Chris Schilling, Ph'D'

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A Bright Future for Michigan Energy Crops

• Chris Schilling, Ph.D.
• C. J. Strosacker Professor and Chair of
  Engineering
• Saginaw Valley State University
• University Center, Michigan

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Alternative Energy Projects

• Corn / biomass pellet furnaces
• Biomass fuel pellet fabrication / testing
• DDG, corncob, sugar beet pulp, wood waste
• Fuel ethanol and biodiesel processing
• Internal combustion engine retrofits
• Fuel ethanol
• Biodiesel
• Vegetable oil

MicronodalCogen
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Alternative Energy Projects

• Liquid biofueled heaters
• Biodiesel
• Vegetable oil
• Glycerine
• Solid-biofueled steam-electric cogen
• Small-scale electricity generation

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Other activities

• Peltier thermoelectricity from hot water, not
  steam
• Biomass-fueled furnaces
• Industrial hot wastewater
• Hydrogen from Peltier thermoelectricity
• Solar photovoltaics
• Wind-electric power

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Source www.oilnergy.com
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2000 ft2 home85.3 MBtu demand
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Growth rings in starch granule
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Amylose is a linear polymer of glucose mers
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Amylose chains branch into amylopectin
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Amylopectin clusters in starch
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Growth rings in starch granule
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starch granule nanostructure
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Main difference between starch cellulose
CH2OH
O
Alpha D-glucose (amylose starch or hemicellulose)
OH
O
OH
CH2OH
O
Beta D-glucose (cellulose)
O
OH
OH
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Polysaccharide Biofuels

• Corn
• Crop stover
• Wood
• Leaves
• Grass
• Bakery waste
• Paper waste
• Food waste

Willow chips
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Polysaccharides make up the bulk of the dry
weight of nearly all plant matter
82.4 wt of the corn kernel 88 wt of the stover
(dry weight basis)
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Photosynthesis
CO2 H2O solar energy
O2 glucose
natures battery stores solar energy in
chemical bonds of glucose.
Reverse of photosynthesis
CO2 H2O heat energy
O2 glucose
also called combustion, oxidation,
biodegradationchemical bonds in glucose are
broken
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O2
CO2 H2O
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Small Furnaces, Big Furnaces The design is
similar

• Fuel is auger fed

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Source Solagen Inc., Deer Island, Oregon
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What if you burn polysaccharides with
insufficient oxygen? ..smoke is no longer
colorless ..many organic compounds
form ..which have fuel value ..and are toxic

CO2 H2O heat energy
O2 glucose

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Particulates in Smoke

• Flyash
• Carbonaceous particles
• All particles typically less than a micron
  (can be airborne for 3 weeks)
• They absorb toxic gases, bacteria, and viruses
• They embed deeply in the lungs where they pass
  into the bloodstream

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Wood smoke particles taken from a human lung
From Interstitial Lung Disease and Domestic Wood
Burning, by Ramage, Roggli, Bell and Piantadosi.
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Flyash airborne silicate particles
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Silicon Sodium Potassium Phosphorus
Calcium Iron Magnesium

• They enter the plant as dissolved ions, salts,
  and acids in water.
• They deposit in the cells of the corn kernel,
  leaves, and stalks.
• Their concentrations depend on the corn plant
  variety and the soil type.

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Glass is rarely a network of pure
silica. Instead, network modifiers (big ions
like Na, Ca, K) break up the network. Network
modifiers reduce viscosity
sodium silicate glass
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flyash particles
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The world has known for years how to burn
polysaccharides cheaply and cleanly

• Oxidizing combustion
• Remove particulates from exhaust
• Only burn H, C, O atoms
• (e.g., polysaccharides)

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Multi-Fuel Furnaces

• Corn
• Cherry Pits
• Wood Chips
• Biomass Pellets

How do we move the market?
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2 Markets

• Heating of homes, workshops, barns
• (up to 300,000 Btu/hr)
• Industrial / Municipal Heating
• (up to 10 million Btu/hr)

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Where are the opportunities?

• Heating big buildings and institutions

1.2 MBtu/hr Chiptech boiler heats Lynden Town
School, Lynden, VT
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154 New England facilities were heated with
biomass in 1993.
Miscellaneous facilities include an environmental
education center, 2 monastic orders, an urban
arts center and library complex, two government
forestry education centers, a luxury hotel / ski
area, a low income housing project, 2 state
building complexes, and 2 downtown district
heating systems.
Source Biomass Energy Resource Center,
Montpelier, VT
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Boiler house and greenhouse at Mount Wachusett
Community College, Gardner, MA 8 MBtu/hr
Messersmith boiler heats the main college
building, the greenhouse, and a fitness center
with a pool.
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4 MBtu/hr KWH Energy Systems boiler heats
Southshore Regional Hospital, Bridgewater, Nova
Scotia
Loading doors for below-grade bin adjacent to
boiler room
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Northwest Missouri State University

• 6200 students, 235 full time faculty
• Campus is heated and cooled with biomass for 25
  years

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Campus Fuel 4 semi-loads per day (2 tons per hr)
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Farmers making heating fuel

• Your resource is hot water..its the easiest way
  to store heat energy.

