The work of researcher Jeff Ramsdell advances North Carolina's biofuels industry and local farmers

By Kate Cahow

The Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 includes a five-fold increase in domestic production of biofuels by 2022 – from 7.5 billion to 36 billion gallons. According to the Consumer Federation of America, the biofuels portion of the bill stands to save consumers billions of dollars in transportation and heating costs in the coming decade, severely cut greenhouse emissions, and greatly reduce the nation’s consumption of oil imports.

The U.S. Senate’s recent passage of this energy bill requiring an increase in production of biofuels places great importance on the work of Appalachian State University researcher Jeff Ramsdell.

An associate professor in the Department of Technology, Ramsdell was educated and trained in material science and engineering, and has extensive experience in the construction industry. His passion for the environment drives his research.

“My goal is to protect and improve the environment through technology,” he said. “My focus is currently in two areas: innovative and environmentally sound building materials and biofuels.”

“Our work in biofuels includes the use of agricultural and industrial practices that ensure the sustainable production of biofuels, protecting the environment in the process,” said Ramsdell.

Before coming to Appalachian in 2003, Ramsdell was a newcomer to the field of biofuels. He appears to have arrived on the scene at the right time.

Since 2005, he has received $1.5 million in funding for various biofuels projects. This work and his participation in North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership – an organization representing industry, agriculture, academia and government that is spearheading the development of the state’s biofuels industry – put him in-the-know for the future of this growing industry.

The group’s goals echo those of the nation’s new energy policy with regard to the production of biofuels, although on a smaller scale. The plan is to displace 10 percent of the transportation fuel used in North Carolina with biofuels produced in state by the year 2017.

“Currently, North Carolinians consume approximately 1.1 billion gallons of petroleum diesel fuel annually, resulting in $1.6 billion leaving the economy each year. Except for a handful of biodiesel producers in the state now, we do not produce any transportation fuel in state. It’s mostly foreign petroleum products produced elsewhere,” Ramsdell said.

“Commercialization of a biodiesel production industry could position North Carolina to become a leader in the field, while keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in the state economy annually.”

From the field to the gas tank

Ramsdell’s foray into biofuels began when he collaborated with Jeff Tiller, a colleague in the Department of Technology, on the implementation of North Carolina’s State Energy Plan.

“Part of the plan was to formulate goals for transportation and biofuels,” he said. “That’s when I began looking at the viability of the manufacturing and use of biofuels in the state.”

Today, Ramsdell is the principal or co-investigator of most of the biofuels and biomass projects at Appalachian, including:

• • a biodiesel research and education facility built and run by students
  • biodiesel feedstock studies on local and regional farms
  • synthesis of biodiesel from algae, poultry fat and other feedstocks
  • biodiesel combustion emissions analysis
  • and, the development of a biomass-to-fuel industry in North Carolina.
  

The gem in the crown of Ramsdell’s efforts – a $750,000 grant for the development of an industrial-sized biodiesel research and testing facility – will incorporate and advance the accomplishments of all these projects. The facility will be located near Hickory and should be operational in two years.

The grant, titled “Biodiesel Testing Facility,” was funded by the Golden LEAF Foundation. A primary goal of the project is to increase economic viability of the state’s agricultural and biofuels sectors through development of a biodiesel industry that relies on crops grown in the state for feedstock. (Feedstock is a term used to describe various sources used in the making of biofuels.)

“This project focuses on two groups in the state: biodiesel producers and farmers,” Ramsell explained. “Biodiesel producers are popping up around the state as we speak. They need help to make their processing more efficient, to ensure fuel quality, and to do combustion emissions analysis. The economic viability of a biofuels industry in North Carolina depends on their ability to get affordable, high-quality feedstocks.”

Additional funding from the UNC General Administration Research Competitiveness Fund, the NC Biotechnology Center, and the U.S. Department of Energy will support the project’s fuel quality and emissions analysis work. The UNC General Administration funds are supporting Ramsdell’s collaboration with Nicole Bennett in Appalachian’s Department of Chemistry. The work by Bennett and her students will provide the project with essential information on the lubricating capacity of biodiesel manufactured from alternative feedstocks.

Ramsdell and Jeremy Ferrell, a staff member in the Department of Technology, are working with local and regional farmers to select and plant the most desirable crops for producing quality biodiesel. These high oil content crops, like canola, mustard seed and sunflower seed, yield well in North Carolina, but according to Ramsdell they are not the end goal for biodiesel production.

“Particular strains of algae grown in the proper environment can lead to production yields of thousands of gallons of fuel per acre versus hundreds of gallons per acre for other high-yielding crops,” he said. “We’re working with Mark Venable in the Department of Biology who is growing high-oil yielding algae strains, and we have a lab experiment growing algae from a renewable source of carbon dioxide at our research and education facility.”

Another potentially viable biofuel specific to North Carolina is cellulosic ethanol, which is made from the woody, unused part of plants, called biomass.

“We have a huge source of biomass in the state, mostly from forestry waste,” said Ramsdell. “Though the process is too expensive to use today, by 2012 this could be an excellent ethanol source for North Carolina.”

For now, Ramsdell’s efforts to produce biofuel feedstocks are focused on the crops that local and regional farmers can grow – canola, mustard seed and sunflower seed. While oil seed crops won’t pay farmers the kind of return they’ve historically gotten from tobacco, they can be viable, profit-making alternatives.

The studies associated with these crops are providing important data not only to Ramsdell and his colleagues, but to growers, fuel producers, and others in the region interested in being part of the state’s emerging biofuels industry.

“In addition to testing the fuel made from alternative feedstocks for quality, we will be performing emissions analysis to ensure a reduction in harmful pollutants from the combustion of these fuels. This work is unique as very little data exists in the scientific community for these feedstocks. We will accomplish this using both our new analytical equipment in the lab, and an ‘onboard’ lab system that can be used in test vehicles.”

A specialized facility

According to Ramsdell, most work eventually will occur at the biodiesel research and testing facility, the core component of the Golden LEAF-funded project. When completed, the facility will be part of an innovative, renewable energy venture at the Catawba County Eco-Complex in the Hickory area.

The complex, located at the county’s landfill site, collects natural gas from the landfill, and uses that source of renewable energy to attract commercial enterprises to the site that will ultimately feed off of each other’s and the complex’s waste products. Currently, a lumber mill and pallet manufacturer are located on site. The lumber mill feeds its waste to the pallet manufacturer, which uses the waste to make pallets.

“It’s a very exciting project to be part of,” said Ramsdell. “When our facility is up and running, the heat required to fuel our biodiesel process will come from engines that burn the landfill gas. All the heat we’ll use for production would otherwise be wasted.”

The ultimate goal for the biodiesel research facility is to become self-sustaining, according to Ramsdell, with biodiesel producers from all over the country paying for its services.

“If we don’t put our resources into the research and development of renewable energy systems like this now, our transportation and heating fuel will continue to come from non-sustainable, foreign sources,” said Ramsdell.

“We must commit ourselves to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and at the same time reducing the negative impacts of transportation on the environment. Sustainably produced biofuels are a good step toward cleaner energy production and use, but every step must be taken with proper analysis in order to ensure success.”