Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
MEDC Bioeconomy Symposium/ Networking Event Friday, December 3rd Gold Room B, MSU Union Note: Each speaker is allocated 10 minutes, with about 5 minutes presenting the main results of the project, followed by 5 minutes of discussion among participants. This will leave about 10 minutes at the end of each session for identifying common themes. PROGRAM: 12:00 LUNCH for those interested. Lunch will be unstructured conversation; if you would like to attend but have not yet RSVP’d, contact [email protected] 1:00 OPENING REMARKS: Steve Pueppke (director, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station), Marietta Baba (dean, College of Social Science) 1:10 PANEL I: BIOECONOMY AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES Moderator: Tom Dietz Lead faculty Dietz, Thomas Gasteyer, Stephen (not attending - Wes Eaton will present) McGarrell, Ed (not attending) and Carole Gibbs Peterson, Chris College CSS CSS CSS CANR CANR Yin, Runsheng CSS/CANR Zhao, Jinhua Title The behavioral wedge: Narrowing the energy efficiency gap Wood frames and forest knowledge networks: Community factors in biomass/bioenergy development in michigan Crime, compliance and enforcement in carbon trading markets The Product Center bioeconomy programs Assessing the performance of energy plantations in Michigan Carbon trading: Lessons from European Union Emissions Trading Scheme 2:20 PANEL II: BIOFUEL PRODUCTION PROCESSES Moderator: Ray Miller Lead faculty Balan, Venkatesh and Bruce Dale (neither attending – Leonardo da Costa Sousa presents) College EGR Title Novel approaches to improve lignocellulosic biomass digestibility for biofuel production 1 CNS Benning, Christoph (Sanjaya may present) Han, Kyun-Hwan, and Ken Keegstra (not attending) Reguera, Gemma (Allison Speers may present) Srivastava, Ajit (not attending) and Yan (Susie) Liu CANR/ CNS CNS CANR/ EGR CNS Vieille, Claire 3:30 Genetic engineering of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in rutabaga (Brassica napus var napobrassica) storage root as feedstock for the production of biofuel Biotechnological means to optimize lignocellulosic feedstocks for improved biofuel productivity and processing Microbial fuel cells for ethanol production from low cost lignocellulose substrates Developing a novel coupled conversion process on genetic modified green algae Development of a knockout method to engineer A. succinogenes into a performing industrial succinate producer Break 3:40 PANEL III: BIOMASS SUPPLY Moderator: Jeff Andresen Lead faculty Andresen, Jeff, and Sharon Zhong Groop, Dick, and Jiaguo Qi Kim, Seungdo and Bruce Dale (not attending) College CSS CSS EGR CANR Miller, Ray CANR Thelen, Kurt CANR/ CSS Westphal, Joanne Title Developing regional climate change scenarios for agriculture and renewable energy for the Great Lakes region through dynamic downscaling Assessing national corn/soybean expansion and intensification with satellite Imagery Global warming intensity of lumped ethanol fuel derived from cornfields Establishing a network of poplar and willow biofeedstock production research sites in Michigan Corn harvest strategies with consolidated starch and cellulosic bioprocessing The use of green roof technology to mitigate storm water events in built environments 4:50 Wrap-up/ Discussion of next steps 5:10 Close 2 Abstracts for MEDC Bioeconomy Symposium/ Networking Event December 3, 2010 In order of presentation Tom Dietz: The behavioral wedge: Narrowing the energy efficiency gap Affiliation: Department of Sociology and Environmental Science and Policy Program Abstract: Most climate change policy attention has been addressed to long-term options, such as inducing new, low-carbon energy technologies and creating cap-and-trade regimes for emissions. We use a behavioral approach to examine the reasonably achievable potential for near-term reductions by altered adoption and use of available technologies in U.S. homes and nonbusiness travel. We estimate the plasticity of 17 household action types in 5 behaviorally distinct categories by use of data on the most effective documented interventions that do not involve new regulatory measures. These interventions vary by type of action and typically combine several policy tools and strong social marketing. National implementation could save an estimated 123 million metric tons of carbon per year in year 10, which is 20% of household direct emissions or 7.4% of U.S. national emissions, with little or no reduction in household well-being. The potential of household action deserves increased policy attention. Future analyses of this potential should incorporate behavioral as well as economic and engineering elements. Stephen Gasteyer: Wood frames and forest knowledge networks: Community factors in biomass/ bioenergy development in Michigan Presenter: Weston Eaton, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology PI: Stephen Gasteyer, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Abstract: Biomass bioenergy is one of a suite of