Looks like NDSU is going to be a partner in the “energy beet” biz.
The $1 million phase II project includes $500,000 in funds from the North Dakota
Renewable Energy Council, with approval from the North Dakota Industrial
Commission, plus cash-match funds from industry partners Betaseed and Syngenta,
and other in-kind contributions. I can imagine the idea of farmers all across North Dakota planting beets. (Don’t say sugar beets, even though that’s what they are, except for specific breeding to increase sugars.) I think the interesting facet here is that for years the sugar cooperatives have been giving quality incentives for higher sugar content, and here is an industry that is trying to develop around beets that are of so-called lower quality, but with considerable value in the energy industry.
A project that will develop an advanced biofuel from energy beets and provide
growers across North Dakota with a new industrial crop is taking another
important step forward, fueled by a significant two-year North Dakota Renewable
Energy Council grant.
“This project truly is a public-private partnership with the Green Vision Group
(GVG) of Fargo and Heartland Renewable Energy of Muscatine Iowa, plus research
by North Dakota State University, to develop the energy beet biofuels industry
in North Dakota,” says Cole Gustafson, NDSU Department of Agribusiness and
Applied Economics chair.
The NDSU Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and the
Carrington Research Extension Center will continue to provide research for the
project.
The $1 million phase II project includes $500,000 in funds from the North Dakota
Renewable Energy Council, with approval from the North Dakota Industrial
Commission, plus cash-match funds from industry partners Betaseed and Syngenta,
and other in-kind contributions.
The project seeks to establish a U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management
Agency multiperil crop insurance program for energy beets; engineer and evaluate
new front-end energy beet processing methods; expand regional energy beet
research trials; scale up whole-energy beet and juice storage technology to
enable year-round processing; and inform producers, community developers and the
biofuel industry of the emerging opportunity.
“We envision developing at least 12 sustainable ethanol facilities across North
Dakota,” says Maynard Helgaas, president of GVG. “Each plant will use energy
beets grown within a 20-mile radius and support job creation in rural
communities. This grant will help us make significant progress toward that
vision and help develop North Dakota’s energy beet biofuel industry.”
GVG is in the process of selecting the location for its first processing
facility, which is expected to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol per year
once complete.
The first phase of the energy beet project focused on research, including yield
trials, storage research and commercially testing the use of a coproduct to
provide processing heat. Current yield trials are in Dazey/Hannaford, Turtle
Lake, Langdon, Minot, Williston, Carrington and Oakes. In 2012, trial plots will
be expand to include Jamestown, Harvey, Litchville and Colgate. The yield trials
will continue to be sponsored by Betaseed and Syngenta.
The plot trial research results in phase 1 exceeded expectations, according to
Blaine Schatz, Carrington REC director.
“So far, our research shows that energy beets can be grown successfully outside
of the Red River Valley in a variety of soil types and conditions,” Schatz says.
“The beets actually help growers improve soil health and give them greater farm
income.”
“Ethanol produced from energy beets can be sold at a premium,” Gustafson says.
“We expect that energy beet ethanol will produce 50 to 60 percent less
greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum-based fuels, which will designate it as
an advanced biofuel. We are working to finalize the life-cycle analysis of
energy beets through a formal Environmental Protection Agency application.
Securing EPA approval of energy beets as an advanced biofuel will mean a
significant premium for producers and processors in the sugar-based ethanol
market.”
The life-cycle analysis research is funded in part by a separate grant from the
North Dakota Agricultural Products Utilization Commission and community
donations.
“North Dakota farmers, processors and rural communities should see positive
financial returns by growing and processing energy beets for biofuel,” Gustafson
says.