The energy crop of the future is sleeping right now. But when pennycress, a member of the mustard family, wakes up and starts growing again in central Illinois fields this spring, researchers from the Peoria ag lab will closely monitor its progress.

“We’ll be out in March to follow the plant’s progress,” said Peter Johnsen, the chief technology officer for Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois, a firm that looks to build a biodiesel plant in Peoria County within the next two years.

Biodiesel is a blend of diesel fuel and vegetable oil with fewer emissions and better lubricating properties compared to regular diesel fuel.

The reason for such close examination is the fact the pennycress plant has more than twice as much vegetable oil as soybeans.

“Pennycress is about 35 percent oil. You can get 115 gallons of biodiesel per acre of pennycress while you get 55 gallons from an acre of soybeans,” Johnsen said.

Johnsen, who was director of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research for 12 years, would like to see central Illinois take the lead when it comes to developing pennycress as an energy crop. “I hope that we can seize the early-adopter advantage,” he said.

Pennycress is now grown on about 100 acres in central Illinois, but Johnsen expects to plant the crop on several thousand acres this fall.

“For central Illinois, you’re talking about the potential for a $100 million crop entering the economy. That’s just the impact of one biodiesel plant,” he said.

BMI, headed by CEO Sudhir Seth, plans to build and operate a plant that will produce 45 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

“BMI will start as a conventional plant using soy and vegetable oils. We’ll start substituting pennycress into the stream slowly,” said Johnsen.

“The response from growers so far has been very positive. Farmers are curious about it. Some of their questions we have answers for. Some we don’t.” he said.

While seeking to find those answers, Johnsen knows one of the aspects of pennycress that interests farmers is the opportunity to double-crop — harvest two different crops on the same land in the same year.

Unlike corn and soybeans, pennycress is planted in the fall and goes dormant during winter months only to continue its growth in the spring.

Pennycress is harvested in May, allowing farmers to then plant soybeans on the same ground, he said. “We’re talking about adding a potential third crop to the system. Usually we substitute a new crop, like canola for wheat,” said Johnsen.

At the Ag Lab, Johnsen pointed to the oil that resulted from crushing pennycress seeds but also held up a sample of the “presscake,” the material left over after the oil is drained.

“We’re looking for byproducts that could be developed. There’s still a lot of chemistry and energy in here. We want to see what value-added products can be made from this,” he said.

Pennycress doesn’t face the technical problems that accompany research on something like cellulosic ethanol, he said.

“We just need to work on management and logistics. All we have to do is organize the farmers to grow it,” said Johnsen.

Helping to develop pennycress as a mainstream crop are researchers at Western Illinois University, he said.

“With BMI’s commitment and the work being done at the Ag Lab and at Western, we think the pennycress story can radiate out from here,” said Johnsen.

Steve Tarter can be reached at (309) 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com.

Just off a county blacktop road, surrounded by farm fields and woodland, is a typical-looking central Illinois barn - but nothing typical is going on inside.

Rather than the body heat of animals and the aroma of bedding straw, there’s a homebrew operation with the faintest whiff of doughnuts laced with french fries.

Production here is a merger of agriculture, global energy markets, science and environmentalism that’s producing one of the hottest emerging energy sources in the nation, biodiesel.

Professional biodiesel production in the United States increased from 25 million gallons in 2004 to nearly 700 million gallons in 2008. These figures don’t even include production from homebrew operations like this one that have sprung up throughout the country.

Home brew

The Rube Goldberg behind this operation, who asked not to be named because he operates outside regulated channels, said, “I’m not looking to make a profit. I’m looking to help people and improve the environment. The bottom line with biodiesel is it’s better for the environment.”

He and his wife were driving home recently in separate vehicles from a nearby city, and he rolled down his window so he could inhale the exhaust from his wife’s car up ahead of him.

“Biodiesel has the smell of whatever food was cooked in it … maybe hamburgers, doughnuts, french fries. Biodiesel from raw soybean oil has a light straw smell,” he said.

“Europe is now over 50 percent diesel. We have very little diesel in the U.S. We need to push for more diesel technology. My wife gets 45 miles to a gallon in her car. Plus diesel means a longer life for the engine.”

He cites these benefits from his homebrew operation:

- He collects used vegetable oil from restaurants, preventing the viscous fluid from ending up in landfills.

- He fuels his own family vehicles, helping in a small way to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

- Except for the occasional whiff of doughnuts, french fries or catfish, emissions from his vehicles are negligible and do not contribute to global warming as petroleum fuels do.