renewable energy initiatives promoted through the state of Michigan and the US Department of Agriculture with the goal of improving the renewable fuel portfolio. This project explored the factors that contributed to community willingness to host biomass bioenergy facilities in northern Michigan. We conducted research in four communities, two with proposed plants and two that rejected biomass bioenergy facilities. We utilized a multi-stage process involving: content analysis of conventional media, blogs, web sites, and reports by government, universities and others; analysis of available secondary statistical data; and interviews of key informants using a snowball sample method. Key findings: According to content analysis of local news sources and interviews with policy/industry leaders, an increasing number of rural Michigan communities are considering biomass as one renewable energy source. University foresters, industry developers and other proponents argue that wood is ecologically, technologically and economically preferable to other renewable sources such as wind, hydro, solar, and landfill gas, since the decline in the paper industry means Michigan has ample wood supply to feed existing and new energy generation facilities. Further, biomass bioenergy can provide the base load to support weather dependent renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar. These factors, combined with the need for alternative job creation throughout the state, make biomass appear to be an easy sell. From a business perspective, however, the optimal location for siting a biomass bioenergy facility is limited by proximity to forest feedstock, proximity to transport, the ability to tap into water and wastewater services, and the existence of a grid that may be accessed. These limiting factors create opportunities for opposition. Of our four research communities, two were moving forward with proposed biomass bioenergy generating facilities and two rejected the proposed facilities. The supportive community leaders saw the benefit in 3 terms of direct and indirect job creation. The business models for these facilities are dependent on government incentive programs. Findings about the considerable opposition in the other two communities include: 1) The opposition arose initially around process issues—not being adequately included in community deliberations; 2) Members of the opposition expressed distrust of the motivations of industry and community leaders, and the capacity of Michigan regulatory agencies to enforce permits; 3) Opposition members were NOT only motivated by local impacts alone, but by concerns about longterm natural resource impacts, specifically given Michigan‘s dubious legacy of forest overharvest; 4) Opposition groups were highly networked, both regionally, and to national environmental groups that had the capacity to dispute the premises of industry, government, and mainstream university representatives about the environmental and health impacts of biomass. Future research should include better exploration of opposition, standards for supply management, and community impacts for sited facilities. Carole Gibbs: Crime, compliance and enforcement in carbon trading markets Research team: Carole Gibbs (PI), Jessica Fry (PhD Student), Edmund McGarrell (PI), Louie Rivers III (Co-PI) Affiliation: School of Criminal Justice Abstract: Carbon markets established under the Kyoto Protocol represent a massive and relatively new attempt at reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change. Empirical research on and understanding of crime, compliance and enforcement related to the market is limited due to the novelty and complexity of the approach and a lack of criminological attention to environmental issues. To fill this gap, our research objective is to construct a mental model of the Kyoto carbon market to describe the system and identify opportunities for fraud, noncompliance and abuse of the system. Mental models are used to help us understand how individuals perceive, make decisions and behave in a variety of environments. Ultimately we plan to use situational crime analysis to compare criminal opportunities in carbon trading systems to other regulatory approaches. Chris Peterson: The Product Center bioeconomy programs Affiliations: Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics and MSU Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources Abstract: Presentation will provide an overview of the Product Center‘s venture development program, bioeconomy status and potential assessments, as well as MEDC/DOE research projects. Jinhua Zhao: Carbon trading: Lessons from European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Research team and affiliations: Jong Duk Kim (Department of Economics) and Jinhua Zhao (Departments of Economics and Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and Environmental Science and Policy Program) Abstract: The European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) commenced the world‘s largest multicountry, multi-sector Cap-and-Trade system in 2005. Related to the impact of Cap-and-Trade system on industrial competitiveness, there are two relevant yet opposite hypotheses; ‗pollution haven hypothesis‘ and ‗Porter hypothesis‘. The former states that Cap-and-Trade system raises cost burden so that harms industrial ‗competitiveness‘ and hence eventually makes industries move to other regions with less strict environmental regulations. On the other hand, the latter (Porter, 1991) asserts that environmental regulations spur innovations, increase productivity and so eventually benefit industries regulated. 