Potential of Annual Cereal Crops to Serve as Fuel Ethanol Feedstock and Livestock Feed

Increased public concern about global warming and over-reliance on foreign petroleum oil has led to the development of renewable and clean energy in the United States. Ethanol blended gasoline burns more efficiently and can contribute to reduction in greenhouse gasses emission (Wang et al. 1999). Ethanol production in the US has increased rapidly in recent years with a total production of 3.9 billion gallons in 2005 (RFA 2007), with maize as the major feedstock for fuel ethanol production. Since little maize grain is produced in Montana due to the cool weather and short growing season, alternative feedstocks need to be explored for fuel ethanol production. There is an abundant but underutilized supply of agricultural residues and herbaceous grasses available in Montana. In 2006, for example, Montana produced 5.2 million tonnes (t) of wheat and 0.9 million t of barley. Over 9 million t of residues were left behind as a by-product of these crops. In addition, Montana farmers also produced 5.8 million t of hay (Montana Department of Agriculture 2006). The annual and/or perennial grasses and cereal forage crops may serve both as livestock feed and lignocellulosic feedstock for fuel ethanol production. Using winter annual triticale and sweet sorghum or pearl millet for double-cropping (two harvests per year) will allow biomass production to be further increased in the northern Great Plains. The advantage of using annual forage crops for fuel ethanol feedstock is that farmers do not need additional machinery and technologies fo

Biomass Production of Herbaceous Energy Crops in the United States: Field Trial Results and Yield Potential Maps from the Multiyear Regional Feedstock Partnership

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small‐scale and short‐term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long‐term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field‐scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm‐scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM‐ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country

Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long-term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field-scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm-scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM-ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country

Simultaneous estimation of amylose, resistant, and digestible starch in pea flour by visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

Due to its health benefits, resistant starch (RS) has received increasing attention from the public, and there is a need to develop methods to measure the amylose and RS concentration in pea (Pisum sativum L.) flour. The aim of this study was to develop a visible and near-infrared reflectance (vis–NIR) model for the simultaneous determination of amylose, RS, and digestible starch (DS) in pea flour. A total of 123 dry pea samples consisting of different pea varieties grown in different environments were collected, and ground to flour, and then the vis–NIR spectra were scanned. The amylose, RS, and DS contents of the pea flours were also measured by an enzymatic colorimetric assay. The spectra data were calibrated with the enzymatic colorimetric-assayed values. Results showed that amylose, RS, and DS in the pea flours can be simultaneously estimated using the vis–NIR spectra. Instead of using the full spectrum (300–2300 nm), we found the most efficient wave bands lying in the visible region between 370 and 560 nm and the NIR spectra in the range of 1600–1800 nm. Using the stepwise regression with backward elimination method, the multiple linear regression (MLR) models were developed from the most efficient wavelengths. The MLR models had the determination coefficients R2 of 0.95, 0.76, 0.80, and 0.88 for amylose, RS, DS, and total starch, respectively. The correlation coefficients between model estimated and the enzymatic colorimetric assayed values were 0.97, 0.80, 0.85, and 0.93 for amylose, RS, DS, and total starch, respectively

Potential of Agricultural Residues and Hay for Bioethanol Production

Production of bioethanol from agricultural residues and hays (wheat, barley, and triticale straws, and barley, triticale, pearl millet, and sweet sorghum hays) through a series of chemical pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation processes was investigated in this study. Composition analysis suggested that the agricultural straws and hays studied contained approximately 28.62–38.58% glucan, 11.19–20.78% xylan, and 22.01–27.57% lignin, making them good candidates for bioethanol production. Chemical pretreatment with sulfuric acid or sodium hydroxide at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% indicated that concentration and treatment agent play a significant role during pretreatment. After 2.0% sulfuric acid pretreatment at 121°C/15 psi for 60 min, 78.10–81.27% of the xylan in untreated feedstocks was solubilized, while 75.09–84.52% of the lignin was reduced after 2.0% sodium hydroxide pretreatment under similar conditions. Enzymatic hydrolysis of chemically pretreated (2.0% NaOH or H2SO4) solids with Celluclast 1.5 L–Novozym 188 (cellobiase) enzyme combination resulted in equal or higher glucan and xylan conversion than with Spezyme® CP- xylanase combination. The glucan and xylan conversions during hydrolysis with Celluclast 1.5 L–cellobiase at 40 FPU/g glucan were 78.09 to 100.36% and 74.03 to 84.89%, respectively. Increasing the enzyme loading from 40 to 60 FPU/g glucan did not significantly increase sugar yield. The ethanol yield after fermentation of the hydrolyzate from different feedstocks with Saccharomyces cerevisiae ranged from 0.27 to 0.34 g/g glucose or 52.00–65.82% of the theoretical maximum ethanol yield