March 29, 2024

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ISU researchers use biochar to improve soil

By James Pusey
Staff Writer


Photo By James Pusey/The Tribune
David Laird, soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Laboratory of Agriculture and Environment, is researching how charcoal derived from biomass can help rejuvenate low-grade soils.

Agricultural researchers at Iowa State University are developing a way to make Iowa farms more profitable while reducing their impact on the planet.The key is a product called “biochar,” said David Laird, soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Laboratory of Agriculture and Environment, and though it may sound complex, the technology is far from new.The idea first came about, Laird said, when archaeologists discovered that an ancient Amazonian civilization had developed a way to turn the leached, unproductive soil of the jungle into soil useful for agriculture.

“These people would cut down the forest and they would char the soil,” Laird said. “They were able to create terra preta soils, which are dramatically different from the adjacent soils, which are highly weathered, low-productivity soils.”

“Terra preta” means “black earth” in Portuguese, and the soil was named thus because of its high charcoal content.

Laird said he and others at ISU are researching how farmers can benefit from the use of charcoal in agriculture.

Biochar is another term for charcoal, Laird said, but the different term is used because of biochar’s intended use. Charcoal is for grilling meat, for instance, while biochar is used for growing plants.

The biochar comes from cellulosic biomass found on the farm, such as corn stover, and is ground up and mixed with the soil to add carbon and nutrients, Laird sad.

•••

Robert Brown, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering and director of ISU’s Bioeconomy Institute, said he has witnessed the benefits of biochar in his own garden.

“My wife insisted that I try it, and our square-foot garden was the perfect place to conduct the experiment,” Brown said.

He planted different plant species in adjacent plots, applying varying amounts of biochar to each plot. He said he was astonished by some of his results, noting that spinach with biochar yielded around 15 percent more and baby bok choy with biochar produced 300 percent more.

“That was a lot of baby bok choy,” Brown said, pointing to a picture of his wife with her arms full of the massive plants.

•••

Laird expects that the most effective use of biochar will be to increase yields on low-grade soil. Research has shown that biochar has very little effect on yields in higher quality soils, but a recent trip to the ISU research farm showed how it can affect soil of lower quality.

Laird pointed to one sad-looking plot, just visible on the south side of U.S. Highway 30 between Ames and Boone. The field is more brown than green, with pools of standing water on its surface.

“This is really the worst soil we’ve got around here,” Laird said.

Even so, there is some corn growing on the plot, and three distinct rows stand taller and greener than the rest.

“That middle three rows stand out,” he said. “Those were the rows that we put about 30 to 40 tons of char on.”

•••

Biochar is produced at ISU’s Biocentury Research Farm, Brown said, where a process called “fast pyrolysis” burns biomass and converts it into three products: biochar, bio oil and natural gas. This use for cellulosic biomass materials is good news for Iowa farmers’ profitability, Brown said, as well as the planet.

Biochar has a much longer half-life than most carbon materials found in the soil, Laird said, at about 1,000 years compared to six months. That means less carbon is being released into the atmosphere.

“The carbon that’s in the char that you put down is going to be stable for a long period of time,” Laird said. “This is a huge carbon credit and it is one that we can easily measure.”

Though initial results have been promising, Laird said, there are still a lot of challenges to overcome before biochar becomes marketable in the mainstream. This will be one of the topics of discussion at the second-annual

James Pusey can be reached at (515) 663-6922

or jpusey@amestrib.com.

Copyright © 2011 – Ames Tribune

Power Fund approves match for Science Foundation grant

by Dan Piller of the Des Moines Register

————-

Iowa  State University tapped the Iowa Power Fund for a $2 million grant that will lead to a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation targeted for universities in smaller states away from the east and west coast schools that traditionally get the lion’s share of federal research dollars.

The money will be administered by Iowa State but also made available to the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa for research in renewable fuels and feedstocks such as corn, grasses, algae and biomass products. The money also can be used for research into wind energy.

