RICHLAND, Wash. – A new agricultural innovation from Washington State University may solve an ancient predicament: how to protect crop plants from cold damage at bud break. As spring brings warmer weather, plants wake up from dormancy and begin the processes of growth and flowering. But one cold night can kill those buds before they have a chance to flower and fruit.

What’s needed are tiny baby blankets that shield those emerging buds from frost. And it’s precisely an insulating coating that researchers at Washington State University have developed and are in the process of commercializing.

�³���’s��,�� and their colleagues Qin Zhang and Changki Mo are utilizing cellulose nanocrystals, CNCs, to protect grape, cherry and other flowering crop plants during frost events. Cellulose, the most common polymer on the planet, is a remarkable substance with myriad useful properties. Zhang and colleagues write in a  that CNCs are stronger than steel in a strength-to-weight face off, capable of being drawn into thin film-like layers and, best of all, are super insulative. In a recent field study, the researchers concluded that a single CNC application “improves cold-hardiness of sweet cherry and grape buds by about 2–4 °C compared to non-treated buds.”

That thin protective layer is just enough to keep baby buds snug until the cold snap gives way to the warmer spring weather which triggered the new growth in the first place.

Whiting, a horticultural physiologist, was visiting with Zhang, a chemical engineer, about something unrelated, when Zhang showed him the thermal-property data on CNCs. Whiting says he mentioned that the substance might be used to reduce frost damage and Zhang replied, “Oh, is that a problem?” In fact, it is a huge problem all over the world.

Citrus in Florida, almonds and other crops in California, coffee in Brazil, apples and pears in Portugal and Washington State–all are susceptible to frost damage, one of agriculture’s biggest killers. While the direct loss of a crop due to cold damage can be in the billions of dollars, the knock-on effects are even worse: loss of a crop means the loss of jobs for pickers, packers, processors, and retailers. A  from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says that “in the USA, there are more economic losses to frost damage than to any other weather-related phenomenon.”

While there has been some innovation in terms of breeding plants for greater cold resistance, the physiological reality of a tender bud is hard to change. Other protective measures, like fabric covers, wind machines, circulating water, or heaters fueled with propane or diesel, have not changed in years. According to the agriculture-focused European Innovation Partnership, “ methods that are currently used by fruit producers are essentially the same that were used in the last decades of the 20th century.”

Whiting agrees, saying, “I’ve been working on cold tolerance for nearly 20 years, and there hasn’t been any innovation in decades.”

With a horticultural industry eager for new and effective forms of frost protection, Zhang and Whiting have formed Pomona Technologies. Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance, and her name derives from the Latin for “fruit.” Today, pomology, a related word, is the science of growing fruits.

After a four-year series of small-scale tests that proved that CNCs did indeed offer good frost protection, the team is proceeding with both large-scale tests and moving toward commercialization. Whiting thinks that Pomona Technologies will see its first product fully available in 2022.

CNCs are widely used in medical, industrial and other applications, including cosmetics, and are already approved for various uses by the Environmental Protection Agency.

With global climate change bringing earlier spring weather in many parts of the world, some might think that frost damage will go the way of the dodo. But earlier springs mean earlier bud break, which actually  as cold snaps will still occur. That means farmers need protection they can apply quickly and inexpensively, which CNCs appear to promise.

As Whiting says, “Every flower you can keep alive is money in the bank.”

Support for the development of this technology includes funding from USDA , the , the , and the .

 

Media contacts:

• Matthew Whiting, professor, WSU Dept. of Horticulture, 509-786-9260,��mdwhiting@wsu.edu
• Xiao Zhang, associate professor, WSU Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, 509-372-7647,��x.zhang@wsu.edu
• Amit Dhingra, chair, WSU Dept. of Horticulture, 509.335.3625,��adhingra@wsu.edu

By Tina Hilding, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University researchers have developed an environmentally-friendly, plant-based material that for the first time works better than Styrofoam for insulation.

The foam is mostly made from nanocrystals of cellulose, the most abundant plant material on earth. The researchers also developed an environmentally friendly and simple manufacturing process to make the foam, using water as a solvent instead of other harmful solvents.

The work, led by Amir Ameli, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and Xiao Zhang, associate professor in the Gene and Linda School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, is published in the journal .

Researchers have been working to develop an environmentally friendly replacement for polystyrene foam, or Styrofoam. The popular material, made from petroleum, is used in everything from coffee cups to materials for building and construction, transportation, and packaging industries. But, it is made from toxic ingredients, depends on petroleum, doesn’t degrade naturally, and creates pollution when it burns.

While other researchers have created other cellulose-based foams, the plant-based versions haven’t performed as well as Styrofoam. They are not as strong, don’t insulate as well, and degraded at higher temperatures and in humidity. To make cellulose nanocrystals, researchers use acid hydrolysis, in which acid is used to cleave chemical bonds.

In their work, the WSU team created a material that is made of about 75 percent cellulose nanocrystals from wood pulp.  They added polyvinyl alcohol, another polymer that bonds with the nanocellulose crystals and makes the resultant foams more elastic. The material that they created contains a uniform cellular structure that means it is a good insulator. For the first time, the researchers report, the plant-based material surpassed the insulation capabilities of Styrofoam. It is also very lightweight and can support up to 200 times its weight without changing shape.  It degrades well, and burning it doesn’t produce polluting ash.

