Bioenergy at the MU Bradford Research and Extension Center

BUILDINGSUtilize Alternative Forms of Energy

Pesticide Storage FacilityPassive Heat and Air Exchange

Use ground heat to keep the pesticide storage area above freezing in the winter and cool in the summer.

Also air exchanges of 6 times per hour

Passive Solar Greenhouse Aren’t all

Greenhouses Solar?

Yes, but a Passive Solar Greenhouse does not use an artificial heat source Instead water,

concrete, or some other heat holding material

Heat Source Black 55 gallon

Barrels filled with water

Rule of Thumb-2.5 gallons/ ft2 of glazing for season extension or 5 gallons/ft2 for all season

Temperature During January

Greenhouse Dailey Low and Water High and Low

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55

Julian Day of the Year

Tem

pera

ture

GH Low Water High Water Low

Passive Solar Greenhouse

Additional Idea South Hip Wall

Plastic being able to be rolled up and down Allow for cooling in

the warmer weather

Can be raised or lowered each day

Sealed down during the winter.

Corn Stove For Our Greenhouse

30 X 40 FT GREENHOUSE CORN STOVE

Corn Stove How Much Corn Do You Use?

In a insulated house on a cold day about 1 bushel/day

On a cold night in the greenhouse about 5-6 bushels A 30 x 96 greenhouse uses about 200 gallons of

propane per night when it is 15 degrees F

Greenhouse

New Outside Furnace in Main Building

Stainless Steel Pallet Burner Saves 9,000

gallons of Propane each year

New Conference Center

Alternative Energy Sources Solar and Wind

Combination 10 kWatt System

700 kwatt/month $75,000

Payback –probably not

Educational Value

Wind Anemometer Wind

Anemometer Project with DNR Measure the wind

quality at 66 ft for one year

Collaboration with Pipeline Freight Company

Building a Machine to compress switchgrass and corn stover into pellets.

Test Fired in our outside

Fuel vs Food Controversy With Cellulostic

Ethanol or Other Biofuel?

Corn-1/3 Ethanol, 1/3 Distillers Grain, 1/3 CO2

Cellulosic Ethanol or Pelleting-100% Fuel No animal feed

Grass Monocultures For Biofuels A monoculture of a

grass will be essentially a desert for wildlife

Livestock?

Cost is driven up by N fertilizer

What if we had a mixed stand?

Diverse Stands Minnesota Study

Published in Science (Tillman et. al., 2006) Found More Biomass and Biofuel Potential When As The Diversity Increased

Use of Natives?

Diverse Stands Use of Native

Legumes for a N source

Also Provide Flexibility for Livestock

Forbs and Legumes

Diverse Stand At MU Bradford

Research and Extension Center Low Input/High

Diverse compared to a High Input/Monoculture 18 different forbs and

legumes Switchgrass and Big

Bluestem Cutting Height Seasonal Harvests

Depending on Need

Monoculture Switchgrass

20% Legume 80% Switchgrass

40% Legume 60% Switchgrass

80% Legume 20% Switchgrass

Cut Height 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6"

Monoculture Big Bluestem

20% Legume 80% Big Bluestem

40% Legume 60% Big Bluestem

80% Legume 20% Big Bluestem

Cut Height 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6" 12" 6"

Type

of

Gras

s M

ix

Total Width = 480' (144 m)

Replicate 3Cutting Date

May July

Replicate 1 Replicate 2Cutting Date

May July October

Type

of

Gras

s M

ix

Cutting Date

May July October

Comparison of Various Crops for Biofuel Production

Compare different crops for their ethanol production capibilities.

Native Warm Season Grasses, Miscanthus, Corn for grain and stover

Treatments Miscanthus Switchgrass Big Bluestem Indiangrass Sweet Sorghum Continuous Corn-Grain Continuous Corn-Grain

and Stover Corn/Soybean rotation

for Grain Tall Fescue as a

control

BioFuels Project Look at Economics

Look at Soil Properties If remove large

amount of biomass what is that going to do to soil properties

Biofuels Nursery Grasses for Ethanol

Switchgrass, Indiangrass, Eastern Gamma, Big Bluestem, Miscanthus

Grains and Sugar Crops for Ethanol Corn, Grain Sorghum,

Sweet Sorghum, Sugar Cane, Sugar Beets

Oil Crops Soybeans, Canola, and

Sunflower

What Are Others Doing at Bradford?

Felix Fritschi Sweet Sorghum

Varieties N timing

Bill Wiebold Corn Stover

removal Cover crops

QUESTIONS?