Alternative Oilseeds for Sustainable, High-Quality Biodiesel

Alternative Oilseeds for Sustainable, High-Quality Biodiesel

Summary

The accomplishments of the first 16 months of a 24 month project to investigate production of alternative oilseed crops to make high-value biodiesel products are reported. The greatest successes have been in the on-station agronomy research part of the work scope, which is fully on track to provide valuable data on the agronomic and biodiesel quality characteristics of winter oilseed species and cultivars. The success of the on-farm research and pilot-scale production portions of the project has so far been significantly impacted by adverse circumstances.

Objectives/Performance Targets

In the short term, participants and others will gain knowledge necessary to evaluate and implement alternative biodiesel feedstock strategies. Farmers and processors will strengthen relationships necessary to collaborate and engage in joint ventures. In the intermediate term, stakeholders will use new knowledge and relationships to build field-to-fuel tank business relationships and realize increased profitability and equity. Participating farmers will use lessons learned to mentor other farmers interested in alternative oilseed production. Across the region, farmers, processors, and researchers will apply increased capabilities for collaborative inquiry and action to address multiple sustainability issues. Recent confluence of concerns over biodiesel fuel quality and the sustainability of biofuel production will make the project’s outputs particularly timely. In the long term, diversified cropping and biofuel production systems will contribute to ecological sustainability and community well-being across the North Central Region (NCR).

Objectives for the time period covered by this report:
– Initiate on-farm trials of winter oilseed crops.
– Initiate on-station trials of winter oilseed crops.
– Take initial steps in canola biodiesel production pilot activity.
– Conduct project outreach activities.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Recruiting on-farm cooperators has been a major challenge. Both cooperators who had agreed to participate in the project during the application phase had withdrawn by the project start date, one due to conflicts with other farming operations and the other due to a decision to suspend farming operations to pursue a PhD in Crop Science. Also, the standard start date of September 1, 2008 fell just weeks before the start of the winter canola planting window for the 2008-’09 growing season. Several cooperator recruitment activities were initiated immediately. An event was held on September 3, 2008 in Peoria, IL in collaboration with a biodiesel company, that reached approximately 20 farmers who had self-identified as interested in alternative oilseeds. A series of contacts was initiated with a farmer group centered in Jersey County, IL that reached approximately 10 farmers interested in value-added agriculture and alternative crops. And individual phone calls reached a further six to 10 farmers. While approximately six farmers indicated enough interest to participate in follow-up conversations, only one farmer was able to commit quickly enough to the project to plant a 2008-’09 on-farm trial.

An on-farm winter canola variety trial was conducted in 2008-‘09 at the Tony and Regan Joehl farm in Godfrey, IL, incorporating two hybrid cultivars and two open-pollinated (OP) cultivars. The four cultivars were selected from among the entries in the National Winter Canola Variety Trial (NWCVT), to allow direct comparisons. Despite relatively heavy winterkill, the plots were successfully harvested in summer 2009 to obtain yield data.

Project staffing issues prevented aggressive cooperator recruitment for the 2009-’10 growing season, and as a result only one cooperator was secured. An on-farm trial comparing one hybrid winter canola cultivar and one OP cultivar was planted at the Luke Holst farm near Augusta, IL. Cultivars were once again picked from among entries in the NWCVT. The trial plots established well and as of the end of this reporting period were overwintering.

By the end date of this report, the project goals were to have completed six site-years of on-farm trials and to have initiated another six site-years. One site-year has been completed and one-site year has been initiated.

For the crop establishment phase of 2008-’09 growing season, project operational goals were met and greatly exceeded. A full location of the 2008-’09 NWCVT was established at the WIU Agricultural Field Laboratory at Macomb, IL, comprising 54 winter canola cultivars and experimental lines. A separate experiment was also established to compare a winter canola check to cultivars of winter camelina, winter rapeseed, field pennycress, and putatively-winterhardy safflower lines. Systematic emergence, stand, and crop development notes were taken, and crop establishment was very satisfactory.

Unfortunately 2008-’09 winter conditions in western Illinois were particularly harsh, with repeated mid-winter episodes of extremely low temperatures combined with no snow cover, followed by a greater than average number of freeze-thaw cycles in late winter. Winterkill was 90-100% across all oilseed species and cultivars, effectively ending both experiments.

For the 2009-’10 growing season, a collaboration was established with Dr. Vince Davis of University of Illinois Extension. Full locations of the 2009-’10 NWCVT were established at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) South Farms in Urbana, IL and at the UIUC Northwest Research Center (NWRC) in Monmouth, IL. An additional experiment was established at each of those locations to evaluate both winter canola and field pennycress in double-cropping sequences with corn and soybean. Emergence, stand, and crop development notes were taken, and as of the end of this reporting period the plots were overwintering.

Two site-years of on-station data on winter oilseed performance were anticipated in the project goals, and provided the 2009-’10 experiments conclude successfully, this goal will have been fully attained.

The project goals involve, by the end of the project, producing 160 acres of winter canola, crushing the resulting seed at a commercial toll-crushing facility, and processing the oil into biodiesel at a collaborating commercial facility in the region. This activity represents a pilot-scale inquiry into production of a value-added biodiesel product from an alternative oilseed crop.

Due to the limited success in recruiting farmer cooperators described in the on-farm research section above, no winter canola production was initiated in either the 2008-’09 or 2009-’10 seasons.

A series of meetings was held with personnel from the collaborating biodiesel company in late 2008 and early 2009 to prepare for a hoped-for pilot scale production run in 2010, and company personnel indicated enthusiastic buy-in and participated in detailed planning activities. However in mid-2009 the company announced it was ceasing operations and undergoing liquidation.

Aside from the planning and recruitment meetings discussed above, two formal meeting presentations were given on the project during the report period. Reports on project field operations to date and on overall project goals and plans were given at the annual research meeting of the Illinois Council Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR) in November 2008, and at the annual meeting of the Midwest Regional Canola Research Program in December 2008.

The outreach goals for the time period of this report included two field days, one on-farm and on-station. The on-station field day could not be conducted due to the winterkill-related termination of the on-station experiments for the 2008-’09 season. Staffing constraints precluded holding an on-farm field day.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The short-term outcomes for the region being pursued include increased availability of agronomic and feedstock data on alternative oilseeds, availability of lessons learned on oilseed production, logistics, and biodiesel processing, and an improved ability on the part of all relevant stakeholders to evaluate and implement alternative feedstock technologies. These short-term outcomes are expected to help several intermediate-term outcomes come about in the region.

The intermediate outcomes include strengthened relationships between farmers, biodiesel processors, and researchers, the initiation of alternative oilseed production and biodiesel processing, and pursuit of follow-on research and development endeavors.

The long-term outcomes desired include increased crop diversity through addition of additional crop species (e.g. winter canola, field pennycress, etc.) and additional crop functional groups (e.g. winter crops) to crop rotations in the region and increased farm profitability through marketing oilseeds into high-value, high-performance biodiesel markets.

Collaborators: