Pig to pavement: UI to get seven-figure USDA grant
Dec. 20—URBANA — A USDA-backed University of Illinois research project will test whether farmers can eventually profit from pig waste — by processing it to help bind pavement.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce today the winners of its competitive Bioproduct Pilot Program, investing $9.5 million in three proposals to develop practical, sustainable uses for agricultural products that keep economic benefits in their areas.
"If we're going to revitalize the rural economy, we need to make it more circular," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The News-Gazette on Monday in advance of the announcement. "We need those processing opportunities to take place closer to home."
The winning pitch from UI Professor Yuanhui Zhang, founder of the Environment-Enhancing Energy Laboratory: Use hydrothermal processing to convert locally sourced swine manure and food waste into "biobinders" for asphalt in roads and roofing shingles.
The project will get a $2.5 million grant over three years, drawing waste from partners like Carlyle-based pork producer The Maschhoffs, UI Housing Services and the Champaign school district, Zhang said.
UI Facilities and Services will help facilitate the project, while the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment conducts a technical analysis of the technique, he said. The funding originates from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021, and comes through the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"This grant is going to be more like a demonstration," Zhang said. "We'll be reducing the greenhouse emissions; it's both an energy and environment enhancement using waste materials."
Hydrothermal processing heats waste at high pressure, creating energy-dense byproducts such as crude oil. Zhang's E2-Energy Lab specializes in the technique, which is similar to how the earth develops fossil fuels — only far, far faster.
In this case, the heavier components from the biocrude oil produced from local waste will be used to raise the quality of recycled asphalt. By the end of the three-year grant, Zhang wants to have a clear picture of the commerciality of the proposal.
Reducing waste in farms and cafeterias can have a marked environmental impact. Selling off manure can prevent over-application and the runoff that comes with it; less food waste means less methane coming from landfills.
"There is an education component, we want our young generations to know about this — school kids are very much interested in climate change and environmental issues," Zhang said. "We always want to have a broader impact by reaching out to the general public."
The UI's proposal and two other awardees were plucked from a pool of 28 applicants, per the USDA. Virginia Tech proposed to convert food waste into biodegradable bioplastics. Soylei Innovations of Ames, Iowa, seeks to convert soybean oil into pavement rubber.
Proposals were judged on a variety of criteria, Vilsack said, including feasibility, climate impact and commercial benefits like job creation and potential profitability.
"I think there's a growing recognition that we've got to develop more ways for farmers, ranchers and producers to be able to make a living and generate income from the farming operation," Vilsack said.
Whether by selling ag waste or reaping the benefits of "climate-smart" farming tactics, more revenue streams protect against sudden changes in the farming market, Vilsack said, such as export restrictions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
President Joe Biden "and those who supported the infrastructure law understood that we needed to continue working to convert our rural economy, which for far too long has been an extraction economy, where things are taken off the land and processed far away," said Vilsack, who served as Iowa governor from 1999-2007.
"These proposals are going to generate more farm revenue for producers and better-paying jobs in rural places."
