ADM, Deere, Monsanto to Collaborate on Corn Stover Research
26 August 2008
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| Current availability of biomass from croplands, under current crop yields, tillage practices and average 40% recovery potential. About one-fifth of this 194 million dry/tons per year is currently used. Click to enlarge. Source: DOE, USDA (2005) |
Archer Daniels Midland Company, Deere &Company and Monsanto Company will collaborate on research to explore technologies and processes to turn crop residues into feed and bioenergy products.
The companies will work together to identify environmentally and economically sustainable methods for the harvest, storage and transport of corn stover—the stalks, leaves and cobs of corn plants. Corn stover can be used in feed for animals, as biomass to generate steam and electricity or as a cellulosic feedstock for biofuel production.
Stover is usually left on the field, where, in proper amounts, it helps reduce soil erosion and build up soil organic matter. A 170-bushel-per-acre corn crop, which was the average last year in Iowa, also produces about four dry tons of stover. The United States Department of Agriculture forecasts that in 2008, farmers will harvest 12.3 billion bushels of corn, resulting in approximately 290 million tons of stover.
An assessment of the technical feasibility of a billion-ton annual supply of biomass for bioenergy and bioproducts applications by the US Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA), published in 2005, noted that current collection of residue from corps results in no more than 40% removal of stover or straw on average.
This low recovery amount is due to a combination of collection equipment limitations, contour ridge farming, economics and conservation requirements. It is possible under some conditions to remove as much as 60-70 percent of corn stover with currently available equipment. However, this level of residue collection is economically or environmentally viable only where land is under no-till cultivation and crop yields are very high. This analysis assumes that the harvest technology and the percentage of cropland under no-till management are increased simultaneously.
Further reside collection technology with the potential of collecting up to 75% of the residue is envisioned. These systems are likely to be single-pass systems that would reduce costs by collecting the grain and residue together. Single-pass systems will also address concerns about soil compaction from multiple pieces of residue collection equipment, unless the single-pass system is heavier than the current grain harvesters. Further, one-pass systems for corn and grain will need to have selective harvesting capability so that some portion of the residue stream can be reapplied to the field to meet conservation requirements.
—The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (2005)
The DOE-USDA report concluded that approximately 75 million dry tons of corn stover per year are currently available. With improved collection technology and a medium increase in yield, that could increase to 170 million dry tons per year, according to the report. The report projects that with a high yield increase, annually available corn stover biomass could reach 256 million dry tons.
ADM, Deere and Monsanto will address a number of these complexities and challenges. For example, stover collection rates need to be adjusted on a field-by-field basis to ensure that sufficient stover is left on the soil to reduce erosion and maintain or improve soil quality for the next season’s crop. Also, the amount of moisture in the stover at harvest can present challenges in transportation and storage.
Monsanto, ADM and John Deere are committed to identifying processes and technologies that will create an economically, agronomically and environmentally sound value chain for corn stover. By creating feed and energy products from crop byproducts, farmers can produce more products without farming more acres, and increase the value derived from each acre.
Resources
There are 2 possible tracks (not mutually exclusive) with this:
1) Use half of the crop residue left on the field for fuel, while leaving the rest for soil erosion prevention and carbon enrichment.
2) Use almost all of the crop residue for fuel, while planting cover crops (preferably nitrogen fixing, ie clover) immediately after crop harvest.
Posted by: allen_xl_z | 26 August 2008 at 11:31 AM
Well Monsanto is involved, so where's the evil part come in?
Posted by: Conspiracy Theorist | 26 August 2008 at 12:21 PM
@allen
No offense, but I don't like either scenario. Let's just keep the current crop rotation going and instead plant dedicated crops (miscanthus) for biofuels.
Posted by: GreenPlease | 26 August 2008 at 01:17 PM
End corn & corn ethanol subsidies and grow less corn. Alternatively, create new subsidies for fruits and vegetables so as to create a level playing field.
US corn agra-industry is bad for your health.
Posted by: | 26 August 2008 at 02:07 PM
Just to help, it seems a Bushel of corn = 25kg.
So for one ton of corn harvested, about 1 ton of stover is produced, most of which is currently wasted.
You don't need hi tech to make use of this. Just burn it for electricity, and as Greenplease suggests, leave biofuels for Miscanthus.
Posted by: Alex | 27 August 2008 at 06:49 AM
Stop playing the "either-or" game. Obviously some areas will use stover for biofuels or cellulosic electricity, some areas will simply burn the stover in situ, and some will plow it back into the soil. Miscanthus will also be used. Everything you have thought of and much more will be done.
"Burning" the stover for electricity is foolish. Torrefy and compress the stover, then co-fire it with coal. Or gasify the stover then use the syngas for any number of uses.
Posted by: Talia Finister | 27 August 2008 at 08:11 AM
I am hoping to see biomass processing plants across the midwest converting farm biomass to energy. It would be good for the farmers, the communities and the country. There are SO many positives in it that we many wonder why we did not do it long ago. Like when President James Earl Carter had a synthetic fuels program in the 1970s. Few listened to him then, but more are listening now and the numbers are growing every day. Jimmy is having the last laugh, but I bet he sure wishes that we had started sooner, no matter who had the idea to begin with.
Posted by: sjc | 27 August 2008 at 10:04 AM
Why not ferment the stover to methane? Use it as a fuel for ethanol plants. What is left after fermentation can be returned to the fields.
Posted by: Henric | 27 August 2008 at 02:29 PM
Making synthesis gas and then synthetic fuels can give higher yields and can make the fuel you want more quickly. Fermentation takes breaking down the cellulose and then time and water consuming processes. You also get biochar that can be returned to the soil.
If you can only take 1/2 of the stover to make fuel, that is still a lot of fuel made from corn stalks, cobs and other farm biomass. It would be good for the farmer to have another revenue source, good for all of us to reduce the amount of oil imported, clean up the air in the cities and reduce global warming.
Posted by: sjc | 28 August 2008 at 08:44 AM