It prefers Lowland, moist sites, but is adapted to a wide range of soils and climates including sand. ton including land costs. The cost of producing switchgrass with current technology varies, but a reasonable average is about $65 per ton in the Upper Midwest. However, on land that cannot consistently produce at least 60 bushels per acre or so, according to our calculations, switchgrass could be more profitable. Wetland: UPL, FACW. Bransby, C.O. 2013. In Eastern Canada, heating oil is selling at 50 cents per litre and natural gas prices are continuing to rise. There is no revenue in the first year. Owens, V.N., D.R. James, Laura K., Scott M. Swinton, and Kurt D. Thelen. It is very winter-hardy and drought resistant. At current prices and technology, switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol is not a strong free market contender in most cases. Researchers offered a speculative scenario that factored in transportation and ethanol production costs. But do the economics justify that? Co-firing in steam boilers, usually with coal. Regions: 1,2,3,4,5,6. Paper selected for presentation at the Southern Agricultural Eonomics Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, 3-5 Feb., 2013. Switchgrass is a warm season, native bunch grass. A., J.T.Biermacher, B.J.Cook, M.K.Kering, J.Mosali. This is despite the fact that advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol (derived from crop residues, grasses, and trees) are mandated to exceed the amount of corn ethanol produced. Viands, H.S. Some examples are: Although producers don’t directly benefit monetarily from these non-cash values today, that might change in the future. Profitability Analysis of Cellulosic Energy Crops Compared with Corn.Â, Khanna, Madhu, Atul Jain and Anthony Oliver. Given budgeted costs for a pyrolytic biorefinery that produces half gasoline/half diesel, the price of oil must reach the vicinity of $110 per barrel in order to allow a switchgrass-based refinery to pay farm gate prices at or above current production costs. Take a look at the map above. It is widely assumed that switchgrass for biofuel would most likely be produced on land that is marginal for row-crop production. A review of cellulosic biofuel commercial-scale projects in the United States. In addition to producing advanced biofuels, the proposed system will improve the sustainability of existing cropping systems by reducing agricultural runoff of nutrients in soil and increasing carbon sequestration. According to the team’s calculations, heating with switchgrass pellets would continue to be less expensive even if switchgrass production costs rose 200 percent and the price of fuel oil dropped 70 percent. Switchgrass is a 3' to 7'+ tall native perennial bunch grass and is one of our most important tall warm season grasses. 3.1.2 Economics of Switchgrass preparation It has adapted regionally to widely differing soils, rainfall, and climate conditions over most of the US. Perrin, Richard, Kenneth Vogel, Marty Schmer, and Rob Mitchell. The on-farm cost of producing switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol averages about $60 per ton, according to a new study by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln agricultural economist and others. There is also an ethanol plant in Upton, Wyo., which produces cellulosic ethanol from wood waste. Switchgrass as a cellulosic fuel feedstock will also face competition from other cellulosic sources, such as wood processing waste. Switchgrass for forage and bioenergy: harvest and nitrogen rate effects on biomass yields and nutrient composition. Debnath, et al, estimated that these intangible benefits could raise the value of a switchgrass crop by $13 to $46 per ton relative to intangible benefits from no-till wheat. Switchgrass field in NE South Dakota. 2009. 2008. That’s strictly for illustration – as you would never likely see high-profit Iowa cropland devoted to switchgrass. The technology to convert cellulosic materials to ethanol on a commercial scale has been difficult to develop. •Extrapolated farm gate costs (10 yr) were $54 ton-1. Costs of production per ton are found to decline as yield increases; a four-fold increase in switchgrass yield would reduce per unit costs by more than half while Bullard estimated that a 50% increase in the yield of miscanthus could reduce per unit costs by about 25% . This estimate is based on: The final production cost per ton depends on average yields. Research Summary: Triploid Hybrids of Shrub Willow Yield More Biomass Than Diploids and Tetraploids, http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a1-22.html, http://faculty.apec.umn.edu/wlazarus/documents/cropbud.pdf, http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ageconfacpub/37/, USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Lab, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Energy Answers for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher, NEWBio Team Defines Human Systems Driving the Bioeconomy Transition, NEWBio Harvest, Preprocessing, and Logistics Team Optimizes Biomass Supply Chain Processes, NEWBio Feedstock Improvement Team Breeds Better Switchgrass and Willow for the Bioeconomy. Base bids did not differ much, with most being in the $200–$250 per acre range. CenUSA is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. Fike, R. Ferris, E. Heaton, D.I. Nutrient prices were estimated by fitting a trendline to 2000-2011 nutrient price data and evaluating that line at the year 2010. 