A Spanish cellulosic ethanol producer,  Abengoa Bioenergy,  who owns the ethanol plants in York and Ravenna, has teamed up with Mid-Kansas Electric Co. LLC to develop a cellulosic ethanol and power plant in Stevens County, Kan., to produce 15 MMgy of ethanol and 75 megawatts (MW) of power per year.

According to the company, Abengoa Bioenergy Hybrid of Kansas will use locally available biomass resources such as corn stover, wheat straw and switchgrass as feedstocks, procuring them from farmers/producers in seven counties within a 50-mile radius of the plant.

The plant, according to the company, will require about 2,500 tons of biomass per day, or the equivalent of about 130 truckloads.

The company described how the process works as once the biomass materials are harvested into package form, they will be transported via flat bed trailer to the nearest satellite depot. An estimated 80 percent of the biomass packages will go from the field to a satellite depot for storage and then to ABHK; the rest will be transported directly from the field to the facility, according to the companies.

An extensive investigation of biomass availability has been performed and determined that there will be sufficient quantity of feedstock to meet demand. The facility would require only about 10 percent of the biomass residues available within 50 miles of ABHK.

If the new plant ushers into an era of second generation ethanol plants,  it would be good for the environment and diversify the kind of biomass needed to produce ethanol.

Scientists at Michigan State University said that diverse biofuel plantings such as native prairie attract more beneficial insects than do single crops such as corn.

The scientists said biofuel policies should take such added value into account,  based on their studies of beneficial insects in biofuel crops. Lady beetles, bees and other beneficial insects provide numerous ecosystem services, including controlling pests and pollinating crops.

MSU scientists estimated that such insects in soybeans provide about $240 million worth of biological pest control per year in the U.S.

“We found that the diversity of the plants has a direct effect on the number and diversity of beneficial insects,” said Doug Landis, MSU professor of entomology and co-author of the study, to be published in a special issue of the journal BioEnergy Research. “As policymakers consider which biofuel crops to support with incentives, we want to make sure they know about all the benefits provided by a range of crops. Some of these benefits, such as greenhouse gas benefits, pest suppression and pollination, are not currently being counted.”

The MSU scientists compared beneficial insect populations in three types of biofuel crops: corn, switchgrass and mixed native prairie (native grasses and wildflowers).

The research points out that there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of crop. Corn does provide more biomass per acre, but switchgrass and prairie attract greater numbers of beneficial insects, more diverse types of beneficial insects, or both in some cases. \

“While there were similar numbers of bee species in each crop, the abundance of bees was three to four times higher in switchgrass and native prairie than in corn,” said Rufus Isaacs, MSU entomology professor and study co-author. “There has been concern in the United States about declining numbers of pollinators. As policies are developed to increase production of cellulosic biofuels, it’s important to know how the type of biofuel crop affects the environment and biodiversity, as well as how much fuel it can produce.”

Landis and Isaacs cautioned that if switchgrass is managed as a single biofuel crop, some of the plant diversity they observed in their study fields could be lost, making the crop less suitable for beneficial insects.

Landis said  this is the first step in a series of studies aimed at characterizing biofuel landscapes of the future, landscapes that are economically and environmentally sustainable.

“This research suggests that monocultures probably won’t offer the long-term benefits that more diverse landscapes will,” he said. ”The next step in our work will be to put a value on the services beneficial insects provide. We’ll be measuring how much predation and pollination is taking place.”