Overview

Switchgrass utilization is an emerging market currently in the research and demonstration-project arena. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a summer perennial grass that is native to North America. It is a natural component of the tall grass prairie that covered most of the Great Plains, as well as the south and eastern United States. It is resistant to many pests and plant diseases, and it is capable of producing high yields with very low applications of fertilizer. This means that the need for agricultural chemicals to grow switchgrass is low to nonexistent; however, fertilization may be necessary to maintain harvestable stands. Switchgrass also is very tolerant of poor soils, flooding and drought. A recent (2009) production guide produced by Blade Energy Crops considers crop production and management, energy-crop agronomics and yield in considerable detail.

Switchgrass production can benefit farmers, taxpayers, industrial fiber producers, energy producers and energy consumers. Switchgrass is a valuable soil protection cover crop. It binds loose soils and provides valuable wildlife habitat. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that it could become a valuable fiber source for manufactured composite "wood" products and fiber-plastic composite materials. "Bioenergy" can be produced by co-firing switchgrass with coal to produce electricity in existing power plants, which offers a near-term energy production alternative, as does eventually using switchgrass as a feedstock in bio-reactors that produce bio-based fuels or industrially important chemicals. Pelletized switchgrass has been tested in pellet stoves for general home heating in some rural areas and has been discussed as having great potential as a clean-burning alternative to coal or imported fossil fuels. However, there are lignin and ash issues with some combustion systems.  August 2011 ... Switchgrass