4 From this empirical study using Phase I (2005~2007) data of the EU ETS, we have two objectives to achieve. First, we aim to understand the impact of (grandfathering) permit allocation decisions on industrial competitiveness. In order to compensate for the potential harms of the EU ETS, it is believed that each government in EU strategically adjusted permit allocation among participating industries based on industrial competitiveness and mobility. This research confirms that more permits were allocated to relatively less competitive and more mobile industries. Furthermore, we intend to see the effect of such strategic permit allocations on the industrial competitiveness. Second, we aim to understand the direct impact of the EU ETS on industrial competitiveness. For this purpose, non-participating industries in the EU ETS are included as a control group. Hence, we can compare the competitiveness changes of two groups (control and treatment) since the start of the EU ETS. Venkatesh Balan: Novel approaches to improve lignocellulosic biomass digestibility for biofuel production Research team: Venkatesh Balan, Leonardo da Costa Sousa, Shishir Chundawat, Mingjie Jin and Bruce Dale. Affiliation: Biomass Conversion Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science Abstract: One of the challenges facing society today is related to the availability of inexpensive liquid transportation fuels. Petroleum is currently the only available resource which is capable of providing liquid fuels on a large scale. However, about 85% of the U.S. crude oil is imported to meet local demand. Lignocellulosic biomass is the only renewable resource capable of replacing crude oil for fuels and chemicals production. A typical biomass to fuel conversion process includes: pretreatment of the lignocellulosic biomass, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation to produce fuels such as ethanol. One of the primary focuses of our research at the Biomass Conversion Research Lab (BCRL) is to fundamentally understand how to reduce biomass recalcitrance using ammonia as the pretreatment catalyst and thereby improve the economics of biofuel production. For this purpose, our approach includes: 1) identification and study of important reactions occurring during ammonia pretreatment of biomass, 2) converting crystalline cellulose I (native polymorph to plants) into a highly reactive cellulose III polymorph using various ammonia treatment conditions, and 3) studying the extractability of biologically inhibitory components from lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., lignin, organic acids, phenolic compounds) during ammonia pretreatment. Some of our preliminary findings based on the above mentioned approaches will be presented. Christoph Benning: Genetic engineering of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in rutabaga (Brassica napus var napobrassica) storage root as feedstock for the production of biofuel Research team: Sanjaya, Brandon Guelette, and Christoph Benning Affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Abstract: Increasing the energy density of biomass by adding oil (TAG) to vegetative tissues is a highly desirable goal for the improvement of biomass feed stocks for high energy transportation biofuels such as biodiesel or even jet fuels. We specifically focus on the engineering of oil production in the storage root of rutabaga by shifting carbon partitioning from starch to precursors of fatty acid biosynthesis. Rutabaga like canola or Arabidopsis has an active pathway of storage oil biosynthesis in the embryo that will have to be activated and optimized in the developing root storage organ. A synthetic biology approach is employed that involves the expression of multiple genes in the rutabaga root to inhibit starch accumulation, increase the conversion of sugars into fatty acids, and to create a sink by enhancing oil synthesis. One of the proteins targeted is WRINKLED1 (WRI1), a transcription factor of Arabidopsis which has been implicated in the regulation of sugar conversion into fatty acid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis embryos. 