“We have used an easy method to make high-performance, composite foams based on nanocrystalline cellulose with an excellent combination of thermal insulation capability and mechanical properties,” Ameli said. “Our results demonstrate the potential of renewable materials, such as nanocellulose, for high-performance thermal insulation materials that can contribute to energy savings, less usage of petroleum-based materials, and reduction of adverse environmental impacts.”

“This is a fundamental demonstration of the potential of nanocrystalline cellulose as an important industrial material,” Zhang said. “This promising material has many desirable properties, and to be able to transfer these properties to a bulk scale for the first time through this engineered approach is very exciting.”

The researchers are now developing formulations for stronger and more durable materials for practical applications.  They are interested in incorporating low-cost feedstocks to make a commercially viable product and considering how to move from laboratory to a real-world manufacturing scale.

The work was supported by the US Department of Agriculture and WSU’s Office of Commercialization.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Fulbright scholar Fitria is using her educational experience at and the to find new and improved ways of creating successful biofuels and bioproducts.

In her home country of Indonesia, Fitria, who goes by one name, is a team member and former project leader in biomass process technology and bioremediation at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences Research Center for Biomaterials.

There, she works to convert lignocellulosic biomass—the cellulose and lignin-rich substances that give plants their rigidity—from agricultural residues to ethanol and other bioproducts such as wood adhesives, biocomposites, pulp, and paper.

In recent years, the Indonesian government has focused more heavily on the production of biofuels. And while ethanol, which in Indonesia is mostly made from cassava, a starchy root from a tropical crop, is readily available, they are exploring other options, especially lignocellulosic-based biomass from local vegetation. Cellulose from the remains of pressed, harvested oil palm fruit bunches could be a viable option, as Indonesia is the largest producer. Other potential products include rice straw and sugar cane bagasse.

In order to fulfill her career goals, Fitria joined a team led by Bin Yang, associate professor of biological systems engineering at ���سԹ�, in August 2016. Over the past three years, she has worked in the at ���سԹ� to improve the understanding of fundamental mechanisms of pretreatment technologies for cellulosic-based fuels. Her work helps advance cutting–edge biomass conversion technologies and to facilitate the commercialization process.

At ���سԹ�, she is studying several types of lignocellulose biomass, such as corn stover and wheat straw, which are among the most common agricultural waste products in the U.S.

“Wheat straw is abundant in eastern Washington,” she said. “The remnant material in the harvesting process is usually left on the field, and about 60 percent is used for ground cover. But you can’t remove all of the residue on the field. We want to use the remaining material to make biofuels.”

Fitria is specifically examining how to improve the pretreatment process in turning remnant lignocellulosic materials into biofuels with Yang.

In the early stages, cellulose, which is the main component of cell walls in plants, must undergo a pretreatment process to separate it from other major components, hemicellulose and lignin, to help enzymes convert it to sugar. After that, it is fermented into ethanol. Other components in plants, such as mineral components, however, might hinder this process, which she is now investigating.

Fitria is also working with Jian Liu, a senior chemical engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to study the impact that mineral components have on the pretreatment process. She will also start as part of the this fall. This WSU-PNNL collaboration not only aids in her doctoral study, but also provides her with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory.

“Working at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will be very important to her future research career,” Yang said. “Fitria has displayed remarkable skill in science, engineering and leadership, and she will continue to grow and make significant contributions to the field of biomass to bioproducts.”

Fitria’s research at ���سԹ� is in line with WSU’s identified of providing and in . It is also in line with WSU’s .

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Efforts to create an environmentally friendly catalyst that will lower the cost and increase the efficiency in producing bio-based jet fuels has netted Washington State University researchers a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

���سԹ� associate professor Hanwu Lei and his research team aim to develop the catalyst — a substance that increases the rate of chemical reactions and lowers the energy needed to perform the reaction — from forestry and agricultural waste products.

This is the second major research grant that Lei, an associate professor of biological systems engineering with the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory, has received from the USDA and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

�ճ���� for $494,000 was awarded in August 2015 to develop a different type of biomass-derived catalysts. Once developed, these catalysts will be used to increase the energy output and performance of biofuels. These catalysts will produce aromatic hydrocarbons, which are high-energy organic compounds that largely are responsible for the octane number, or performance rating, of a fuel.

“To reduce energy and hydrogen demands, and improve the catalytic performance of bio-jet fuel production, we proposed a new catalyst design that we could leverage from environmentally friendly, nature-based molecules,” Lei said. “These rod-like nanocrystals can be sourced from any agroforestry waste.”

Under the new grant, Lei and his team will use enzymes to produce nanocrystalline cellulose. These ‘green catalysts’ will be created from wastes such as corn stover, a remnant of corn harvest, or sawdust from Douglas fir trees. With funding from the second grant, the new nano carbon catalyst will further convert the aromatic hydrocarbons researched with the first grant to cycloalkane naphtha, a major component in jet fuels.

Lei said their project is transformative for the biofuels industry in two ways:

• It’s a new and innovative idea that can be used to produce bio-jet fuel using less energy and hydrogen compared to current production processes
• By using cutting-edge processes, the team is applying new knowledge and approaches to solve challenges in state-of-the-art nanocrystalline cellulose extraction

“The new process provides another novel pathway for conversion of biomass into advanced biofuels and jet fuels,” he said.

Contacts:

• Hanwu Lei, associate professor in the WSU department of Biological Systems Engineering and Bioproducts, Science and Engineering Laboratory, 509-372-7628,��hlei@wsu.edu
• Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333,��maegan_murray@wsu.edu