“This is particularly important because all three of the Regents institutions have some kind of wind program going,” said Robert Brown, Director of the Iowa State University Bioeconomy Institute, which will direct the program.

The Iowa Power Fund board approved the $2 million state matching grant at its meeting Wednesday in Des  Moines.

Brown said “traditionally, most of the research money for energy has gone to the coastal universities and many universities and research centers get left out. Iowa has done a lot of good things in energy research in recent years and the National Science Foundation devised a way to get money to those kinds of schools.”

The money won’t be confined to the Regents universities. Brown said funds would be available for K-12 education programs in Iowa schools developed to improve mathematics and science education.

The grant also will work with industry collaborators, which include MidAmerican and Alliant Energy, Iowa’s two largest electric and gas utilities; seed giants Monsanto and  Pioneer Hi-Bred; wind turbine makers TPI Composites, Inc., Clipper Turbine Works and Acciona Windpower North America; Iowa Northern Railway, as well as several of Iowa’s community colleges.

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Remarks by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Biofuels

USDA Logo
United States Department of Agriculture

Today, it is clear that this Administration is engaged in job creation and opportunities for economic growth across this entire nation – from Manhattan, New York City, to the Manhattan in Kansas and beyond.

In all corners of America, this Administration is taking significant strides forward to provide economic opportunity so a farmer can confidently say to his children: stay here, on the farm, create a future for your children and an energy future for America. So a small business owner can say to her children: I’m contributing to our community so you can raise your kids here, too.

Across the hall this morning, the President’s Director of his Domestic Policy Council, Melody Barnes, along with Secretary Donovan of HUD, Secretary LaHood of the Department of Transportation; and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, will be discussing the Obama Administration’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities initiative and how it will work to support more livable and sustainable communities across America. USDA is part of this Partnership, and we wholeheartedly support their work.

Today, however, I am here, rather than across the hall, to unveil a series of USDA announcements, also supported by this Administration, that support the development of a renewable fuels industry. An industry that will create jobs and economic growth, primarily in rural America, but to the benefit of all America, because this industry provides a chance at a cleaner environment and more energy security for this nation.

Our country needs a strong, vibrant rural economy. Unfortunately, over the past several decades there have been times when it was neither strong nor vibrant. Persistent high unemployment and poverty encouraged many to leave their rural communities. A majority of rural counties lost population, and with it came a loss of political representation.

President Obama refuses to accept the notion that Rural America’s past predicts its future. He recognizes that the source of America’s innovative spirit and our enduring values remain rooted in our rural areas.

The President’s vision for a revitalized rural economy that creates real opportunity for growth and prosperity centers on our ability to add innovative technologies, open new markets for crops, and better utilize our natural resources. The President ordered USDA to make that vision a reality.

We’ve gone to work immediately. USDA announced assistance under the Recovery Act for 334 broadband expansions designed to reach more than 6 million people and 250,000 businesses in rural and remote areas.

Broadband access empowers farmers and ranchers with real time weather and market information, small business owners with expanded markets, educators with distance learning, public safety officials with more reliable communications, and medical professionals with telemedicine. All of which adds to the strength of rural communities.

By launching the USDA led effort “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” we began to promote better linkage between local producers and local consumers through investments in processing, storage, and warehouse facilities. All of which helps producer’s bottom lines and creates new job opportunities.

USDA, along with other federal agencies and departments, responded to the President’s call for a new age of conservation with the America’s Great Outdoors initiative. The report, to be issued next month, will highlight the enormous economic opportunities inherent in increased access to the outdoors, and the innumerable recreational opportunities arising from an expanded use of the outdoors.

However, the approach at the heart of the President’s vision – which combines new technologies, new markets, and better use of our natural resources – is our nation’s capacity to reduce its dependence on imported oil and fossil fuels through the increased production and use of biofuels and renewable energy.