5 We have developed a rutabaga hairy root system for rapid proof of concept to test combinations of constructs for their effectiveness towards oil production, prior to generating transformed plants. Transgenic hairy roots expressing the WRI1 gene alone or in combination with other genes accumulated higher total fatty acids than wild type as indicated by TLC and GC data. Rutabaga stable transformation was established in the lab. Independent T 0 transgenic plants with WRI1cDNA driven by the CAMV 35S or the PATATINB33 promoter (sugar responsive and storage organ-specific) were obtained. Rooted plants were acclimatized to greenhouse conditions; the presence of foreign genes was confirmed. Analysis of TAG in T1 transgenic plants was confirmed by TLC. Collection of homozygous progeny, as well further biochemical analysis is under way. The small subunit of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), a key enzyme for starch biosynthesis was isolated and conserved region (500 bp) was used to produce an RNAi construct. T-DNA constructs were produced that contained AGPRNAi and/or WRI1cDNA driven by the two promoters mentioned above and containing different selection markers to allow gene stacking. These construct were transferred into rutabaga to obatin T0 plants, selection of homozygous lines and biochemical analysis is in progress. To test efficacy of these constructs, transgenic Arabidopsis plants were generated by floral dip using Agrobacterium. As a most promising result, we have observed significant accumulation of TAG (5-6 folds) by ESI-MS in non-seed tissues such as leaves and roots of transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the double gene construct AGPRNAi and WRI1cDNA. Embryonized seedling formation (formation of embryo-like seedlings actively converting sugars into oil) was tested for above transgenic lines resulted in 10% per DW oil (TAG) on medium supplemented with 3% sugar. Kyung-Hwan Han: Biotechnological means to optimize lignocellulosic feedstocks for improved biofuel productivity and processing Research team: Kyung-Hwan Han 1,4, 2,4 , Bruce Dale , and Ken Keegstra 3,4 Affiliations: 1) Department of Horticulture and Department of Forestry, 2) Department of Chemical Engineering, 3) DOE-Plant Research Laboratory, MSU, 4) DOE-Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, MSU Abstract: Liquid fuels from lignocellulosic materials such as wood offer an attractive alternative to fossil fuel. Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of a complex mixture of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The proportion of these three major components varies depending on the plant species used, growing site, climate, age and the part of the plant harvested. This variability presents process design and operational challenges for the fermentation of sugars derived from lignocellulosic feedstocks. Recent advances in the molecular biology of wood formation and cell wall biosynthesis have provided new enabling tool to produce tailored biomass composition. The long-term goal of this project is to develop biotechnological means to control the composition of lignocellulosic biomass and develop the genetically altered poplars as industrial feedstocks for biofuel production. Specific objectives are to: (1) produce transgenic poplars that suppress 4-CL (for total lignin reduction) and over-express poplar F5H (for changes in lignin composition); (2) test whether overexpression of a mannan/glucomannan synthase will increase the levels of mannan and glucomannan in poplar wood and result in a concomitant alteration of processing qualities; (3) develop genetic transformation system for selected clones for biomass production in Michigan and US; (4) carry out AFEX pretreatment and hydrolysis experiment using the transgenic poplars produced in this project. This report will describe (1) our strategy to modify the content and composition of lignin, hemicellulose in transgenic poplars and (2) analysis of the resulting transgenic poplars with regard to cell wall composition and effect on AFEX pretreatment. 6 Seungdo Kim: Global warming intensity of lumped ethanol fuel derived from cornfields Research team: Seungdo Kim and Bruce E. Dale Affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Abstract: The current practices have separately estimated global warming intensities of ethanol derived from corn grain and from corn stover (feedstock-oriented approach), while decisions on the environmental performance of ethanol have been generally done at the fuel level, not at the feedstock level. From a land use perspective or a fuel level viewpoint, the important issue is how much total ethanol fuel is produced per acre of land, not how much of each type of ethanol fuel is derived per unit mass of different feedstocks. Using this land-oriented approach, lumped ethanol fuel derived from cornfields, including corn-based and corn stover-based ethanol, can reduce global warming by 48% (47.2 g CO 2 equivalent per MJ). The land-oriented approach is useful in estimating nation-wide greenhouse gas emissions associated with ethanol fuels derived from cornfields. Gemma Reguera: Microbial fuel cells for ethanol production from low cost lignocellulose substrates Research team: Allison Speers (Ph.D. student), Jenna Young (Ph.D. student), and Gemma Reguera (PI) Affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Abstract: