Renewable energy advocated

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Renewable energy was among the main conservation topics Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) Communications Director Dan Lemke covered Thursday during a noon Agriculture Day luncheon at Marktplatz Mall.

A non-profit corporation created and supported by the Minnesota Legislature to strengthen rural Minnesota's economy, AURI helps businesses respond to market opportunities with new, value-added uses for agricultural goods.

The institute, with labs in Waseca and Marshall, builds working partnerships with business innovators, agricultural groups and researchers. It provides technical support to clients conducting new product research and development.

Last fall, it became one of 10 nationwide recipients of $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grants for agriculture innovation centers.

The Energy Center will be headquartered in Marshall, co-located with AURI on the Southwest Minnesota State University campus, which also houses a Small Business Development Center.

The Energy Center will initiative projects like coupling biodiesel and wind electrical-generation systems and producing electricity with turbo generators fueled by vegetable oils.

Ethanol research projects being considered include designing high-starch corn to boost ethanol production and improve distiller's dry grains (DDGs), an ethanol byproduct used mostly in livestock feed. Another project uses the excess heat and steam from a sugar beet plant to dry byproducts at a nearby ethanol plant.

Biomass power using anaerobic digesters and power plants that burn animal or vegetable processing waste to generate electricity will be studied. Lemke said a Redwood Falls group is looking at creating biodiesel from soybean oil and processed animal fat.

Friday, a new biodiesel processing plant goes online next to a soybean crushing plant in Brewster, northeast of Worthington. The biodiesel plant is geared to process 8 to 30 million gallons of biodiesel annually.

At 8 million gallons, it would be enough to trigger the (biodiesel) mandate. Beginning in 2005, all diesel fuel sold in Minnesota must contain a 2-percent biodiesel blend if the state production is at least 8 million gallons.

Biodiesel may cost several cents more per gallon than petroleum, but those that have road tested it, say the engine wear reduction and increased engine performance are enough to justify switching.

Wells farmer and Minnesota Soybean Growers Association President Ron Jacobsen said it takes Mother Nature 250 million years to replace fossil fuels while Minnesota producers can make the conversion in seven months.

The soybean plant, created by a $30 million investment by 2,300 farmers, crushes 100,000 bushels per day and has a 2 million bushel storage capacity.

Meanwhile, 4 acres of 5-foot willow shrubs are being evaluated as a potential biomass energy source at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca.

Russ Miller, vice president of operations at NGP Power Corp. of Irving, Texas, expects the plantation to be the first of many in southern Minnesota and elsewhere.

The company plans to build a biomass plant in the Waseca area, using willows as some of the key fuels. It is optimistic that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will grant a plant permit for 35 megawatt green power plant to be used by Xcel Energy.

Miller is signing up farmers to plant willows to feed the plant. He wants 2,500 acres by spring of 2005 and 25,000 acres when the plant is operating.

In addition to willow biomass, the plant could burn arbor trimmings, waste wood and crop residue like corn stalks. The plant would need 350,000 tons of biomass annually.

The firm plans to develop niche energy products across the country, including renewable and co-generation plants. It owns a biomass plant in New York, a Texas landfill gas project and California geothermal fields.

For more information, visit auri.org