On-Farm Oil Seed / Biodiesel ProjectState Line Farm, Shaftsbury, VT

A lot of farms and farmers in the Northeast are looking for new, ‘non-commodity’ enterprises.

A lot of farms are also looking forsources of renewable energy

Our goal

• Farms working together to make their own fuel, using their own raw materials, with sustainable practices.

Making biodiesel from waste vegetable oil in the old dairy barn

The first crop of oil seed crops, but no way to extract the oil for fuel.

In 2005 an oil seed press was purchased.

Other farmers helped buy the press, and grew test plots of sunflower, canola, other oil seed crops.

May 4, 2006 preparing to plant

Brillion seed drillused to sow canola

Canola in flower on July 1

Canola seed pods on August 1

Canola seed nearly dry on August 18

Sunflowers on July 1

Sunflowers on August 1

Sunflowers on October 2

The crop looks good now, but deer and bird damage, or diseases can be a problem.

2007 sunflower variety trial at State Line Farm; yields ranged from 1,247 to 2,396 lb/acre

Get the 1960’s combine ready

In northern VT canola trials with 24 varietieshad an average yield of 1,800 lb/acre

First set up for pressing the seed for oil and meal

a temporary settling tank

Seed meal = livestock feed, worth about $200+ per ton, roughly twice that if organic

Chinese oil press recently arrived at Rainville Farm in VT

Sweet sorghum (for ethanol) August 1

old Sweet sorghum press

Extracting sweet sorghum juice

This still makes ethanol from fermented ‘sugar crop’ juices

Scaling the project up in 2006…with funding from VT Sustainable Jobs Fund

John and Steve designed and built the building

Vermont’s first on-farm oil seed processing facility

Putting the system together – many used parts!

seedmeal

seed

oilpress

oiltank

reactionvessel

methanolcondensor

glycerin drain

farmer

fuel drain

“Farm fresh” biodiesel – but not ASTM tested (that’s another story)

Future work

• Oil and alcohol crop production trials

• Economic analysis

• Comparing processing equipment

• Market development, co-operative formation?

• Regulatory issues

Project reports at:

www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry

click ‘Energy on the Farm’