The goal of our project was to develop a consolidated bioprocessing technology for cellulosic ethanol that bypasses limitations of current technologies in cost, efficiency, and sustainability. Current technologies for the conversion of biomass to ethanol use mainly corn grain, which interferes with the food supply and makes this technology unsustainable in the long term. Corn grain is then chemically pretreated with acid to increase its enzymatic digestability and hydrolyzed to soluble sugars by microbial enzyme cocktails, a step that inevitably adds to the final cost of the ethanol. The soluble sugars resulting from the enzymatic hydrolysis step are then only partially fermented by genetically engineered strains of bacteria or fungi. Fermentation also is limited by the acidification of the media, which results from the production of organic acids during microbial fermentative metabolism, and by feedback inhibition on the microbial metabolism from fermentation byproducts such as H2 and organic acids. To address these limitations, we designed a microbial fuel cell (MFC) driven by a defined binary consortium composed of a cellulolytic/fermentative partner (Cellulomonas uda) and the electricity-producing (electricigen) microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens. In this bioprocessing scheme, C. uda efficiently degraded and fermented corn stover (chemically pre-treated using the AFEX method) to ethanol at high natural yields. The ethanologenic fermentation was coupled to electricity production in a MFC using the electricigenic catalyst, G. sulfurreducens, which converted the fermentation byproducts (organic acids and/or H 2) into electricity. Genetic engineering and adapted evolution also was used to improve the synthrophic interactions of the consortium and ethanol tolerance, respectively. Ajit Srivastava/ Yan (Susie) Liu: Developing a novel coupled conversion process on genetic modified green algae Affiliation: Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Abstract: A transgenic microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with the expression of a thermophilic alpha amylase in chloroplast could provide an algal biomass that is capable of self saccharification in vivo at elevated temperature after harvesting, and coupled conversion process on the algae could effectively convert algal starch and lipids into bioethanol and biodiesel. Combining algal self-saccharification and coupled conversion process will eliminate the extra cost of drying algal biomass and breaking down cell wall during conversion process, which will improve the efficiency of algal biofuels production, and make algal biofuels economically feasible. The genetic modified green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii could 7 be served as a model organism of algal cultivation platform for value added product production such as diagnostic protein production. Claire Vieille: Development of a knockout method to engineer A. succinogenes into a performing industrial succinate producer Affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Abstract: Succinate is among the twelve top value-added chemicals targeted for bioproduction by DOE. Succinate has many current specialty chemical applications, but its greatest potential for future use is as a building block that can be converted into high-value chemicals and products. It could replace maleic anhydride (produced from petroleum) as the feedstock to produce 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, and γbutyrolactone. Produced from biomass, succinate would have the potential to decrease our reliance on foreign oil by up to 10%. Succinate fermentation has the added benefit of fixing CO 2. If combined with ethanol production, succinate production could significantly improve the carbon footprint of ethanol biorefineries. One of the best succinate producers, Actinobacillus succinogenes, produces up to 110 g/l of succinate from glucose. It also grows on most hemicellulosic sugars, and work is in progress to optimize growth on hemicellulose hydrolysates. A. succinogenes produces succinate as part of a heterofermentation that produces acetate, formate, and some ethanol as byproducts. While we now have an excellent understanding of A. succinogenes’ metabolism, and of what steps are needed to engineer a homosuccinate fermentation, developing a gene knockout method for A. succinogenes remained the major bottleneck in developing A. succinogenes into a performing industrial succinate producer. Our goal in this project was to test two methods, natural transformation and conjugation, to construct knockout mutants. The same positive marker was going to be used to select for gene knockouts. The A. succinogenes genome contains homologs of all the Haemophilus influenzae genes required for natural transformation. The H. influenzae DNA uptake machinery takes up DNA selectively, recognizing a species-specific uptake signal sequence. The A. succinogenes genome contains 1,690 of these motifs. These results suggested that