Pennycress Product Development & Preliminary Business Case Alberta Agriculture & Rural Development Kwesi Ampong-Nyarko April 2010 for Peace Region Economic Development Alliance
What is the Bio-based Economy • The bio-based economy is a vision of a future society no longer wholly dependent on fossil fuels for energy and industrial raw materials. • Bio-fuels (like ethanol and diesel) made directly from agricultural crops, will become increasingly competitive • Fossil fuels are used as industrial feedstocks, to produce chemicals, plastics etc. Most of this use could, over time, be replaced by biomass - starch, straw etc - fermented and converted to a vast range of materials using enzymes or micro-organisms developed specially for the task.
Biodiesel Driving Forces • The federal government mandate requiring an annual renewable content of two percent in diesel by 2012 is creating demand for vegetable oil for biodiesel production. • Most current biodiesel processes use edible oils as the oil feedstock. • To meet this demand and deal with the concerns regarding food, non-food sources of non food source of vegetable oil have to be found.
Pennycress • Contains 36% oil in the seed. • Contains a glucosinolate which has potential as a herbicide • Producing where most crops fail
400 Winter Number of seedlings Spring 300 200 100 0 Surface 2.5cm deep
100 Day0 Seeds germinated (%) 90 Day28 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 Gibberellic acid (ppm)
Evaluate the economic feasibility of combine harvesting of wild stands of pennycress using conventional combines Location Yield/kg/ha Bushels/acre Rycroft 2283.3 46.8 High Prairie (E) 2288.5 47.1 High Prairie (R) 2506.0 51.4 Edmonton 3098.3 63.6 Farmer's Field CDC North Winter 2588.3 53.1
Seedlings that emerge in the fall overwinter as a rosette and flower early in the growing season • It takes advantage of spring snow melt • is competitive against weeds and thus • offers option to produce pennycress as a low input crop Pennycress growing on 31 March 2010
60 Cow cockle White Cockle 50 Number of plants Green foxtail 40 Lamb's-quarters 30 Stinkweed Downy brome 20 Redroot pigweed 10 Dandelion Common groundsel 0 Control Pennycress Corn gluten
Crop safety to pennycress meal • Pennycress meal as herbicides can be applied as preplant incorporated (applied before planting, • mixed into the soil), pre-emergence • (applied to soil before plant/weed emergence), post- emergence (applied after crop emergence) • Timing of application can also impact herbicide selectivity. • the time when the target organism is introduced to the glucosinolate-containing medium.
Canola 160 Seedling emergence (%) 2 kg/m2 150 140 130 0 kg/m2 120 110 4 kg/m2 100 90 80 8 kg/m2 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 Days
Tomato 175 Seedling emergence (%) 2 kg/m2 150 0 kg/m2 125 4 kg/m2 100 8 kg/m2 75 50 25 0 0 10 20 30 40 Days
Pennycress meal nutrient analysis • Per cent nitrogen ranged 3.97 -4.17 % and P 0.70-0.76 %. • Total organic carbon in the two samples was 5.16 and 56.2 % respectively. • Organic matter was 56.5% and 59.5%. • The ph ranged between 5.1 to 5.4
Pennycress oil • The maximum pennycress meal oil content (excluding residual oil in meal) was 29.28% • The oil in canola was 43.7%. • Residual oil was 9.66%. • Allyl glucosinolate content varied from 146.0 µmoles/g to 184.8 µmoles/g. • Fatty acid composition Erucic (38.89 wt %), linoleic (20.81 wt %), and linolenic (12.53 wt %) • The amount of saturated fatty acid in pennycress was low 3.5 1 wt% mainly palmitic acid.
