Biofeedstocks (dairy manure) from WI’ crucial dairy sector provide multiple economic/environmental challenges and opportunities to “Grow the Green Economy”. This biofeedstock shares fundamental (and relatively low cost) bio-chemical processing – fermentation – with several classical WI Ag products: beer, cheese and kraut. Triple fermentation via 1) dairy feed rations (corn/alfalfa silage, haylage, etc.), 2) the cow’s rumen, and 3) anaerobic digestion of manure provides an aggregated, homogenized and (bio-chemically) “pre-processed” (low cost) cellulosic feedstock – one that largely avoids the food/fuel issues associated with many 1st and 2nd generation bio-feedstocks. Extant and emerging separation technologies provide opportunities to “fractionate” this cellulosic feedstock into multiple value added products such as energy (methane gas, ethanol), intermediate chemical products (e.g., bio-butanol), mulch (peat moss substitute), organic fertilizers and a variety of amino acids (protein feedstocks for plastics). These value added opportunities enhance sustainability, both economic (increased sales/revenues and decreased costs from on-farm substitution) AND environmental (improved carbon footprint/GHG remediation, reduced nutrient variability, increased Precision Ag and reduced environmental losses). This provides the fundamental sustainability basis for the Economic/Environmental Win-Win and growing the local Green Economy (via local manufacturing of the separation technology and growth in associated bio-feedstock processing).

UW Biomass R&D Initiative (BRDI) $7M Project: Accelerated Renewable Energy
• Tom Cox: UW Ag & Applied Economics
• John Norman: Emeritus, UW Soil Science
• Jim Leverich: On Farm Research Coordinator, UW-Extension
WID-DOW: Optimizing Economic/Environmental Sustainability
• Michael Ferris & Hongbo Dong: UW Computer Science