- Because he collects vegetable oil locally and “cooks” it locally to produce biodiesel, he minimizes the transportation associated with petroleum fuels.

- He’s taught at least half a dozen others how to “cook” homebrew biodiesel.

His processing operation starts by filtering out little remnants of fried foods. The oil is heated, mixed with methanol and washed with a glycerol, soap and water solution.

He and his wife burn 100 percent vegetable oil, which requires an adjustment in their diesel engines. Blended biodiesel with up to 20 percent vegetable oil can be burned in diesels without engine modifications.

One problem with 100 percent biodiesel is its tendency to solidify in extremely cold temperatures, but there are a few potential solutions.

“My problem with ethanol is concern about food-to-fuel,” he said. “I’m interested in developments with pennycress because it’s not a food. If you look on the Internet, you’ll also see there is work being done making biodiesel from algae.”

A Google Internet search for homebrew biodiesel comes up with 45,300 hits and a selection of books with titles like “Diesel: The Man, The Engine, The Potential,” “Veg My Ride” and “Liquid Gold 2.”

In Alaska, there’s even biodiesel made with fish oil. Here in central Illinois, homebrew biodiesel mostly relies on used vegetable oil from restaurants.

Mike Lenz, president of Lenz Oil, 3001 SW Washington St., has been collecting used petroleum oil for years and just started collecting used vegetable oil from restaurants in the past 12 months.

His company does some preliminary cleaning and then sells the used vegetable oil to commercial biodiesel plants.

Michael Frohlich, director of communications with the National Biodiesel Board, a Washington, D.C., trade association, said additional temporary tax credits go into affect in 2009, but his organization is lobbying for the credits to become permanent.

He said it’s hard for companies to make investments in biodiesel when uncertain tax structures hang over the industry.

Dan Matzke, energy management specialist with Ag-Land FS, said a number of Peoria locations sell FS biodiesel. A biodiesel blend is sold at Fuel 24 on Kickapoo Road in Edwards, at Fast Stop on Farmington Road in Hanna City and at a station opening soon in Princeville. (For other locations, go to www.aglandfs.com.)

Matzke said Illinois has mandated that schools begin using alternative fuels and a number of school districts, including Peoria public schools, use biodiesel in their transportation departments. A New Jersey school district has found burning biodiesel improves air quality inside school buses.

Biofuels have earned support from Illinois Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, who is working with Sudhir Seth, president and CEO of BioFuels Manufactureres of Illinois, to secure funding from Springfield for a manufacturing plant near Caterpillar Inc. property in Mapleton.

“This will definitely contribute to the central Illinois economy. It helps agriculture, reduces global warming and helps reduce dependence on foreign oil,” Koehler said. “A number of different materials can be used, including animal fat, used vegetable oil, soybeans and pennycress.”

While he still supports ethanol, Koehler said BioFuels will help diversify that market and does not require the amount of water necessary for ethanol production. BioFuels also avoids much of the food-to-fuel dilemma, he said.

BioFuels Manufacturers of Illinois expects to break ground this spring for its $35 million to $40 million Mapleton plant. Construction will generate about 200 jobs, and the plant operation will create about 15 full-time positions. At capacity, it will generate about 45 million gallons annually.

Pennycress

Ultimately, the facility’s primary source of oil will be pennycress, a seed that intrigues the Rube Goldberg homebrewer - especially as more homebrewers and recyclers enter the market and available used vegetable oil becomes increasingly scarce.

“Pennycress may be a problem because the seed is so tiny,” he said.

Not so, said the guy largely responsible for identifying pennycress as a potential source of oil.

Terry Isbell, research leader in the new crops unit at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, was driving to work at the Peoria lab from his home in the Hanna City area about eight years ago when he noticed a beautiful white flower in a farm field. He parked on the side of the road and walked over to investigate.

It was pennycress, a weed that came to the United States as a contaminant with shipments of wheat. When Isbell examined the flower in the field that day, pennycress had no known useful application.

He started to investigate.

The ag lab, a national and international leader in biodiesel research, found that pennycress has more oil than soybeans (36 percent compared with 19 percent for soybeans), might be an ideal crop to overwinter between corn and soybean rotations, and is easy to control with spring or fall tillage.

It could provide additional cash flow for farmers, could protect soil from winter erosion and actually enriches the ground.

Farm equipment used with corn and soybeans can be used to plant and harvest pennycress, Isbell said, provided the equipment isn’t rusted out like his.