Production

• All Eyes on Energy: Frequently Asked Questions About the Chariton Valley Biomass Project, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University (ISU) - The Chariton Valley Biomass Project description with links to related Web sites. This includes links to two ISU Extension publications: Management Guide for the Production of Switchgrass for Biomass Fuel in Southern Iowa and Switchgrass Seeding Recommendations for the Production of Biomass Fuel in Southern Iowa.
• Biodiesel and Ethanol Investing Trouble in Ethanol Paradise, Des Moines Register, 2009 - Report on competitiveness of cellulosic ethanol from grasses and other feedstocks, government subsidies, needed technological advances and relation to crude oil prices.
• Blade Energy Crops Production Guide; Blade Energy Crops; Thousand Oaks, California and College Station, Texas; 2009 - The production guide helps producers find the most up-to-date information on energy-crop agronomics and yield. Blade Energy is a brand of Ceres, Inc., info@bladeenergy.com, 877-498-SEED.
• Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois - This blog is a roundup of research news and related topics dealing with biofuels.
• Cost of Producing Switchgrass for Biomass in Southern Iowa, Trends in New Crops and New Uses (supported by the U.S. Department of Energy), 2002 - Guide to the different costs associated with producing switchgrass in Iowa.
• Dell Point Alternative Energy Today - Canadian articles on pellet stoves and other alternative energy issues.
• Developing Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop, 1999 - Cooperative study to the Auburn site previously listed. This site has very good information on agronomics, bio-fuel conversion and economics, and a bibliography of relevant reports.
• Economic Analysis of the Conditions for Which Farmers will Supply Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Production, James Larson, Burton English and Lixia Lambert, University of Tennessee, 2007 - This AgMRC-funded study developed a farm-level model to evaluate contract biomass feedstock production, that is, corn stover and switchgrass, for a grain farm. Four potential types of contracts were analyzed; each offered different levels of biomass price, yield and production cost risk sharing between the farm and the processor.
• Estimated Costs for Production, Storage, and Transportation of Switchgrass, ISU Extension, 2007 - Switchgrass, a perennial warm-season grass, is one of the major plants being considered to produce ethanol. Alternative assumptions are presented to estimate the cost of production.
• Evaluation of Switchgrass Co-Firing for Utility Boiler Applications, Proceedings of Joint Power Generation Conference (JPGC) 01, 2001 International JPGC, New Orleans - Various abstracts and reports associated with a study conducted by Southern Company, Southern Research Institute, EPRI and the U.S. Department of Energy to evaluate the feasibility, costs and benefits of co-firing switchgrass with coal in existing coal-fired power plants.
• From grasses into ethanol - Another piece of the renewable fuel pie?, Bismark Tribune, 2007.
• Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does, David Biello, Scientific American, 2008 - Midwestern farms prove switchgrass could be the right crop for producing ethanol to replace gasoline.
• Learning About Renewable Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - Search engine for switchgrass research.
• Management Guide for the Production of Switchgrass for Biomass Fuel, ISU Extension (supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and State Energy Conservation Program), 2003 - Guide to establishing and maintaining quality stands.
• Management Guide for the Production of Switchgrass for Biomass Fuel Production in Southern Iowa, Alan Teel, ISU.
• Net energy of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass; M.R. Schmer, K.P. Vogel, R.B. Mitchell and R.K. Perrin; USDA–Agricultural Research Service and University of Nebraska; 2007.
• No Market Yet For Switchgrass Biomass, Hay and Forage Grower magazine, 2009 - Article on the University of Kentucky four-year-long switchgrass pilot project designed to help farmers evaluate options for planting, growing, harvesting, transporting and processing the switchgrass. It is funded through a grant to the Kentucky Forage and Grassland Council from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board. The switchgrass was co-fired with coal for energy production to generate electrical power at a plant in Mayville, Kentucky. For more information, contact Ray Smith at 859-257-3358 or raysmith1@uky.edu.
• Planting and Managing Switchgrass for Forage, Wildlife, and Conservation, Virginia Polytech Institute and State University, 1996.
• Switchgrass, ISU Extension, 2007 - Discusses the production of switchgrass as a biomass crop for biofuel.
• Switchgrass, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS), College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, 2001 - Overview of switchgrass bioenergy production and related issues.
• Switchgrass, The National Non-Food Crops Centre, York, United Kingdom.
• Switchgrass: A Living Solar Battery for the Prairies, Ecological Agriculture Projects, McGill University, Canada, 1991 - Very good ethanol production analysis that points out the broad benefits of switchgrass fermentation. As a renewable biomass source of energy, switchgrass has tremendous potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions relative to other energy sources as well as meet all of Canada's fuel needs through domestic production.
• Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop, ATTRA, NCAT, 2006 - This publication discusses agricultural production aspects of switchgrass. It includes a case study.
• Switchgrass - Growing a New Cash Crop, Knoxville News, January 9, 2011 - East Tennessee farmers' first switchgrass harvest ready to turn into biofuel.
• Switchgrass Pelletized in Kentucky Project, Southeast Farm Press, 2010 - Switchgrass in a Kentucky study was pelletized for easier handling.
• Switchgrass Production for Biomass, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS), College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, 2001 - One aspect of this study was an economic analysis comparing switchgrass to coal for energy production. The researchers found that on a heating value basis (based on 1997 prices) switchgrass cost about the same as natural gas but 3.7 times as much as coal. The cost of growing and harvesting the switchgrass was overstated in the study because of the small scale and transportation and storage complications. The researchers felt that fertilization or increased production efficiency could close this gap.
• Switchgrass Research Project Overviews, ARS, USDA - Improved Plants and Production Practices for Grasslands and Biomass Crops in the Mid-Continental Area.
• Tennessee Revs Up Switchgrass Study, Delta Farm Press, 2010 - A U.S. Department of Energy funded program has 6,000 acres of switchgrass in production.
• Tennessee switchgrass contracts awarded, Southeast Farm Press, 2009 - This article by  Ann Ryan on the University of Tennessee (UT) program where switchgrass, along with corn cobs, will be used as feedstock in the state's first demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery. Thirty-eight area farmers have received acceptance letters into the UT’s second season of a switchgrass farmer incentive program. Biorefinery construction is well under way in Vonore, Tennessee. UT and its partner, DuPont-Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, LLC, expects the pilot plant to be operational in late 2009. For more information about this Initiative, visit the UT Office of Bioenergy Programs Web site at http://www.UTbioenergy.org.
• University of Illinois Researchers Find Miscanthus Outperforms Corn and Switchgrass as Ethanol Feedstock, 2008.

Businesses/Case Studies

• Change Crops for Greener Biofuels, Scientist Says, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2008.
• A Closer Look: McCord Consulting Group, BioEconomy Update, ISU, 2006 - This Iowa consulting firm is researching the feasibility of blending switchgrass with plastic resins.
• Genera Energy Breaks Ground on Tennessee's Biomass Innovation Park, Genera Energy - This is a for-profit limited liability company wholly owned by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation.

Links checked August 2011.