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Scientists test jatropha and new feedstocks for making biodiesel
Added 496 days ago - The United States currently trails Europe in biodiesel production, a researcher says. "We are way behind," said University of Idaho associate professor and chemical engineer Bingjun "Brian" He.
The major feedstock in Europe is rapeseed, and 2,000 pounds can be produced per acre, whereas the U.S. can only produce half that amount, due to weather or soil conditions, He said.
In the United States, soybean oil is still the dominant feedstock for biodiesel.
"The land is limited in the U.S.," He said. "We could not expand more acreage into either the soybean or other oil crops."
In the Pacific Northwest, canola, mustard and rapeseed are grown primarily as rotation crops to improve soil and growing conditions.
Palm oils are most useful in the tropics, because they tend to solidify in lower temperatures.
A producer in Seattle imports palm oils, but further processes them to remain liquid at low temperatures, He said.
Many biodiesel producers have begun to import palm oils from East Asian countries, which goes against the original mission of the program, which is to reduction of dependence on imports.
For that reason, several years ago, the federal government began to encourage researchers to develop new oilseed crops.
"Currently, the potential oil crops, besides soybeans, (include) camelina, because (it has) a much higher yield and also adapts to harsh conditions," He said. "A lot of people are talking about jatropha."
Jatropha is a bush-type plant. The oil is toxic, He said, but the plant can grow rapidly anywhere, with a yield four to five times higher than that of soybeans.
"There are certainly political issues and environmental issues to work with," he said.
University of Florida Lee County Extension sustainability program coordinator Martha Azila said the jatropha oil is about 38 percent pure oil.
Azila said the school's jatropha program has been in place for more than a year.
"Soybeans only produce around 48 gallons per acre," she said. "Jatropha can produce more than 600 per acre, and with clones and hybrids you could get over 1,000 per acre."
Jatropha not only has a higher yield, Azila said, but it isn't a food source, so it does not compete with a food market. It can grow and be harvested on marginal land without irrigation, she said.
The crop also offers the benefit of sequestering large amounts of carbon.
One acre of jatropha has the potential of removing four metric tons of carbon dioxide, Azila said, so growers will benefit from carbon credits in the future.
Several companies are interested in finding mechanical harvesters for the crop, Azila said.
Jatropha could potentially be a good intercrop, she said, being grown at the same time in the same field as other crops.
"This is just the beginning of a big, huge industry," she said.
Jatropha may also have potential in the Pacific Northwest, she said, as the plants in Florida have proven to be weather tolerant. Plots in Florida survived two consecutive nights of 23-degree weather in January.
"The plant has survived through the light frost, through winds, through hurricanes," she said. "The plant is more resistant than they initially were thinking."
People are also talking about non-plant oil, with algae possibly being the most promising feedstock for biodiesel, with yields higher than even jatropha, He said. Cultivation can be industrialized and algae can be harvested continuously and easily.
"There are technical difficulties with algae oil as well," He said.
Because algae is suspended in water, there is a major cost to harvest it and it isn't stable in one place from year to year. Strands would have to be genetically modified to produce consistent oil, He said.
"Those are the big research plans the big petroleum industries have teamed up with universities (to develop)," He said.
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