. 141910128. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Samaratunga, A., Nahar, N., Voronov, A., Minko, S., and S.W. Pryor 2014. Modeling the effect of pH and temperature for cellulases immobilized on polymer brushes, Paper No. 141910262. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bee, J., Nahar, N., and S.W. Pryor. 2014 Effects of solid loading of corn stover pellets on soaking in aqueous ammonia pretreatment. NDSU Summer Undergraduate STEM Research Symposium. Fargo, ND Jul 15, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, M., A. K. Pothula, J. Shen and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Generalized size reduction energy model for selected biomass. Innovations & Expressions - ND EPSCoR/IDeA 2014 State Conference, April 29, 2014, UND, Grand Forks, ND. Poster No. 130.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Shen, J., M. Yu, A. K. Pothula, and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Investigation of reaction heats with temperatures and particle sizes during biomass pyrolysis using a TGA/DSC. Innovations & Expressions - ND EPSCoR/IDeA 2014 State Conference, April 29, 2014, UND, Grand Forks, ND. Poster No. 114.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., J. Shen and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Color change kinetics modeling of ground industrial beets by image analysis. Innovations & Expressions - ND EPSCoR/IDeA 2014 State Conference, April 29, 2014, UND, Grand Forks, ND. Poster No. 99.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Igathinathane, C., M. Yu, and A. K. Pothula. 2014. Biomass quality evaluation and value addition. Bio-Industry Summit Future of the Bio-Industry: Feed, Fuel, Heal and Build the World. NDSU, Fargo, ND, May 21, 2014.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Front end processing of energy beets. Bio-Industry Summit Future of the Bio-Industry: Feed, Fuel, Heal and Build the World. NDSU, Fargo, ND, May 21, 2014.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Shen, J., and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Flood affected wood utilization opportunities. Bio-Industry Summit Future of the Bio-Industry: Feed, Fuel, Heal and Build the World. NDSU, Fargo, ND, May 21, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Plata, V., Haagenson, D., Da?delen, A., Wiesenborn, D., and V. Kafarov. 2014. Improvement of palm oil biodiesel filterability by adsorption methods. ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting, Brookings, SD, Mar. 28-29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Da?delen, A., Haagenson, D., Plata, V., and D. Wiesenborn. 2014. Isolating and quantifying steryl glucosides from palm oil biodiesel. ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting, Brookings, SD, Mar. 28-29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, S. Kronberg, and J. Hendrickson. 2014. Identification of Nodes and Internodes of Chopped Biomass by Image Analysis. 2014 ASABE Intersectional Meeting, South Dakota State University, March 28  29, 2014, Brookings, SD. Paper No. SD14-054.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Shen, J., C. Igathinathane, and A. K. Pothula. 2014. Development of Multiple-stage Kinetic Model of Thermogravimetric Analysis for Biomass Pyrolysis. 2014 ASABE Intersectional Meeting, South Dakota State University, March 28  29, 2014, Brookings, SD. Paper No. 035.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, M., C. Igathinathane, A. K. Pothula, J. Hendrickson, and M. Sanderson. 2014. Modeling Corn Stalks Size Reduction Energy with Particle Size and Mechanical Properties. 2014 ASABE Intersectional Meeting, South Dakota State University, March 28  29, 2014, Brookings, SD. Paper No. SD14-034.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, M. Yu, and M. Sanderson. 2014. Biomass Standardization by Designed Mixing of Individual Feedstocks. 2014 ASABE Intersectional Meeting, South Dakota State University, March 28  29, 2014, Brookings, SD. Paper No. SD14-033.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, J. Shen, K. Nichols, and D. Archer. 2014. Machine Vision Analysis for Industrial Beet Color Change Kinetics and Total Soluble Solids Content. 2014 ASABE Intersectional Meeting, South Dakota State University, March 28  29, 2014, Brookings, SD. Paper No. SD14-008.