A. succinogenes is possibly naturally competent. The pyruvate formate lyase gene (pflB) and the fumarate reductase operon (frdABCD) were targeted for knockouts. ∆frdAB and ∆pflB constructs were made that were interrupted by a positive selection cassette. In this cassette, the Escherichia coli isocitrate dehydrogenase gene (icd) was flanked by two repeat sequences (FRT) needed for cassette removal with the yeast Flp/FRT recombination system. A. succinogenes is auxotrophic for glutamate partly because it does not have an isocitrate dehydrogenase. The E. coli icd gene allows A. succinogenes to grow on defined medium with isocitrate replacing glutamate. The ∆frdAB::icd and ∆pflB:icd linear constructs were introduced into A. succinogenes by natural transformation using the competence induction and transformation methods developed for H. influenzae. Knockout events were selected by growing transformants in defined medium-isocitrate. Isolated colonies were tested for knockout by PCR and enzyme assays. The icd marker was excised by expressing the Saccharomyces cerevisiae recombinase, Flp in the ∆frdAB::icd and ∆pflB:icd strains. Finally, the Flp plasmid was cured using acridine orange. In summary, we developed a knockout method based on natural transformation that allows us to make markerless deletions in A. succinogenes. Because of this success, we did not proceed with testing whether conjugation can be used to create knockout mutants in A. succinogenes. Sharon Zhong and Jeff Andresen: Developing regional climate change scenarios for agriculture and renewable energy for the Great Lakes region through dynamic downscaling Affiliations: Department of Geography and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station 8 Abstract: General circulation models (GCMs) are widely used to assess the impact of greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities on the climate system. Although it is widely accepted that present-day GCMs are able to simulate the large-scale atmospheric state in a generally realistic manner and that these models are the adequate tool to predict large-scale climate changes, their implications on regional climate are questionable. At the meantime, many climate impact assessment and adaptation studies request information on the regional or even local scale. To bridge this gap, coarse-scale GCM projections (which are currently on the order of 100-300 km spatial resolution) need to be downscaled. A variety of downscaling methods have been developed and can be generally categorized into two classes referred to as ―dynamic‖ and ―empirical‖. Dynamic downscaling utilizes climate projections from GCMs as initial and boundary conditions for a regional climate model (RCM) that runs at a much finer (10-50 km) horizontal grid resolution, while empirical downscaling methods employ statistical or machine learning techniques to derive a mathematical relationship between the large scale and local climate variables. One of the main concerns in empirical downscaling is that even if the predictive model works well for current climate data, there is no guarantee it will perform equally well for the predicted future climate data whose distributions have been perturbed by the different emissions scenarios. Another problem is that most downscaling methods are biased toward capturing dominant signals of the data and consequently are not effective at predicting extremes. This project is aimed at producing regional climate change scenarios for the Great Lakes region using dynamic downscaling method. RCM simulations of current climate were first performed in order to identify potential biases in RCM simulations. The results were evaluated using North American Regional Reanalysis data set. The regional climate features examined include seasonal mean precipitable water, moisture flux transport, precipitation and temperature. The monthly features of domain-averaged winds and water vapor mixing radio are also analyzed. The analyses suggest that the regional simulation realistically captured the spatial and temporal variability of important climate variables over the region, although biases exist that include underestimating of precipitation and over-prediction of temperature. Jiaguo Qi and Richard Groop: Assessing national corn/soybean expansion and intensification with satellite imagery Affiliation: Department of Geography Abstract: Over the last decade there has been a great deal of interest in developing bioenergy from plants. As a consequence, there is a significant expansion and intensification of corn and soybean production at the national level. However, the spatial expansion and intensification are largely unknown and little is understood about their environmental and socioeconomic consequences. This project, funded by MAES, was to test remote sensing capability using large scale, moderated spatial resolution but frequent temporal coverage satellite images to detect and subsequently map corn and soybean production in the US. The results indicate that it is promising that these publicly