Pennycress oil - Cold Weather Performance • Pennycress oil exhibited a desirable low temperature fl uidity, as indicated by cloud point (CP) value of >-15. In the literature the actual measured value − 28 ◦ C. • Based on these results, it is expected that pennycress oil would be better suited for industrial applications where sub-ambient conditions are prevalent. • The relatively low level of saturated fatty acid contained in pennycress oil (4.6 wt%)
Achievement • Pennycress was originally classified as a class 3 weed by the CFIA. The project submitted a science advice to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on the benefits of pennycress as a crop. As a result, pennycress is no more classified as weed because. • Pennycress is also no longer listed as a weed in the Provincial Weed Act. • Recognized as potential Feed stock promoted the scientific merits of using pennycress as a feedstock. Pennycress is now considered as one of the potential sources of feedstock along side yellow grease and tallow, off-grade canola seed and camelina.
Advantages of using Pennycress as feedstock for biodiesel 1. Low break-even cost crop requiring none or little inputs (pesticides) 2. It is a winter annual 3. It can be grown on marginal lands 4. Non-food source of oil 5. Capability to serve in rotational crop cycles (short duration crop) 6. Cold filter plugging point Pennycress oil exhibited a desirable low temperature fl uidity, as indicated by cloud point value − 28 0 C.
Cropping System • Strictly a winter annual • Alternate Crop • seeding delayed into June, we have an extra short- season crop that matures in 80 days • Rotation with winter cereal • Winter pennycress - Winter pennycress - winter pennycress – winter cereal
Pennycress Industry Development Model • The final biodiesel composition depends on the initial feedstock • Substitution among fats and oils of different feedstocks • Feedstocks can account for more than seventy percent of the total cost of producing biodiesel • Hence feedstock cost and availability are very important in determining the feasibility of a biodiesel industry
Biodiesel Reaction In the presence of a catalyst (Sodium hydroxide, Potassium hydroxide Combining Yields Vegetable Oil or Biodiesel Animal Fat (100 lbs.) (100 lbs.) + + Glycerin Methanol or (10 lbs.) Ethanol (10 lbs.)
Pennycress: A first generation Biorefinery Oil Pennycress extraction seed Production Oil Meal Transesterfication Animal Saponification Lubricants Feed Glycerin Biofuel Bio-fumigation Bio-pesticide High value Amendments and molecules, eg Fertilizers Polypropel glucosinolates, glycol, myrosinase, acrolein, enzyme effectors animal feed
Example of canola vs. pennycress as feedstock for I000 kg Attribute Canola Pennycress Oil yield (%)@ 40.3 =$201.5 30 =$150.0 $0.50/litre Meal value ($)/T) 200.00 100.00 Total revenue ($) 401.5 250.0 Cost of seed 420.00 268.5 /tonne Profit -18.5 -18.5
Project Net revenue from crops in 2010 Crop Price/bu Yield/bu Gross Income ($) Cost ($) Net Revenue ($) /acre Pennycress $3.75 - 5.53 40 150 -221 70 $60-$130 Camelina $6.73/bu 25 168.25 80 88.25 HRS wheat $5.36 /bu 35 187.60 100 87.60 Durum $4.79 /bu 40 191.6 100 91.60 Peas $4.85 /bu 35 169.75 100 69.75 Canola $8.76 /bu 25 219.00 150 69.00 Feed barley $3.00 /bu 50 150.00 100 50.00
Sensitivity analysis of pennycress as feedstock for 40 bushel (789 kg)/acre $0.60/litre $0.50/litre $0.40/litre $0.30/litre Meal value 79.0 79.0 79.0 79.0 ($0.10/kg) per acre Oil value 142.0 118.0 94.7.0 71.01 Total revenue 221.0 197.0 173.7 150.0 Crush prod ($) 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 Price/kg seed $0.28 $0.25 $0.22 $0.19 (revenue from =$130 $107.2 $83.0 =$60 one acre
Acknowledgments • Lesser Slave Lake Economic Alliance – Greg Radstaak – Alvin Billings • Peace Region Economic Development Alliance – Bob Hall – Jack O’Toole • All Peace Industries Inc – Stan Peacock – Marion Peacock • Olds College – Tanya McDonald – Abimbola Abiola • Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development – Zhixiong Zhang – Yingli Wang
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