Spinning cornstalks into bioenergy gold
 |
| Kenneth Moore |
There's a tremendous bioenergy resource in the stalks and leaves left in cornfields, but it will be tricky to capture it and maintain soil quality, agronomy professor Ken Moore says.
Moore is studying the use of corn crop residues for bioenergy production with associate agricultural and biosystems engineering professor Rob Anex, interim agronomy chair Kendall Lamkey, and Jeremy Singer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Tilth Laboratory at Iowa State. They want to maximize biomass production, but minimize the impact of removing crop residues, such as corn stover, from fields, where it usually decays and controls soil erosion.
Studies predict it will take big increases in crop biomass to make conversion into fuels economical -- and because of that, protection of soil quality is an issue. Ways also must be found to remove crop residues without significant investments of work and energy. And its bulk could make it expensive to transport. Most processors will have to be small and local -- possibly boosting rural economic development.
Moore also is studying treating harvested cornstalks and leaves with enzymes or acids to help preserve it during storage and begin converting it to sugars for fermentation into ethanol.
Anex, an affiliate of the Center for Crops Utilization Research, will analyze the economics of new systems. Lamkey, director of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding, will develop corn hybrids for optimal grain and biomass. Singer, a USDA-Agricultural Research Service agronomist, will study planting corn with ground cover -- one method for sustaining soil quality.
"We want to develop a system where we understand the interactions and anticipate problems," Moore said.