No one can dispute that we remain too dependent on imported oil. That dependency, absent action now, will grow as our need for more energy grows. The Energy Information Administration estimates that by 2035, US Energy consumption will have increased by another 50 percent.

Thirty years ago 28% of the oil consumed in the United States was imported. Today that figure is closer to 60 percent – some of which comes from countries that neither like us nor support us. Today we still send a billion dollars a day outside our shores helping other countries’ economies to grow while our economy recovers from a deep recession.

With the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we are also reminded that the development of our own oil resources is not without environmental and economic risk.

We can do better. We have to do better. Rural America is where we will do better.

The Renewable Fuel Standard, known as RFS2, reaffirmed the goal of producing by 2022: 36 billion gallons of biofuels to include 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels.

Reaching that goal means importing less oil – at least, according to a recent industry study, a $350 billon cumulative total value of avoided petroleum imports over the 2010-2022 period. This means $350 billion that we can keep here, in this country. This means less fossil fuels releasing fewer toxins and having cleaner air to breathe, and the industry projects a million new jobs with investments of $95 billion in new biorefineries.

Today, we produce around 12 billion gallons of ethanol biofuels and around 800 million gallons of biodiesel. Very little of which is considered an advanced biofuel. While, under the RFS2, the biodiesel is an advanced biofuel, we are pushing the limits of technology and surging towards the production of advanced cellulosic ethanol, biobutenol, drop-in fuels and other advanced biofuels.

The benefits to the economy and to consumers are outlined in a new Economic Research Service study released today entitled Effects of Increased Biofuels in the US Economy in 2022.

The study notes that unlike the rising costs of fossil fuels priced to meet increased demand and increased production costs, biofuel production costs will continue to drop with each succeeding generation of biofuels.

The recent EPA announcement authorizing E-15 for late model vehicles will help boost demand. It already convinced NASCAR to use E-15. If it is good enough for Jimmy Johnson to remain hopeful it will also be good enough for earlier vehicles from 2001-2006.

Bottom line – this industry needs more time to mature and more investments to grow. To meet the 36 billion gallon goal, we will need to work harder and faster.

Incentives helped build the biofuel industry and for the time being, incentives need to continue. Congress should start by reinstating the Biodiesel Production Tax Credit and providing a fiscally responsible short-term extension of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. At the same time, we need to begin to think about reforms to the ethanol credit program to make it more efficient and effective at addressing the full range of challenges we face in meeting our goals for traditional and next generation biofuels.

We have already seen what happens when incentives are ended too quickly. The recent lapse of the biodiesel tax credit cost that industry jobs – nearly 12,000 jobs were lost as production was cut in half– these are jobs we simply cannot afford to lose.

But, tax credits, by themselves, are not enough. Our effort must include identifying additional feed stocks available throughout the country while discovering more efficient production processes. Research and development must intensify.

The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group report, Growing America’s Fuel, called for the establishment of five USDA regional Biomass Research Centers for the development of non food biomass feed stocks. These Regional Centers, involving a collaboration between the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the U.S. Forest Service (FS), will focus, accelerate, and coordinate the science and technology needed to incorporate feed stock production into existing agricultural and forest based systems.

The Centers will also assist Rural Development officials in the development and construction of biorefineries. The lead personnel at the Centers will draw on the expertise of our entire USDA team including but not limited to our Rural Development coordinators, Farm Service personnel, Natural Resources Conservation Service officials, Forest Service experts, and extension service specialists.

The Centers will service the regions of the country best suited for advanced biofuel production in the following locations:

1. The Northeast center will be located in Madison, Wisconsin, led by the Forest Service.

2. The Central East Center will be located in Lincoln, Nebraska, led by ARS

3. The Southeast center, a little more complicated because so much is going on there, will be located both by ARS in Boonesville, Arkansas; and Tifton, Georgia, and in Auburn, Alabama, led by the Forest Service.