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pryor, S.W. and N. Nahar, and 2014. Enzymatic hydrolysis of corn cob with reduced cellobiase loadings. ASABE North Central Intersectional Meeting. Brookings, SD. Mar 28-29, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Kudina, O., Zakharchenko, A., Samaratunga, A., Nahar, N., Ionov, L., Pryor, S.W., Voronov, A., and S. Minko. Nanostructured responsive enzymogel particles for bioconversion. Responsive Nanostructures and Nanocomposites, 247th ACS National Meeting, Dallas, TX, March 16-20, 2014.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Haagenson, D.M., Perleberg, J.R., and D.P. Wiesenborn. 2014. Fractionation of canola biodiesel sediment for quantification of steryl glucosides with HPLC/ELSD, Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society. 91(3):497-502.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Sidhu, H.K., Haagenson, D.M., Rahman, M., and D.P. Wiesenborn. 2014. Diode array near infrared spectrometer calibrations for composition analysis of single plant canola (Brassica napus) seed, Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 30(1):69-76.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Rijal, B., Biersbach, G., Gibbons, W., and S. W. Pryor. 2014. Effect of initial particle size and densification on AFEX-pretreated biomass for ethanol production, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 174:845854.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Nahar, N., Rorick, R.E., and S.W. Pryor. 2014. Effects of enzyme and solid loading on sugar beet pulp hydrolysis, Biological Engineering Transactions. 7(1): 17-26.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Nahar, N., and S. W. Pryor. 2014. Reduced Pretreatment Severity and Enzyme Loading Enabled through Switchgrass Pelleting, Biomass and Bioenergy, 67:46-52.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Kudina, O., A. Zakharchenko, L. Ionov, G. Stoychev, N. Puretskiy, S.W. Pryor, A. Voronov, and S. Minko. 2013. Highly Efficient Phase Boundary Biocatalysis with Enzymogel Nanoparticles, Angewandte Chemie, 53:2, 483-487.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., Igathinathane, C., Faller, T., and R. Whittaker. 2014. Novel front end processing method of industrial beet juice extraction for biofuels and bioproducts industries. Biomass and Bioenergy, 68: 161-174.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., Igathinathane, C., Kronberg, S., and J. Hendrickson. 2014. Digital image processing based identification of nodes and internodes of chopped biomass stems. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 105: 54-65.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Igathinathane, C., Archer, D., Gustafson, C., Schmer, M., Hendrickson, J., Kronberg, S., Keshwani, D., Backer, L. Hellevang, K., and T. Faller. 2014. Biomass Round Bales In?eld Aggregation Logistics Scenarios. Biomass and Bioenergy, 66: 12-26.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Samaraunga, A. Efficacy and Recovery of Cellulases Immobilized on Polymer Brushes Grafted on Silica Nanoparticles, North Dakota State University, Fargo, 2014.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schemer, M., and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Production and supply logistics of switchgrass as an energy feedstock In Sustainable Bioenergy Production L. Wang (eds), CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group), USA. ISBN-13: 978-1-4665-0552-0. Chapter 7. Pages: 155-191.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pryor, S.W., Nahar, N., Igathinathane, I., Ripplinger, D., Rijal, B., and J. Bee. 2014. Synergies of Biomass Densification and Biochemical Processing, S1041 Annual Meeting - S1041: The Science and Engineering for a Biobased Industry and Economy. New Orleans, LA Aug 3-5, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, T. Faller, and R. Whittaker. 2014. Simplified Front End Processing of Energy Beets Juice Extraction for Bioethanol Production. Paper No. 141922383. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, J. Halvorson, and M. Sanderson. 2014. Mechanical Properties of Energy Beets under Different Conditions. Paper No. 141922381. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pothula, A. K., C. Igathinathane, S. Kronberg, and J. Hendrickson. 2014. Identification of nodes and internodes of chopped biomass stems by Image analysis. Paper No. 141922378. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Shen, J., and C. Igathinathane. 2014. Effective Moisture Diffusion Coefficients Determination During the Initial Stage of Biomass Pyrolysis under Non-isothermal Conditions Using a Thermogravimetric Analyzer. Paper No. 141912985. ASABE International Meeting. Montreal, CA Jul 14-16, 2014.