2007. The startup loan section (Figure 1.) Breakeven switchgrass prices across the three soil productivity classes ranged from $47 per ton in the low productivity soils to $76 per ton in the most productive soils. But consider that BCAP payments from USDA can reach up to $45 per acre. Conversion Corn Price Price; 1 Bushel ≈ 0,035 m³ Corn Price Per 1 m³ 122.59 USD 1 Bushel ≈ 35,239 Liter Corn Price Per 1 Liter Cellulose first must be broken down into starch and sugar before it can be fermented into alcohol. In the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) legislation passed in 2007, Congress escalated mandates for the amounts of biofuels to be used in transportation fuel sold in the U.S. The breakeven farm-gate price for switchgrass ranged from $56 per ton for the two lowest profitability groups to over $94 per ton for the most profitable producers. Nitrogen use in switchgrass grown for bioenergy across the USA. Switchgrass is one of the grass crops promoted as a cellulosic biofuel feedstock. Guretzky, J. Annual production costs estimated at $200 per acre. outlines the per-ton cost of additional nitro-gen, phosphorus, and potassium. These analyses indicate that switchgrass would compete successfully with conventional crops on approximately 98% of the 3.9 M ha that would be available at a price of $38.5/Mg ($35/ton) for switchgrass (and identical prices per unit of energy content for the two other crops). Debnath, Deepayan, Artthur L. Stoeker and Francis M. Epplin. However the RFS2 and the price of petroleum have the greatest potential impact on the economic prospects for growing switchgrass, and these two factors can certainly change the economic balance in favor of switchgrass for bioenergy. 2013. Richard Perrin, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska. 2011. These costs include seeding, chemicals, land rent, and reseeding as needed. However, switchgrass bales will not be price-competitive with coal, except perhaps in areas that have renewable-fuel portfolio mandate requirements. Hong. There are several pathways for converting cellulosic feedstocks such as switchgrass into bioenergy products, including hydrolysis and fermentation, pyrolysis, and gasification. ?Cost beyond the farm gate is more speculative,? Research Partners lead by Iowa State University: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Purdue University, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University of Vermont, and University of Wisconsin. University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.Â. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These plants are expected to produce more than 130 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Note that it is not yet clear exactly how much of the mandated cellulosic biofuel use the government will eventually require. “Switchgrass Cost of Production: Data from On-Farm Trials, 2001-2005”. Generally, on marginal cropland that can produce corn at yields higher than 60 to 70 bushels per acre, corn is likely to be more profitable. Soil Carbon Storage by Switchgrass Grown for Bioenergy. One-time switchgrass establishment costs are amortized at an interest rate of 8% over the Table 1. West, Robert D. Perlack, Craig C. Brandt, Stan D. Wullschleger, Latha M. Baskaran, Erin G. Wilkerson, Mark E. Downing, and Carla A. Gunderson. The switchgrass price per ton is considered by two life cycle stages: (1) switchgrass cultivation and harvesting and (2) transportation. Land was marginal cropland that would have qualified for the Conservation Reserve Program. The suggested price per ton is $75.00 USD. 2013.  Impact of Environmental Values on Breakeven Price of Switchgrass. Switchgrass is expected to yield an average of about 7 dry tons per acre per year. Mayton, J.H.  Lazarus, William F. 2010. A comparison across harvest systems indicates that for most of the species, the double harvest system more than doubles the optimum N application. Cash spot markets for biomass will be limited. The study follows up on a net energy study published in the January Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found switchgrass grown for biofuel production produced 540 percent more energy than needed to grow, harvest and process it into cellulosic ethanol. The Upton plant is operated by an affiliate of KL Process Design Group LLC of Rapid City. Six cellulosic biorefineries co-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy also are in the works throughout the U.S. and should be completed over the next few years. Eleven bids were received and five were accepted. Cellulosic fuels in general will not be competitive with corn ethanol due to higher production and refining costs. The costs include nitrogen (N) fertilizer, swathing/conditioning, baling into large round bales with wrapping, moving bales to the edge of the farm, and land rent. Switchgrass production costs for the remaining profitability groups ranged from about $33.50 per ton to about $36.75 per ton. Assuming a farm price of $120/tonne, switchgrass pellets provide the same cost for heating as oil at 25 cents per litre. With reported prices for miscanthus pellets bound for Europe at $100 per ton, a 10 ton per acre yield of the tall perennial grass would be competitive with even high-priced corn. 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