4. The Western Center will be located in Maricopa, AZ

5. The Northwestern Center will be located in Pullman, WA, led by ARS, and Corvallis, OR, led by the FS

Production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel will require that biorefineries dot the rural landscape. The Farm Bill of 2008 authorized investments to assist in the construction of new biorefineries. Today, I am directing the Rural Development mission area of USDA within 60 days to announce support and funding under the current Biorefinery Assistance Program for the construction (to commence in 2011) of a specific biorefinery or bioenergy plant in each of the regions serviced by the regional centers. In doing so, the entire country can begin to see the economic benefit to producers and the job creation potential of the biofuel/bioenergy industry.

I know that the Department of Energy will also provide leadership in this effort. Already the effort of the DOE is encouraging the construction of a biomass facility that converts woody biomass into crude oil in the state of Mississippi.

As research identifies alternative feed stocks and as biorefineries are built to process those feed stocks, producers must be encouraged to grow the feed stocks. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) will provide that assistance.

The final BCAP Rule will be announced in the Federal Register tomorrow. Under the rule, producers will receive financial help to defray the cost of producing, storing and transporting alternative fuel stock.

The assistance could be as much as 75% of the cost of establishing the new crop as well as annual rental payments to help cover the costs of transitioning from current cash crops.

Delivery of biomass to a renewable energy or biofuel facilities will generate matching payments to help reduce the costs that come from the logistical challenges facing this new industry. In crafting the final rule we paid attention to the concerns of industry and environmentalists, particularly with respect to woody biomass. Assistance for woody biomass will only be provided for materials removed from a forest for ecosystem restoration and forest health purposes.

As these new materials arrive at the biorefinery additional costs may be incurred by processors. To relieve that risk for advanced biofuels production, USDA, under section 9005 of the Farm Bill of 2008, will make payments to impacted processors. Up to $281.5 million remains for this purpose. I have directed that work on the final rule be completed by the end of this year making these funds available.

Over time, a key missing link in the effort to meet the RFS2 goal has been and will continue to be the lack of convenient locations to obtain higher blends of biofuels.

Convenient store operators and marketers remain reluctant to incur the cost of new pumps and tanks. USDA and other federal departments can and should offer help.

I have instructed Rural Development officials to provide financial assistance, using existing RD programs and resources, to provide matching funds to help install 10,000 blender pumps and storage systems over the next 5 years. Work will commence immediately on putting that program together.

Our effort to expand the biofuel industry will also include opportunities we control within our own vehicle fleet at USDA. We are committed to make E 85 and other blends of biofuels, including biodiesel mixes, more conveniently located. We’ll encourage more use of biofuels in our fleet of almost 43,000 vehicles. The impact can be significant. The Department reported 42,882 light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles in the motor vehicle inventory in FY 2009. The approximate total fuel consumption was 19,500,000 gallons. The miles traveled by the USDA Motor Vehicle Fleet were approximately 342,500,000 with approximately $41,000,000 in fuel costs reported. We hope to provide the model for other federal departments with large vehicle fleets.

The USDA is already partnering with the Department of the Navy as it embraces a biofuel future. Today, USDA announces another partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA and commercial airline industry also see the potential of biofuel as jet fuel. Under the MOU, the USDA and FAA will work together with the airline industry over the next 5 years to develop appropriate feed stocks that can be most efficiently processed into jet fuel. Doing so will decrease the industry’s current dependence on foreign oil and help stabilize fuel costs in the long run.

I recognize that some may doubt our capacity to meet the challenge of expanding the biofuels industry. I do not under estimate the challenges, but I have seen Rural America rise again and again to continually meet the large challenge of providing food, feed, and fiber for the country and the world.

Belief and action remain powerful forces to affect change. I believe the state of the rural economy and President’s vision for revitalized rural America compels us to action now. I believe the goals articulated within the RFS2 mandate action now. And, I believe the need for energy security, a cleaner environment, and better economic opportunity in rural American make the case for action now.

