Precision Pays

Using ethanol mixed with water in diesel engines could make them more efficient and reduce emissions.

National Corn Growers Association chairman Bob Dickey is also chairman of CleanFlex Power Systems, which is so new they haven’t built a website yet, but what they have done is developed a method to efficiently use ethanol in diesel engines.

Dickey started the idea a year ago when he bought a new John Deere 150-hp four-cylinder turbo diesel irrigation system engine and retrofitted it to use an ethanol and diesel blend. “It worked so well that we applied for a grant at the University of Nebraska and we’re currently doing research there to bring credibility to what we’re doing,” Dickey says.

The company has developed a new hydrated-ethanol fuel called EM60 (a mixture of 60% ethanol and 40% water) to combine with diesel fuel to power diesel engines. “Just like oil and water don’t mix, ethanol and diesel don’t mix,” Dickey said. So, they run two lines into the diesel engine. “The only time the ethanol, water and diesel are together is at the point of combustion and it really works well. The engine runs cooler, it runs more efficient and the emissions are reduced.”

CleanFlex president Ron Preston says they are talking with agricultural equipment manufacturers, railroads, and even bus companies about the idea because the EM60 fuel has the potential to help meet Tier 4 emission standards that become effective in 2011. “There are 60 million diesel engines in the United States,” Preston says. “We’ve been working with EPA and going through the proper steps to make ethanol a solution that will help them meet emissions requirements.”

Listen to a Precision Pays Podcast with Bob Dickey and Ron Preston about CleanFlex by clicking on the player below – or subscribe to our monthly podcast, sponsored by AgLeader Technology, by following this link or the sidebar link.

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switchgrass

Biomass crops slated for ethanol production are gaining research dollars as scientists use precision agriculture remote sensing to study the issues and logistics of getting crops from field production to the biorefinery gate.

A lot has to happen to a plant from the time it first captures sunlight in a field to being dispensed as fuel at the pump. For corn-to-ethanol, that path is fairly predictable, but for energy crops such as Miscanthus or switchgrass the journey is still through somewhat uncharted territory.

“There’s not as much information on energy crops as we have on corn and soybeans and wheat and cotton. So we have to build on those past successes and learn,” said University of Illinois agricultural engineer K.C. Ting.

“Energy crops like Miscanthus cut differently; a corn harvester cannot be used to harvest energy crops. Maybe the closest comparison is hay, but that’s not a perfect comparison either.”

Ting is leading a team of Illinois researchers in a program funded by the energy firm BP in the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) — a partnership between the University of California-Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory, and the University of Illinois.

“In the pre-harvest crop monitoring, we look at how precision agriculture, remote sensing, can be used to help growers understand how to manage these new crops,” Ting said. “Even harvesting has several steps: you have to detach it, you have to gather it, collect it, and resize it. Then you may have to either bale it or compact it. You have to load and unload many times from the field to the biorefinery. And in between you may need to store it. Sometimes the harvest window is small, but biorefineries need a year-long supply of constant high-quantity material. We have to find ways to keep it for a whole year in storage.”

Researchers at the University of Illinois use a variety of techniques for pre-harvest crop monitoring. A tower over a hundred of feet high with a multi-spectral camera watches over four nine-acre plots to study the health of the crop, a small unmanned helicopter can fly over crops to acquire images, and a cube-shaped frame with sensors is moved slowly across the crops. “Using these precision agriculture methods, we can help growers monitor crop growth, detect problem areas, and suggest what they need to do. With cotton, if you take an image, you can tell whether it is suffering from drought or insect or disease. But energy crops are so new, there’s minimum data,” said Ting.

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Many of you corn growers using precision technology are very aware of the challenges we’ve had in the ethanol business, especially battling groups with an agenda to distort facts and misinform the public. Growth Energy is a group that was formed to battle that problem on Capitol Hill.

Here at the Farm Progress Show, Gen. Wesley Clark, Growth Energy, announced a new initiative. The organization is calling for country of origin labeling for fuel. I would call that the “COOL for fuel” initiative! Hey, we do it with food, why not fuel?

General Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, today called on the United States Congress and the White House to take action to dramatically enhance the market transparency of the nation’s fuel supply by requiring a national standard of country of origin labeling (COOL) for fuel.

Clark also unveiled Growth Energy’s labelmyfuel.com, which showcases the costs of American dependence on foreign oil, and serves to rally grassroots support for Congressional action on COOL for fuel legislation.

So what do you think about this initiative? Good idea?

You can listen to the press conference here:

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Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Precision Pays coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by: .

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The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking comments until July 6 on the proposed petition to deregulate genetically modified (GM) corn that improves ethanol production.

The petition for deregulation, submitted by Syngenta Seeds Inc., is in accordance with APHIS’ regulations concerning the introduction of genetically-engineered organisms and products and is available for the public’s review and comment. As part of the decisionmaking process, APHIS also has prepared a draft environmental assessment and plant pest risk assessment for review and comment.

Reopening the comment period will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments on the petition.

APHIS will make a determination of nonregulated status if it can conclude that the organism does not pose a plant pest risk. If APHIS grants the Syngenta Seeds petition for deregulation, the genetically-engineered corn and its progeny would no longer be regulated articles. The product could then be freely moved and planted without the requirement of permits or other regulatory oversight by APHIS.

APHIS is responsible for protecting U.S. agriculture and the environment from animal and plant pests. APHIS regulates GE products in cooperation with the EPA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration. In compliance with agency policy, Syngenta Seeds submitted a food and feed safety and nutritional assessment summary to FDA for this genetically-engineered corn. EPA is not involved in evaluating this genetically-engineered corn because it has not been engineered to produce a pesticide or to be tolerant to an herbicide.

APHIS has safely regulated genetically-engineered organisms since 1986 and has overseen the deregulation of more than 70 products.

This notice was published in the June 4 Federal Register. APHIS is seeking comment on the petition, the EA and the revised plant pest risk assessment. Consideration will be given to comments received on or before July 6. Send two copies of postal mail or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. APHIS-2007-0016, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that your comment refers to Docket No. APHIS-2007-0016. To submit a comment online, click here.

Utilizing precision farming equipment when you’re harvesting corn will pay off even more once you can start harvesting corn cobs for cellulosic ethanol production. That’s what I learned at POET’s Project LIBERTY field day in Emmetsburg, IA this week. POET is working with ag OEM’s like John Deere to develop harvest equipment to collect cobs for the plants they plan on building in the near future. They plan to begin building a cellulosic ethanol production component of their Emmetsburg plant in late 2009 with production expected to begin in 2011.

Of the current options for harvesting/collecting the cobs, Deere is working on the corn cob mix kit (CCM) option. It’s basically an attachment to the combine according to John Deere’s Barry Nelson, who was attending the POET Project LIBERTY field day.

Barry says that this will allow farmers to produce up to 11 percent more ethanol per acre. That’s a pretty good gain in efficiency. He says they’re also looking at other equipment options including a special cart or new combine.

You can listen to my interview with Barry here:

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Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

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