• How to create jobs from lots of cheap hot water?

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• Industrial heating

2.5 MBtu/hr Chiptech boiler heats Murray Farms
greenhouse, Penacook, NH
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Hydroponic Jobs Require Heat

• Growing Prospects horticultural training
  program in Winnipeg
• Sells herbs to restaurants, caterers
• Local police donated hydroponic equipment
• Inner city crime prevention project
• Located in basement of an aging building

http//www.cityfarmer.org
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Aquaculture jobs are possible with cheap heat
from polysaccharide biofuels.
http//www.svsu.edu/aquaculture/
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Calling all students
Each year, 50 billion BTUs are needed to heat the
worlds biggest indoor wave pool at Albertas
Edmonton Mall. Whats the heating bill?
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Answers
1,060,109 546,448 gallons of propane
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• Residential Heating Market for Pellet Stoves
• Customer Convenience Issues

• Ash disposal

• No U.S. fuel delivery infrastructure

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Pellet fuel infrastructure is booming in Europe
http//www.holz-pellets-buerli.ch
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Short Rotation Forestry Willow as an Energy Crop
Source Center for Sustainable and Renewable
Energy at the State University of New York,
www.esf.edu/willow
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1 year old crop
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Harvesting willow biofuel
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Willow chips
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Switchgrass
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Biomass Heating Fuels
A new business cluster for Michigan?
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Henry Fords Model T ran on ethanol or gasoline.
Gasoline became the dominant fuel because of the
big supply of cheaper petroleum from oil field
discoveries.
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How much energy does it take to make a gallon of
ethanol? Lorenz and Morris (1995)
3 other
2 bulk transport
27 electricity
68 steam
Industry Average 53,956 BTU to make a gallon of
ethanol
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2000 ft2 home85.3 MBtu demand
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• 275,000 tons spoiled sugar beets
• 7.4 of Michigans entire 2004 beet crop
• 7,012,500 gallons fuel ethanol possible
• 14,025,000 lost revenue at 2/gallon.

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• 8,064,374 gallons E-85
• 161,287,500 miles at 20 mpg

• 6,477 trips around the earth
• 675 trips to the moon
• If the average U.S. driver travels 20,000 miles
  per year, 8,064 drivers could be accommodated.

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Selecting the right fuel reduces the heating bill
to make 7,012,500 gallons of ethanol from all of
Michigans spoiled sugar beets in 2004
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• Corn to Fuel Ethanol
• 120 bushels per acre
• 2.5 gallons per bushel
• 300 gallons ethanol per acre
• Sugar Beet to Fuel Ethanol
• 18 tons beets per acre
• 18 sugar (converts to 9 ethanol)
• 3,240 lbs ethanol per acre
• 422 gallons per acre
• Ethanol cheaper from beets or corn?
• Better to convert beets to ethanol
• instead of table sugar?

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I was surprised to learn

• Biodiesel can be made from ethanol.
• Ethanol processing needs a lot of heat.
• Costly fossil fuels are typically used to make
  this heat.

..why not make ethanol by burning corn or
polysaccharide residues?
..and in turn make biodiesel?
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veggie oil (10 lb)
ethanol (1 lb)
biodiesel (10 lb)
(1 lb)
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Furnace burns waste veggie oil, glycerine, or
fuel oil
burner
www.napoleonfireplaces.com
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veggie oil filter
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Farmers growing biofuel

• Can we do this without harming the environment?
• Can we create jobs for our kids?
• Can we improve national energy security?

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Approach

• Learn about polysaccharides.
• and then use currently available technologies to
  make clean, affordable energy.

.to heat homes and big buildings .to heat
industrial / agricultural processes .to make
fuel ethanol and biodiesel
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New Jobs from Michigan Agriculture
corn
ethanol processor
furnace mfg fuel delivery infrastructure
fuel pelletizer
E-85 fuel
bioplastics
DDG
oilseed crops
engine retrofitting business
filtered veggie oil
waste veggie oil
retrofit oil furnaces
biodiesel processor
glycerine
pellet binder
soaps, lotions
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Continuous trans esterification reactor in
Austria www.energea.at
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