So, I am confident today that we at USDA, joined by those who live, work, and raise their families in rural areas stand ready to take action. Together, we will revitalize our rural economy and create meaningful opportunity for those who see the future – and their future – as brighter in a re-energized Rural America.

Robert Brown makes Biofuels Digest Top 100 People in Bioenergy List

By: Jim Lane of Biofuels Digest

The Top 100 People in Bioenergy

1. Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture
2. Jeff Broin, CEO, POET
3. Bob Dinneen, President, Renewable Fuels Association
4. Miguel Soldateli Rossetto, CEO, Petrobras Biocombustiviles
5. Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme / Harrison Dillon, PhD, CTO
6. Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy
7. Marcos Lutz, CEO, Cosan
8. Alan Shaw, PhD, CEO, Codexis
9. Marcos Jank, President, UNICA
10. Vincent Chornet, CEO, Enerkem / Esteban Chornet, CTO
11. Steen Riisgaard, CEO / Steen Skjold-Jørgensen, VP for R&D Biofuels, Novozymes
12. Philip New, CEO, BP Biofuels / Sue Ellerbusch, President, BP Biofuels America
13. Brent Erickson, VP Industrial Biotechnology, BIO
14. Jason Pyle, CEO, Sapphire Energy, Cynthia (C.J.) Warner, President
15. Mike McAdams, President,  Advanced Biofuels Association
16. Vinod Khosla, Managing Partner, Khosla Ventures
17. Jay Keasling, PhD, Professor,  UC Berkeley
18. Patricia Woertz, CEO, Archer Daniels Midland
19. John Melo, CEO, Amyris / CTO Neil Renninger
20. Paul Woods, CEO, Algenol Biofuels
21. Pat Gruber, PhD, CEO, Gevo / Jack Huttner, EVP Corporate Development and Public Affairs
22. Bruce Dale, PhD, Michigan State University
23. Jim Sayre, Senior MD, Cargill Ventures / Ian Purtle, Director of Sustainable Energy
24. Rich LaDuca, Genencor / Bjarne Adamsen, Danisco
25. Joe Skurla, CEO, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol
26. Rob Vierhout, Secretary General, EBIO
27. Valerie Reed, DOE Biomass Program / Paul Bryan
28. Lee Edwards, CEO, Virent / Randy Cortright, PhD, CTO, Virent Energy Systems
29. Bill Sims, CEO, Joule Unlimited
30. Collin Peterson, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, Earl Pomeroy, US House of Representatives
31. Mary Rosenthal, Exec Director, Algal Biomass Organization
32. Bill Haywood, CEO, LS9
33. Chuck Grassley, John Thune, Jeff Bingaman, Tim Johnson, US Senators
34. Lisa Jackson, US EPA Administrator
35. Ray Mabus, US Secretary of the Navy
36. Barry Cohen, Executive Director, National Algae Association
37. Chris Somerville, PhD, Professor,  UC Berkeley Director, EBI
38. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, Lanzatech / Sean Simpson CTO, founder
39. Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board
40. Rich Altman, Exec Director, CAAFI
41. Wesley Clark, Co-chairman, Growth Energy / Tom Buis, CEO
42. Jim Stewart, Chairman, Bioenergy Producers Association
43. Hugh Grant, CEO, Monsanto
44. Lee Lynd, PhD, Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth College
45. Alwin Kopse, Exec. Director, Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
46. Dan Adler, California Clean Energy Fund
