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As we begin to prepare for the annual Advanced Bioeconomy Feedstocks & Supply, we look at more ongoing activity in feedstocks. And don't miss Part One, where we looked at Corn Stove, Bagasse, Wheat Stalks, and Biomass Sorghum.

Camelina

Last June, Russ Gesch, a plant physiologist with the USDA Soil Conservation Research Lab in Morris, Minnesota, found encouraging results when growing Camelina sativa with soybeans in the Midwest. Camelina is a member of the mustard family and an emerging biofuel crop. It is well suited as a cover crop in the Midwest. “Finding any annual crop that will survive the [Midwest] winters is pretty difficult,” said Gesch, “but winter camelina does that and it has a short enough growing season to allow farmers to grow a second crop after it during the summer.”

In February 2015, Sustainable Oils won a first-of-its-kind feedstock-only pathway by the California Air Resources Board for the production of Camelina-based fuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The pathway, when combined with a specific processors production profile, will produce the lowest carbon intensity (CI) virgin oil-based fuel available in the marketplace. Camelina-based biodiesel at a CI of approximately 19 g/MJ can be produced at a fraction of soy- (83 g/MJ) or canola- (63 g/MJ) based biofuels. Camelina’s extremely low CI will allow obligated parties in California to meet their reduction targets using a fraction of the biofuel otherwise required. The pathway only applies to Sustainable Oils’ US Patent and Trademark Office-registered seed varieties — no other Camelina seed or oil can be used to produce LCFS compliant fuel. The feedstock-only CI is 7.58 g/MJ. When combined with ARB’s generic North American producer profile, the feedstock-only pathway produces biodiesel and renewable diesel at CIs of approximately 19.1 and 18.7, respectively.

Last August, Timothy Durrett, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, and collaborators at Michigan State University and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln modified Camelina sativa and produced the highest levels of modified seed lipids to date. By modifying the oilseed biochemistry in camelina, the researchers have achieved very high levels of an oil with reduced viscosity and improved cold temperature characteristics. The goal of the research is to alter oilseeds to produce large amounts of modified oil that can be used as improved biofuels or even industrial and food-related applications. The research recently appeared in the journal Industrial Crops and Products and on the front cover of the Plant Biotechnology Journal

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/03/whatever-happened-to-jatropha-and-all-those-other-wonder-feedstocks-part-2.html