Penn State Demonstrates Biofuel Crops for PA

January 25, 2011

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by Kelsey McNeeley and Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA/Lancaster Farming) In 2002, Penn State University began using 20 percent (B20) biodiesel fuel on campus in the division of farm operations. Because of their expertise in biodiesel, Penn State’s farm operations (Farm Ops) was given the opportunity to test three New Holland tractors on 100 percent biodiesel (B100) fuel in 2005.
Based on three years of research at Penn State as well as other sites, New Holland now endorses its tractors to run on all levels of biodiesel fuel. In 2008, this study continued when Farm Ops began testing canola oil as fuel in a New Holland T7060 tractor as well as a Case 621E wheel loader.
...Cauffman and Don Rill at Penn State’s Division of Farm Ops were interested in growing canola and other biofuel crops in Pennsylvania at a demonstration scale. The Penn State Biofuel Crop Demonstration site grows more than just canola. The program, now completing its second year, is run by Penn State Cooperative Extension and aims to grow biofuel crops at field scale.

The demonstration site is educating farmers, processors, and the public on the bioenergy crop possibilities for this region and similar regions.

...The Farm Ops team learned how to grow and manage canola, camelina, and other crops that were unusual for Pennsylvania. Glen said, they wanted to “make the mistakes at Penn State so that people making their living from farms don’t need to make those mistakes.” Familiar crops and varieties at the site can also serve as benchmarks for making comparisons. READ MORE