Inquiries from around the world pour into the Peoria lab. Because pennycress is cold-tolerant, Canadian researchers are now in full-blown investigations.

“This is not a competitive effort. It’s collaborative,” Isbell said, noting that 10 percent to 14 percent of the U.S. diesel market could be met with pennycress.

Kenneth Doll, acting research leader in the food and industrial oil research unit, said this is a critical time for the government to establish a national energy policy that favors renewable energy and pumps support into research and development.

Isbell predicts 2011 is the earliest pennycress could hit retail markets. That prediction is based on historical time frames. With a new president who has pledged to promote green technology, that time could shrink.

Isbell said before farmers embrace pennycress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture probably would have to establish a pennycress loan program and crop insurance similar to what’s available for commodity crops.

“New crops are always a political issue,” Isbell said, noting federal support must be consistent despite fluctuations in petroleum prices.

“Renewable fuels make good sense. They are ethical, and they don’t contribute to potential changes in climate,” he said.

Biodiesel can be used in cars, trucks and train engines. Work is ongoing into a biodiesel jet engine fuel. Pennycress has high BTU output and could be used in home heating and in electric power generation.

Sun power

Despite the exciting potential, Isbell remains cautious.

“There is not enough land in the world to meet the world’s fuel needs,” he said. “We have to focus on sun energy. Wind is sun energy. We’ve got to put a lot of effort into fuel and renewables with direct use of sun. Crops are a stop gap.”

Ray LaHood, tapped by president-elect Barack Obama to become transportation secretary, could have great influence in national support for the development of pennycress and biodiesel. LaHood said the new administration has asked Cabinet appointees not to speak with the media until after their congressional confirmation.

Meanwhile, back at the homebrew operation in a barn east of the ag lab, there’s also ongoing research and development on a much smaller scale into alternative uses of biodiesel.

“I want to develop a biodegradable weed killer with it,” the property owner said. “I’m looking for an old boiler to modify so it can heat with biodiesel.

“With biodiesel, you don’t want to be greedy. I don’t want profit, but I want to share the knowledge with other people so everyone can benefit. The bottom line with biodiesel is to make it easier on the environment.”

While some professionals in biodiesel research and manufacturing have problems with homebrewers and want the law to track them down and padlock their operations, a spokesman for the Illinois Soybean Association is more tolerant.

Mark Albertson, marketing director, said, “Most people aren’t going to be a problem making it for their own use. Anheuser-Busch doesn’t have a problem with guys who homebrew beer.”

Clare Howard can be reached at 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.

Hours after his swearing-in, Rep. Aaron Schock contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to request crop insurance and loan programs for pennycress.

Scientists at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria are working on pennycress as a source of biodiesel. They said crop insurance and loan programs are necessary before farmers would begin widespread cultivation of the crop which is being developed to help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Schock, R-Peoria, said he plans to meet with scientists at the Peoria lab in the very near future when he is back in the 18th Congressional District.

He also plans to introduce legislation establishing a zero federal tax rate on the development of new forms of renewable energy. This potentially could include BioFuels Manufacturers of Illinois, the $35 million to $40 million facility slated for Mapleton that ultimately will produce biodiesel using pennycress oil.

The potential uses of pennycress were discovered by scientists at the Peoria lab. Work on the plant has been ongoing for about eight years.

Pennycress biodiesel avoids concerns over diverting food to energy, a question that hangs over corn-based ethanol. Biodiesel burns without creating the environmental pollution of petroleum-based fuels.

Pennycress is a weed that came to the United States as a contaminant with shipments of wheat.

Schock’s proposal for a zero federal tax rate would be revenue neutral for the federal government because it would only cover new technology.

In a prepared statement, Schock responded to a question about increasing taxes on petroleum-based fuels and reducing taxes on renewable fuels:

“Rather than increasing the gas tax, I believe we should incentivize the use of renewable fuels such as biodiesel. In order to jumpstart our nation’s transition to domestically produced renewable fuels, I have proposed a zero federal tax rate on the development and production of these fuels.

“In the near future I plan on introducing legislation for a zero percent tax rate on new forms of renewable energy such as bio-fuels, solar, hydrogen, geothermal and others. This will unleash the creative ingenuity of the private marketplace.”

He also plans to introduce legislation to increase the current 10 percent blend of ethanol in regular gasoline to a 15 percent or 20 percent blend. He said that increase would require no engine modifications for cars and trucks on the road today.

Clare Howard can be reached at 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.