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

• 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

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0 1 2 3 4

Tons per acre

Acr

es p

er h

ou

r

Research Issues:

• Soil health and soil erosion

• Nutrient value in biomass

• Harvest labor availability

• Highly seasonal supply

• “Hassle Factor”

• Feedstock specifications

• New Harvesting Concepts