47. Arnold Klann, CEO, Bluefire Ethanol
48. Nancy Young, VP, Environmental Affairs, Air Transport Association / John Heimlich Chief Economist
49. Riggs Eckelberry, CEO, OriginOil / Brian Goodall, PhD, CTO
50. Jose Olivares, PhD, Director, National Alliance For Advanced Biofuels and Bio-Products
51. Craig Venter, PhD, CEO, Synthetic Genomics / Emil Jacobs, VP R&D, ExxonMobil
52. Jim Dumesic, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
53. Jim Matheson, General Partner, Flagship Ventures / David Berry, PhD, Partner
54. Richard Hamilton, CEO, Ceres
55. John Doerr, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins
56. Steve Burrill, Managing Partner, Burrill & Co / John Hamer, PhD, Managzing Director / Roger Wyse, Managing Director / Greg Young, Managing Director
57. Bill Roe, CEO, Coskata / Wes Bolsen, CMO Coskata
58. Doug Cameron, CEO, Alberti Advisors
59. Tom Foust, PhD, NREL; Director,  National Advanced Biofuels Consortium
60. Al Darzins, PhD, NREL / Philip Pienkos, PhD
61. Robert Brown, PhD, Professor,  Iowa State University
62. Kristina Burow, Partner, ARCH Venture Partners / Bob Nelsen
63. Ganesh Kishore, PhD, CEO, Malaysian Life Sciences Fund
64. Stephen Mayfield, PhD, Professor,  UCSD
65. John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros / Kevin Gray, CTO
66. Javier Salgado, CEO, Abengoa Bioenergy
67. Fred Cannon, PhD, CEO, KiOR
68. Bill Glover, MD, Environmental Strategy Boeing
69. Tom Baruch, CEO, CMEA
70. Heather Brodie, CEO, Biofuels Association of Australia
71. David Aldous, CEO, Range Fuels
72. Jim Imbler, CEO, ZeaChem
73. Bryan Willson, CTO Solix / Doug Henson CEO
74. Bill Brady, CEO, Mascoma
75. Bill Lese, MD, Braemar Energy Ventures
76. Rick Wilson, CEO, Cobalt Technologies
77. Matti Lievonen, CEO, Neste Oil
78. Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj Industries
79. Jack Oswald, CEO, SynGest
80. Bill Hagy, Director, USDA Director of Alternate Energy Policy / Dallas Tonsager, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development
81. Lonnie Ingram, PhD, Professor,  University of Florida
82. Sean O’Hanlon, Executive Director, American Biofuels Council
83. Kirk Haney, CEO, SG Biofuels
84. Joanne Ivancic, Exec Dir, Advanced Biofuels USA
85. John Scott, CEO, PetroAlgae
86. Todd Taylor, Partner, Fredrickson & Byron
87. Rafaello Garofalo, Secretary General, European Biodiesel Board
88. Bliss Baker, MD, Global Renewable Fuels Alliance
89. Tim Cesarak, MD, Organic Growth Group, Waste Management
90. Philip Wolfe, CEO, UK Renewable Energy Association
91. Phil Bredesen, Governor of Tennessee / Kelly Tiller, CEO Genera Energy, Tim Rials, University of Tennessee
92. John Benemann, PhD, CEO, Benemann Associates
93. Brian Bilbray / Harry Teague  / Jay Inslee  / Dave Reichart / Mary Bono Mack, US House of Representatives
94. Bill Holmberg, ACORE Biomass Coordinating Council
95. Charles Wyman, Professor, UC Riverside
96. Gary Luce, CEO, Terrabon
97. David Tilman, PhD, Professor,  University of Minnesota
98. Michael Wang, Argonne National Laboratory
99. Hunt Ramsbottom, CEO, Rentech
100. Brian Foody, CEO, Iogen

