. Earth Science News .
Farming That Improves the Environment


Ames IO (SPX) Nov 10, 2005
All those dried up stalks, husks and cobs left in corn fields after every fall's harvest could be a key to enhancing the environment, say Iowa State University researchers.

They say partially burning some of the residue left in corn fields produces products that can be used to improve soil fertility, boost in-soil storage of greenhouse gases and reduce the amount of natural gas used to produce anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.

Robert C. Brown, Iowa State's Bergles Professor in Thermal Science, will lead a team of researchers studying the idea. The team includes Randy Killorn, an Iowa State professor of soil science, plus government researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Energy and industry researchers from Cargill Inc., Eprida and iPrismGlobal.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently announced the three-year project will be supported by $1.85 million from the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, a joint project of the U.S. agriculture and energy departments. More than 670 research teams applied for initiative funding. Eleven of them won grants. Final details of the grants are expected to be set by early next year.

"This cooperative conservation partnership benefits our nation with enhanced energy security, a cleaner environment and revitalized rural economies," Johanns said in the statement announcing the grants.

"The selected projects support President Bush's goal to enhance renewable energy supplies. The grants will help to develop additional renewable energy resources and expand markets for agricultural products."

Brown's research team will focus on this process:

Corn stover will be harvested from fields and partially burned to create charcoal and a bio-oil about as thick as motor oil. The bio-oil will be reacted with steam to produce hydrogen. That hydrogen will replace the natural gas typically burned to make anhydrous ammonia fertilizer. The fertilizer and charcoal will be incorporated into the soil.

Brown said there should be three significant results: Farmers producing their own renewable energy to manufacture fertilizer for their fields. Farming that improves soils because the added charcoal supports soil organisms.

And the charcoal sequestering carbon in the soil, thus reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Brown estimates a 640-acre farm could sequester the equivalent of 1,800 tons of carbon dioxide in the soil. That's the annual emissions created by about 340 cars.

Brown uses the phrase reinventing agriculture when he talks about the process.

"The conventional goal of good land stewardship is to minimize soil degradation and the amount of carbon released from the soil," he said. "This new approach to agriculture has the goal of actually improving soils."

He said the practice of improving soil by adding charcoal has been traced back to the Amazon basin in the days before Christopher Columbus. People there created dark and productive soils (know as "terra preta," or "dark earth" soils) by adding charcoal mixed with manure. Those soils are still more productive than surrounding soils that weren't treated with charcoal.

Killorn, who will study soil fertility as part of the research project, said putting corn stover to work for the environment shows a lot of potential.

"It looks pretty slick, taking these corn stalks and turning them into bio-oil and charcoal," he said. "If everything works the way we think it will, this looks like a good deal."

Related Links
Iowa State University

SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

Giant Bill For Turkey Over EU Environmental Norms
Ankara (AFP) Nov 08, 2005
Turkey has to invest up to 35 billion euros (41.2 billion dollars) in environmental projects in order to catch up with the standards of the European Union, Environment Minister Osman Pepe said Tuesday.







  • India Proposes Setting Up Disaster Preparedness Centre For South Asia
  • Indian Soldiers Working To Open Fourth Crossing Of Kashmir Border
  • UN Says It Can Keep Pakistan Quake Survivors Alive In Bitter Winter
  • Donors Estimate Pakistan Quake Death Toll At 86,000

  • Southern Ocean Search For Climate Futures
  • Water Vapor Feedback Is Rapidly Warming Europe
  • Fewer Days Of Ice On Northern New England Rivers In Recent Years
  • Western States To Host First Test Of Carbon Sequestration In Lava Rock

  • UCSD Unveils Center For Earth Observations And Applications
  • AstroVision Sees Bright Future In Asia
  • Software Fills In Missing Data On Satellite Images
  • Digitalglobe And Valtus To Instantly Serve-Up Imagery Via Secure Web

  • Nanotechnology Center Makes Flexible Solar Cell Breakthrough
  • Ethanol Fuelling The Future For Public Transport: Experts
  • Clean Energy Soon Indispensable As Oil Runs Low: Experts
  • Madagascar Energy Firm Announces Green Fuel Programme

  • Report Offers Tips To Stem Pandemics
  • China Concerned, Reports New Outbreak
  • FluWrap: China Warns Of Disaster
  • Possible Cholera Outbreak In Pakistan Quake Camps

  • Kenya, Thailand Sign Wildlife Deal
  • Lichen Survives In Space
  • Kansas OKs Anti-Evolution Teaching Rule
  • Odd Energy Mechanism In Bacteria Analyzed

  • Thick Smog over Beijing, China
  • Health Warning As Beijing Pollution Hits Worst Level
  • Lagos Seals Up Rubber Recycling Firm Over Pollution Threat
  • Bangladeshi People Can Help Combat Arsenic Poisoning: Researchers

  • One, Two, Threes not A, B, Cs
  • California Scientists Double Volume Of Data In NIH Biotech Repository
  • Flipped Genetic Sequences Illuminate Human Evolution And Disease
  • Color Perception Is Not In The Eye Of The Beholder: It's In The Brain

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement