Grants That Might Work
NSF Grant Solicitation
http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/2009_bc.jsp
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/smallbusinessi.cfm
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/ruraldevelopmentsbir.cfm
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/marketingtradesbir.cfm
Auburn University, Conner Bailey Grant
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~bailelc/nri4.1.htm
NSF Grant Possibility
the next solicitation will be released in September 2009 with a submission deadline of December 2009. For reference, you can view the most-recent, expired solicitation at
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf09541&org=NSF
. Note that the new solicitation may have different instructions.
Be sure to follow the new solicitation instructions when preparing
a submission.
Please go to
http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/
for more detailed information about the required format of the proposal
Sugar Beet
Ethanol in North America
1)
1) We research and develop a biofuel facility for a small
community, 3000 to 5000 or more people. This facility can be just as
efficient as a big biofuel facility, can
protect and enhance the environment, and can promote economic
development.
2)
We show that we can make ethanol for $2.00 per gallon, by growing
sugar beets, fermenting the sucrose solution, and distilling the
ethanol solution. Sale
of this ethanol can revive farming, create jobs, foster other
business, and make the people of Salmon energy self-sufficient.
When cellulosic ethanol becomes useful, then the farmers can
grow the more productive cellulosic ethanol feedstock, such as
switch grass or Miscanthus x giganteus. The 500-1000 gallons of
ethanol per acre from sugar beets will increase to nearly 2500
gallons per acre with Miscanthus x giganteus.
3)
Producing ethanol in Salmon can (1) Create a sustainable rural
economy; (2) Develop this rural community to become more resilient
to both natural and human disasters; (3) Enhance economic vitality
of this rural area; and (4) Promote job creation and income growth
in this rural area. When we
succeed, then other rural communities can do this too.
4)
People from any town can make their own fuel, following our model.
Business in Salmon can research and develop the
equipment for ethanol production, build the equipment, improve the
equipment, and sell the equipment worldwide.
5)
The community can learn to use the ethanol.
When science develops cellulosic ethanol processes to be
economical, then only our feedstock process (beet washing and
slicing) changes.
Fermentation, distillation, ethanol distribution, and customer use
of the ethanol do not change.
6)
Because no ethanol is being made from sugar beets in North America,
we have to research and develop the facility to prepare the
sugar beet, ferment the sugar solution to ethanol, and distill the
water-ethanol solution to ethanol.
We have done research and development that shows how
to grow the sugar beets in the best way, using technology that is
developed, but is not in Salmon, Idaho at the moment.
Steve Libsack, National Sales & Marketing Director, Betaseed, Inc.,
(952) 233-6936-office phone
(612) 860-0832-cell phone will help
with sugar beet growing and its use for ethanol.
7)
Sugar beet ethanol projects being started in North America include:
Imperial Bioresources LLC (California)
http://www.imperialbioresources.com/;
Imperial Ethanol/US Farms (California)
http://www.usfarmsinc.com/ethanol/index.html;
Atlantec BioEnergy (has a test facility in Canada)
http://atlantecbioenergy.com/index.htm
8)
Equipment for the sugar industry for sugar-beet growing and for
washing and for slicing sugar beets may work for ethanol production.
We must research and develop how the sugar-beet solids
are separated from the liquids for ethanol production, because the
requirements for
sugar
production are different from the requirements for
ethanol
production.
9)
Our research shows that (1) Vincent Industries (Tampa,
Florida
813-248-2650)
has developed a vertical screw press for sugar beet ethanol
production.
(2)
Beloit Corporation, Dalton, Mass, have beet
washing and beet slicing equipment that may be useful for sugar beet
ethanol production. We
need to do further research to find all equipment that may be
available. We may be
able to build the equipment locally, using the expertise of local
businesses, which have engineering and fabrication-of-metal-products
experience.
10)
Published reports on sugar beet ethanol production in North America
have limited use for our research and development of
small-scale ethanol production.
These limited-use reports include: (1) Potential for a Sugar
Beet Ethanol Industry in Washington State, Report to the Washington
Department of Agriculture,
March 1, 2009, Jonathan Yoder, Project Leader.
(2)
Ethanol from Sugar, What are the prospects
for U.S. sugar co-ops?
By James Jacobs, Ag Economist,
USDA Rural Development.
Both of these reports say that they had to estimate because they had
no real data on sugar beet ethanol production.
Because they used corn-ethanol and sugar industry data, their
analysis has little use to our research and development of
sugar beet ethanol production.
For example, our model needs no transportation of feedstock
or of ethanol.
11)
Our
research and development shows that all the money with this
ethanol project stays in the town.
The money from the sale of ethanol goes to pay for equipment
and financing, to sugar beet farmers and workers, and to ethanol
facility workers, who may be young people and from the low-income
sector of Salmon.
Entrepreneurs may open a dairy and other business because the sugar
beet solids can become animal feed.
Development of these products and
services enhance the availability and capability of entrepreneurs,
like Twenty-First Century Blacksmithing, Peterson Metal Produces,
and a diversified workforce.
12)
We
choose ethanol, not biodiesel for our product.
Soybeans, for example, can generate 48 gallons of oil per acre,
which can be blended with methanol (20%) and sodium hydroxide to
make 63 gallons of biodiesel per acre.
In the USA we use 140 billion gallons of fuel, including 64
billion gallons of diesel.
If we make all the biodiesel we can make, we get about 5
billion gallons.
Biodiesel is good where cooking and other oils are available.
Biodiesel (5 billion gallons possible) can never meet our
need of 140 billion gallons of fuel per year or our need of 63
billion gallons of diesel.