Could Beets Be Fueling Your Car Someday?
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 11:58am.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
MOUNT JOY, Pa. — Corn, soybeans, switchgrass.
These are the crops that are supposed to fuel future energy production in the U.S. as well as increase opportunities for farmers.
But one Pennsylvania entrepreneur wants to add beets to the equation. And he hopes to build the first plant ever devoted to production of fuel from beets in Lancaster County.
Paul Wheaton, who has been toying with the development of beets for fuel for several years now, has applied for permits to build a plant capable of producing 40 million gallons of fuel a year.
The fuel would be derived from “energy beets,” which Wheaton said are similar to sugar beets, only with higher sugar content and not meant for human consumption.
The beets would also be used to power the plant, which would be called the Maibach Agri-Energy Center, as well as sell excess electricity back to the grid.
He hopes to break ground in the fall.
Wheaton, who is the CEO of Lancaster Propane Gas, got interested in beets after the events of Hurricane Katrina started affecting his business.
“Back around the time of Hurricane Katrina, the state was short of gasoline. They had to bring millions of gallons of butane in to keep gas going. I thought we had to do something different,” Wheaton said. “We got together and thought of different ways to produce fuel.”
After doing research on various feedstocks, he found a German company, KWS, that was developing energy beets and quickly became interested.
Wheaton met with representatives of KWS as well as its Minnesota-based subsidiary, Betaseed, Inc. and traveled to Minnesota and Germany to see how the seed was developed and was being used.
He was quickly sold on the beets and decided to return to his native Nova Scotia to test its validity in the province’s harsh growing environment.
“We wanted something we could replicate anywhere in North America and around the world,” he said. “You want to test yourself and make sure you have something good.”
After receiving money from the Canadian government for the pilot project, Wheaton planted 500 acres of beets.
“We used all different types of soils,” he said.
So far, he’s been impressed with the results. Some of the beets have a sugar content of more than 20 percent. That’s key because the sugars in the beets are crucial to the development of fuel.
Yields have averaged about 35 tons per acre.
Along with that, Wheaton was surprised that the beets grew well over winter and also appeared to be weed resistant.
“We’re not as fussy that the beets look perfect. We just want to make sure it doesn’t impede sugar and yield,” he said.
Lancaster County, he said, is the perfect place to grow the beets and to get the fuel business going.
Not only are the soils good, but he has the land to build a plant as well as the infrastructure to get it shipped.
His propane and gas company is already equipped to handle ethanol. The terminal is a distributor of ethanol to many companies around the state.
Beets will be harvested and placed in a machine that will separate the juice from the pulp. The juice will go through a proprietary process that will separate the sugar and water.
While the sugar will be used to produce fuel, the water will go with the pulp into an anaerobic digester, where another machine will use the gas generated from processing the ingredients into electricity.
Wheaton claims the plant will produce enough electricity for itself as well as produce more than 7 megawatts of electricity for the grid.
He’s laid the foundation for getting the business on its feet. Now all he needs is farmers.
Wheaton said several have signed up, including one that has committed to growing several hundred acres of the beets. He said he has talked to at least 25 other farmers who have expressed interest in the project.
Even though many farmers will have to be taught how to grow the beets, Wheaton said it will be a good crop to rotate with corn or soybeans.
“We didn’t want to make too many contracts too soon because we don’t know what’s going to happen. So it’s been pretty informal meetings to this point,” he said.
But he’s been pleased with the interest thus far. He estimates he will need between 20,000 and 30,000 acres of beets to produce the 40 million gallons of fuel annually at the plant.
He is also talking about forming a growers’ cooperative once the business takes hold and the plant is producing fuel.
Of course, fuel costs, particularly the cost of gasoline, will be key to the plant’s success.
But one thing he said separates his proposed plant from other ethanol producing plants around the country is cost.
Most of the stock will be grown locally, he said, which will cut down on transportation costs. And since the plant will produce its own energy, once production reaches capacity, that will also cut down on costs.
Greg Roth, state program leader for renewable and alternative energy at Penn State, has gotten in contact with Wheaton on several occasions and even though he has not done any testing on the energy beets themselves nor evaluated the company’s business plan, he thinks it could be feasible.
“I think the question comes down to the economics for producers and also for folks in the field to become comfortable and get an experience base with growing the beets,” Roth said.
Roth along with several of his colleagues at Penn State have been testing the feasibility of sugar beets for fuel production for several years at test plots around the state.
“We used a range of beet varieties. They all indicated an issue with leaf diseases. We grew four different varieties of beets,” he said. “Everywhere beets are grown, weed control, diseases and insect management are things people have to manage. Weed control requires at least two or three applications of herbicides.”
These beets had sugar contents ranging anywhere from 15 to 17 percent.
However, Wheaton said the energy beets are a “next generation” crop, specifically engineered to address weed and insect issues and to produce more sugar.
Even though sugar beet ethanol plants have been operating in Europe for several years, Roth said it has been difficult to start in the U.S. because sugar is so heavily subsidized.
Bottom line, it comes down to management of the crop and whether growing these beets will be economically feasible for farmers.
“Technologically, it’s not that hard. It’s more of a question of how it fits economically in a farmer’s plans,” he said.