available satellite data can be used to quantify the rate of changes. Further, their environmental consequences can be quantitatively assessed with ecosystem models. Ray Miller: Establishing a network of poplar and willow biofeedstock production research sites in Michigan Affiliation: Department of Forestry Abstract: Understanding the relationship between planting sites and clones of poplar and willow hybrids is critical to developing recommendations for energy plantation growers. Clones respond differently from place to place requiring numerous trials. Results from these tests will inform planting recommendations and be used by crop breeders in development of future varieties. Observing the reaction of various clones across sites and measuring site changes resulting from energy plantation establishment also helps to develop models of greenhouse gas, water, and nutrient cycling under energy crop production systems throughout the state. This project provided funding to obtain field equipment and support for a technician. 9 Together with funding from the Sun Grant Feedstock Development Program, the Frontier Center of Energy Excellence, and the Forest Biofuels Statewide Collaboration Center, a network of five energy plantation test sites was established throughout northern Michigan. Sites are located near Skandia, Escanaba, Brimley, Onaway, and Lake City. Each eight acre site includes a replicated clonal yield study of 20 new willow clones (developed at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry), 10 promising poplar clones (chosen from among those tested in the Lake States over the last several decades), and a clonal test of 70 new hybrids developed at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota. This infrastructure of plantations is already contributing early growth and insect damage information to the New York and Minnesota breeding programs and will begin producing yield data within the next year. The network also is providing an opportunity to monitor early plantation gas exchange dynamics. This set of materials represents the most extensive testing of these bioenergy crops anywhere in the United States and is linked closely to other projects working on these taxa. Kurt Thelen: Corn harvest strategies with consolidated starch and cellulosic bioprocessing 1 1 1 1 2 Research team: Juan Gao , Leilei Qian , Kurt D. Thelen , Xinmei Hao , Leonardo da Costa Sousa , 2 2; Vankatesh Balan , Bruce E Dale 2 Affiliations: Department of Crop and Soil Science/ Department of Chemical Engineering Abstract: Conventional systems for harvest and bioprocessing of corn (Zea mays L.) and corn stover as ethanol feedstocks involve multiple trips across the field for harvest and separate bioprocessing of the grain (starch) and stover (cellulose) components of the corn plant. The objective of this study was to evaluate a consolidated system of whole plant corn (grain + stover) harvest followed by consolidated bioprocessing of the starch and cellulosic components of the whole-plant feedstock. Whole plant harvesting at peak biomass (green cut whole plant corn fresh processed, and green cut whole plant corn ensiled) and at full maturity (mature cut whole plant) were conducted to compare with source separated component harvesting of grain, cob and stover fractions at four Michigan farms. Composition analysis showed green cut whole plant corn fresh processed, green cut whole plant corn ensiled and mature cut -1 whole plant corn had higher glucan 56.0 ± 8.0% (g g dry biomass), lower xylan (13.3 ± 2.7%), arabinan (2.9 ± 0.6%) and acid-insoluble lignin (11.8 ± 2.6%) contents than the corn cob and corn stover component fractions. Under ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) pretreatment, enzyme hydrolysis and S. cerevisiae 424A (LNH-ST) fermentation, green cut whole plant corn fresh processed and green cut whole -1 plant corn ensiled had an ethanol yield of 24.7 ± 3.3% (g g dry biomass), mature cut whole plant corn had a higher ethanol yield of 28.7 ± 2.3% than green cut whole plant corn ensiled at the Ingham location and green cut whole plant corn fresh processed at Menominee. The ethanol production from the cob fraction (14.6 ± 2.5%) and stover fraction (17.7 ± 3.5%) were lower than green cut whole plant corn fresh processed, green cut whole plant corn ensiled and mature cut whole plant corn. There was no location effect of corn grain ethanol production (33.8-39.8%). If 30% of total corn stover was harvested in a -1 source separated harvest/bioprocessing system, ethanol yield on a land area basis was 5309 L ha , significantly lower than that recorded for the mature cut whole plant corn/consolidated bioprocessing -1 system (6446 L ha ). There was no difference in ethanol yield on a land area basis between the green -1 -1 cut whole plant corn fresh processed (5679 L ha ) and green cut whole plant corn ensiled (5294 L ha ) indicating that on-farm storage using conventional ensiling practices is a viable biomass feedstock storage method for consolidated bioprocessing systems. The results suggest that whole plant harvesting of corn combined with consolidated bioprocessing of the starch and cellulose components of the whole plant material is a viable alternative to the convention of separate grain and stover harvesting and bioprocessing. 