Transcript Deere Biomass Harvesting - Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Capturing Clean Cellulose
Lyle Stephens
John Deere Technology Innovation Center
• State of the Art
– Harvesting systems
– Performance
• Issues
A Brief History
• Deere developed the “Biomass Converter” in
the 1970s.
• Used the energy in corn cobs to dry the grain
• Produced syngas for heat and engine fuel.
Status Report
• The industry has developed a large number
of harvesting technologies.
One Pass
Two Pass
Willow
Miscanthus
Forest Slash
Sponsored Harvest Research
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DOE – Iowa State University
Cargill-Dow (now NatureWorks)
John Deere Harvester Works
John Deere Ottumwa Works
John Deere Technology Center – Moline
University of Wisconsin – Madison
University of Kentucky
Generate and Evaluate Concepts
• One Pass – One Stream
• One Pass – Two Streams
• One Pass – Three Streams
One Pass – One Stream
• Increase bulk density of loaded truck
• Unthreshed ears mixed with chopped stalks –
central processor for separation
One Pass – Two Streams
• Ears only into combine
• Whole plant into combine
Ears Only
Whole Plant
One Pass – Three Streams
Sugar
Cotton
Technology Portfolio
• Multitude of unit operations in current and
past machines
• Can be combined into new machines to meet
market requirements
Harvest System Performance
14
Acres per hour
12
10
8
6
4
2
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1
2
Tons per acre
3
4
Research Issues:
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Soil health and soil erosion
Nutrient value in biomass
Harvest labor availability
Highly seasonal supply
“Hassle Factor”
Feedstock specifications
New Harvesting Concepts