No barriers

ISU’s Biorenewables Research Laboratory breaks new ground
By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY/Farm News staff writer

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMES – From its architecture to its artwork, Iowa State University’s new Biorenewables Research Laboratory, on the west edge of campus, incorporates nontraditional elements that foster the collaboration and creativity required to help Iowa become a world leader in the bioeconomy.

“This is a very dynamic place,” said Jacqueline Shanks, an ISU professor of chemical engineering, who noted that researchers are studying sustainable feedstocks, from algae to agricultural crops, for producing chemicals, fuels, energy and more.

“Since the building has been designed around the needs of the people working in the labs, this promotes more interaction between the scientists, which saves time and enhances productivity.”

In the quest to move beyond America’s dependence on petroleum, the bioeconomy is nothing less than a revolution in the way society will supply itself with essential sources of carbon and energy, said ISU leaders, who note that the new lab is also taking a revolutionary approach.

Unlike most buildings on campus, which are dedicated to specific disciplines, the laboratory is an inter-disciplinary building that complements and replaces labs and offices previously located across the ISU campus.

The facility, which was dedicated on Sept. 17, also houses the administrative offices and research labs of the Bioeconomy Institute, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, and the Biobased Industry Center.

“I’ll admit that the idea of sharing the lab intimidated me at first, but already I can see the positive impact on the research, and it’s great,” Shanks said.

In the spring of 2010, researchers began moving equipment into the new four-story, 73,000-square-foot building, which was funded entirely by a $32 million appropriation from the state of Iowa.

“With the Biorenewables Research Laboratory, we have an awesome responsibility to the people of Iowa,” said Robert Brown, an professor in engineering at ISU and Iowa Farm Bureau director of the Bioeconomy Institute. “It’s a really exciting time to be involved in biorenewables research.”

From bike paths to bio-oil

Scientists at the lab are collaborating on a variety of projects. ISU is partnering with the Iowa Department of Transportation, which plans to pave a bicycle path with bio-asphalt made from materials like wood chips, switchgrass and corn stover.

In addition, scientists are working with the Iowa-based Hawkeye Gold to evaluate a gasification process for ethanol production.

Researchers at the lab, who work with companies ranging from startups to multinational corporations, are also studying fast pyrolysis, which quickly heats biomass (like corn stalks and leaves) in the absence of oxygen to produce a liquid product known as bio-oil that can be used to manufacture fuels and chemicals.

“The real prize is the potential to make synthetic gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel from bio-oil,” Brown said.

The bright ideas required to develop these innovative products flourish in the window-filled lab, which is designed to capture as much natural light as possible. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fourth floor’s interaction room, which offers both a view of the campus, and white boards for sketching chemical formulas, jotting notes and “thinking out loud.”

“This is a very fun space where people can gather to take a break and discuss ideas,” Shanks said.

Going green

The abundant natural light that reaches 92 percent of the building is just one element that has contributed to the Biorenewables Research Laboratory’s LEED-Gold certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system.

The “green” aspects of the building include a rain water recovery and reuse system, doors and cabinetry made from bamboo, a partially vegetated roof, and landscaping that includes native plants.

Another unique aspect of the building is its artwork, which reflects a partnership with ISU’s college of design. The research lab will showcase artwork from ISU students, along with soywax-based encaustic paintings by Barbara Walton, an ISU associate professor of art and design.

An ancient technique, encaustic painting involves adding colored pigments to heated wax and applying it to wood or canvas. It traditionally uses beeswax or petroleum-based wax.

However, Walton worked with Toni Wang, an ISU professor of food science and human nutrition, to develop a safer, more affordable and environmentally friendly soy-based wax. This “green” wax is creating excitement in the encaustic painting art world, said Ingrid Lilligren, a professor and director of integrated studio arts at ISU.

This focus on bio-based solutions is a natural fit for the laboratory, which completes Phase I of ISU’s multi-phase, $107.1 million Biorenewables Complex. Phase II, which will be funded through a combination of state appropriations and private gifts, will add two buildings to the site and provide a new home for ISU’s top-ranked department of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

“Our mission is for ISU to be the leader in research and development and a catalyst for commercial ventures,” said Gregory Geoffroy, ISU president. “The Biorenewables Research Laboratory is at the center of ISU’s huge efforts to build expertise in biorenewable resources and products that will fuel the bioeconomy.”

Contact Darcy Dougherty Maulsby by e-mail at yettergirl@yahoo.com.

Conference table in new research building was a team effort

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James Bushnell named Iowa State’s first Cargill Endowed Chair in Energy Economics

Wright Recognized for Notable Contributions to Biorenewables Research