10 Joanne Westphal: The use of green roof technology to mitigate storm water events in built environments Research team and affiliations: Drs. Joanne Westphal (Landscape Architecture), Brad Rowe (Horticulture), Jeff Andresen (Geography), Rique Campa (Fisheries and Wildlife), Milind Khire (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Indrek Wichman (Mechanical Engineering) Abstract: This project examines the potential role of sloped green roof systems to significantly mitigate storm water events in urban areas. The study examines roof composition and the subsequent release of storm (volume and peak) flow from 15 roof panels constructed to simulate standard pitched (4:12) roof systems in the Midwest. Each panel (4 feet long [1.23 m], 18 inches [0.46 m] wide, & 8 inches [0.20 m] deep) was constructed to collect and record rainfall every 5 minutes, using tipping buckets, moisture probes, and a data logger. Triplicates of five different roofing materials were studied, including two conventional roof surfaces (steel, fiberglass shingle), and three green roof systems (sedum, grasses, bare soil). An on-site weather station recorded precipitation, solar incidence, wind speed/direction, and ambient temperature. Preliminary data finding suggest substantial retention of storm water (volume, peak flow) with the green roof systems over panels having the conventional roof surfaces. This study suggests the potential of green roof technology to 1) mitigate the environmental impacts of stormwater events in highly urbanized areas, 2) reduce community infrastructure costs for stormwater conveyance and treatment, and 3) provide another opportunity for manufacturing new green technology in Michigan. Runsheng Yin [likely absent]: Assessing the performance of energy plantations in Michigan Affiliation: Department of Forestry Abstract: Developing energy plantations has attracted broad interest, with the emerging bio-economy. The goals of this project are to: (1) assess the feasibility of feed-stocks supply from woody, energy plantations in Michigan, and (2) find critical opportunities for cost and efficiency improvements in alternative systems. To achieve those goals, first, an appropriate economic model will be built; and then, the performance of the energy plantations will be analyzed under various scenarios. Building an economic model of energy plantations: The feed-stocks supply for energy production based on woody plantations features a multi-year undertaking from site preparation to plantation establishment, maintenance, and harvest. The net revenue of this enterprise is determined by the difference between the total revenue and the total cost. The total revenue is a product of harvested biomass multiplied by its unit price. The total cost includes three components – the land rental cost, the annual operational cost, and the opportunity cost of stocking volume. Land rental rate times the total land occupied gives rise to the land rental cost; the annual operational cost covers expenses for such items as site preparation, planting stock, establishment, fertilization, and overhead; and the opportunity cost of stocking volume results from the total growing inventory times unit biomass price times the selected discount rate. This suggests that we need to understand the various practices involved in developing the plantation resource and the corresponding expenditures and growth process and output price. Then, we will be able to determine the rotation length and thus productivity based on the profit (net revenue) maximization assumption. Additionally, we will be able to examine the cost structure of the enterprise and analyze the tradeoffs of different practices. Assessing the performance of energy plantations: The performance of energy plantations includes both the absolute performance of an individual production system and the comparative performance of the alternative production systems. The primary criteria of performance include profitability and productivity. Once the net revenue of a production system is determined, the profitability, measured by the net revenue per acre per year, can be easily derived; alternatively, the rate of return can be estimated by changing the discount rate such that the total cost will be equal to the total revenue. Accordingly, the productivity, measured by the biomass production per acre per year, can be calculated. Once we have 11 obtained the profitability and productivity of individual systems, their performance can be compared. In this process, light will be shed on what is the best combination of practices over the rotation, how the intensification of production will alter the system outcome, and what will be the required scale of production given the capacity and utilization rate of a bio-energy facility. 12