Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
.
Table of Contents • Notables • On Top of the Hill Vision Credits
|
Division Organizes Biofuels Task Force The Division of Agriculture has organized an interdisciplinary Biofuels Task Force to help Arkansans realize the current and future potential of the state’s renewable energy resources. The nationwide renewable energy movement includes new biodiesel plants in Arkansas, which are using soybeans and chicken fat as feedstock. “We need to assure an economically viable feedstock supply stream in a win-win scenario for producers and processors,” said Vice President for Agriculture Milo Shult. Shult said new faculty in both research and extension must be added to enhance efficiencies in production and processing technologies. The task force is organizing existing University expertise and resources and identifying needs for enhanced biomass programs to develop, transfer and apply technologies for producing energy and other value-added products. The task force will identify areas where the U of A System can leverage significant funding in the form of grants from federal and state agencies and industry. Drs. Lalit Verma and Mark Cochran, heads of the Division’s departments of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, respectively, are task force co-chairs. Verma said current biofuels technology requires the use of animal or grain products, which are also part of the food stream. The emerging technology of lignocellulosic biomass conversion will use material such as corn stalks, rice straw and hulls, logging byproducts and fast growing plants or trees designated for biomass feedstock. “It’s just a matter of time and effort to bring this technology out of the lab,” Verma said. He said additional scientists and resources are needed to allow Arkansas to obtain major research grants to pursue breakthroughs in lignocellulosic conversion technology. As the technology evolves, pilot plants will be needed to move it from the lab to commercial operations, he said. Cochran said production, handling and marketing systems are needed for Arkansas producers to supply quality lignocellulosic crops for future biomass feedstock. Some of these crops also contain high-value neutraceuticals, which can be extracted during processing of the biomass. He said research is needed to assure that producers realize the full value of biomass crops. The potential to maximize returns from biomass is illustrated by a Division research project that developed the technology to turn rice hull ash into silica products with industrial applications. The ash comes from Arkansas rice mills, which burn rice hulls for energy. The Division is also working with industry to develop efficient systems for using poultry litter, sawdust and other forestry and agricultural byproducts as a direct energy source. Cochran said the Division is developing soybean varieties with high oil content and has tested varieties of canola and other alternative oil-seed crops as potential biodiesel feedstock. Scientists in chemical engineering and other disciplines are collaborating with Division faculty to improve the technology for preparing feedstock for economical extraction of energy and other value-added products. |