Chris TorresStaff Writer
MOUNT JOY, Pa. — Corn, soybeans, switchgrass.
These are the crops that are supposed to fuel future energy production in the U.S. as well as increase opportunities for farmers.
But one Pennsylvania entrepreneur wants to add beets to the equation. And he hopes to build the first plant ever devoted to production of fuel from beets in Lancaster County.
Paul Wheaton, who has been toying with the development of beets for fuel for several years now, has applied for permits to build a plant capable of producing 40 million gallons of fuel a year.
The fuel would be derived from “energy beets,” which Wheaton said are similar to sugar beets, only with higher sugar content and not meant for human consumption.
The beets would also be used to power the plant, which would be called the Maibach Agri-Energy Center, as well as sell excess electricity back to the grid.
He hopes to break ground in the fall.
Wheaton, who is the CEO of Lancaster Propane Gas, got interested in beets after the events of Hurricane Katrina started affecting his business.
“Back around the time of Hurricane Katrina, the state was short of gasoline. They had to bring millions of gallons of butane in to keep gas going. I thought we had to do something different,” Wheaton said. “We got together and thought of different ways to produce fuel.”
After doing research on various feedstocks, he found a German company, KWS, that was developing energy beets and quickly became interested.
Wheaton met with representatives of KWS as well as its Minnesota-based subsidiary, Betaseed, Inc. and traveled to Minnesota and Germany to see how the seed was developed and was being used.
He was quickly sold on the beets and decided to return to his native Nova Scotia to test its validity in the province’s harsh growing environment.
“We wanted something we could replicate anywhere in North America and around the world,” he said. “You want to test yourself and make sure you have something good.”
After receiving money from the Canadian government for the pilot project, Wheaton planted 500 acres of beets.
“We used all different types of soils,” he said.
So far, he’s been impressed with the results. Some of the beets have a sugar content of more than 20 percent. That’s key because the sugars in the beets are crucial to the development of fuel.
Yields have averaged about 35 tons per acre.
Along with that, Wheaton was surprised that the beets grew well over winter and also appeared to be weed resistant.
“We’re not as fussy that the beets look perfect. We just want to make sure it doesn’t impede sugar and yield,” he said.
Lancaster County, he said, is the perfect place to grow the beets and to get the fuel business going.
Not only are the soils good, but he has the land to build a plant as well as the infrastructure to get it shipped.
His propane and gas company is already equipped to handle ethanol. The terminal is a distributor of ethanol to many companies around the state.
Beets will be harvested and placed in a machine that will separate the juice from the pulp. The juice will go through a proprietary process that will separate the sugar and water.
While the sugar will be used to produce fuel, the water will go with the pulp into an anaerobic digester, where another machine will use the gas generated from processing the ingredients into electricity.
Wheaton claims the plant will produce enough electricity for itself as well as produce more than 7 megawatts of electricity for the grid.
He’s laid the foundation for getting the business on its feet. Now all he needs is farmers.
Wheaton said several have signed up, including one that has committed to growing several hundred acres of the beets. He said he has talked to at least 25 other farmers who have expressed interest in the project.
Even though many farmers will have to be taught how to grow the beets, Wheaton said it will be a good crop to rotate with corn or soybeans.
“We didn’t want to make too many contracts too soon because we don’t know what’s going to happen. So it’s been pretty informal meetings to this point,” he said.
But he’s been pleased with the interest thus far. He estimates he will need between 20,000 and 30,000 acres of beets to produce the 40 million gallons of fuel annually at the plant.
He is also talking about forming a growers’ cooperative once the business takes hold and the plant is producing fuel.
Of course, fuel costs, particularly the cost of gasoline, will be key to the plant’s success.
But one thing he said separates his proposed plant from other ethanol producing plants around the country is cost.
Most of the stock will be grown locally, he said, which will cut down on transportation costs. And since the plant will produce its own energy, once production reaches capacity, that will also cut down on costs.
Greg Roth, state program leader for renewable and alternative energy at Penn State, has gotten in contact with Wheaton on several occasions and even though he has not done any testing on the energy beets themselves nor evaluated the company’s business plan, he thinks it could be feasible.
“I think the question comes down to the economics for producers and also for folks in the field to become comfortable and get an experience base with growing the beets,” Roth said.
Roth along with several of his colleagues at Penn State have been testing the feasibility of sugar beets for fuel production for several years at test plots around the state.
“We used a range of beet varieties. They all indicated an issue with leaf diseases. We grew four different varieties of beets,” he said. “Everywhere beets are grown, weed control, diseases and insect management are things people have to manage. Weed control requires at least two or three applications of herbicides.”
These beets had sugar contents ranging anywhere from 15 to 17 percent.
However, Wheaton said the energy beets are a “next generation” crop, specifically engineered to address weed and insect issues and to produce more sugar.
Even though sugar beet ethanol plants have been operating in Europe for several years, Roth said it has been difficult to start in the U.S. because sugar is so heavily subsidized.
Bottom line, it comes down to management of the crop and whether growing these beets will be economically feasible for farmers.
“Technologically, it’s not that hard. It’s more of a question of how it fits economically in a farmer’s plans,” he said.
