Qi BioEnergy

Chopping corn silage, baling straw, and growing hay and alfalfa aren’t unfamiliar processes. Farmers have long supplied feed and bedding for livestock operations. However, transforming that system to supply biorefineries is challenging considering the sheer size and breadth of a facility’s biomass appetite.

A study led by the Straw Value Add Committee in Idaho and funded through a USDA value-added grant, looked at existing straw baling equipment and considered what a scaled-up system might look like. “A biomass refinery in our case would require 800,000 tons of biomass annually,” says Duane Grant, the committee’s project manager and an Idaho grower who produces 18,000 acres of irrigated crops. “That would require the harvestable biomass from 400,000 to 500,000 acres in Idaho, just for one plant.” Grant estimates that more than 1,000 growers would be required to supply the needed tonnage, all within a 100-mile radius. “It requires that we capture 70 [percent] to 80 percent of available feedstock from all the acres in that 100-mile circle.” Engineering report of this project.

Nebraska is truly right-in-the-middle-of-it-all offering an endless array of advantages that make living, working, and doing business here a wonderful and rewarding experience. Nebraska is a state that balances and blends economic opportunity with lifestyle; offers a wide variety of employment opportunities; has minimal commute times, safe communities and life-long learning prospects; provides variety and accessibility to natural, recreational and lifestyle amenities; has a great sense of place offering authenticity and realness featuring interesting older structures with new; blends a range of public space with commercial and personal spaces; has a bustle and buzz of varied activities; boasts exceptional environmental air and water quality, diverse populations, progressive thinking, and innovative and inclusive attitudes. It is this high quality of life that has created an environment where the possibilities for prosperity and happiness are endless.

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PHILLIPS 44,824.6 YUMA	120,253.0  SEDGWICK 16,737.0

A data set for four potential biomass production regions in the United States was created. Acreagewas broken down into land units by land capability class (Walsh and Graham, 1995) and average land rental values from the 12th sign-up of USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (Osborn,Liacuna, and Linsenbigier, 1992 ). Data on potential biomass yields and production costs by land class was assembled by ORNL for land suitable for biomass (crop, CRP, and pasture land with medium to high conversion potential) in the four regions shown in Figure 1. Calculations assume that biomass yields, production budgets, and CRP land rents applied to all land in a unit. Switchgrass was the representative grass crop while poplar was the wood crop for all regions except for willows in the North East. The yield scenarios (labeled by year) represented judgments about the potential success of biomass research programs: 2000 - yields attainable with current technology, 2005 - yields with improved management and clonal and varietal selection, and 2020 - yields that could be achieved with a sustained multi-regional genetic improvement program. Table 1 summarizes the data set used for estimation of the potential biomass supply in the U.S.

It’s been about six years since operations ceased at the former Louisiana Pacific site north of Olathe, but now the property is undergoing a facelift in anticipation of the county approving its use for a light industrial park.

The 42.598-acre property running along Colo. Highway 50 has been sold to Joe Jehn and Tom Molin for about $1.5 million. Since the purchase in late August, Jim Hollis, site construction manager, has hired local companies to clean up the property. It has included the removal of equipment and stacks from the building in preparation of the newly created Delta Olathe Industrial Park.