Peggy's Update on Cattails

Slowly, we can see methodology emerge in the development of the domesticated cattail business. Here we learn that it is not too difficult to make the growing process far less thirsty, and optimally quicker. The best ratios exist at the four month mark. This will work even in the north.

Peggy is growing on well drained land on long beds that are kept sufficiently wet. This clearly facilitates harvest.

That up to four crops of stalks can be taken is noteworthy. I think she is looking to lay down a layer of chopped stalks next year to help in water retention.

Raising cattails as a row crop may turn out very well and provide a good framework for efficient harvest.

It is also noted that thin slicing of the tubers permits proper drying and long term storage. This will also allow recovery of starch by grinding and winnowing out the fiber. It turns out to be much like taro root – no surprise there. Obviously this is important if large quantities are to someday be used.

I would still like to see tools prepared to support a paddy based growing culture. Hand work is way too difficult for cattail culture to date and various forms of lifting and cutting tools are already part of the farm machinery business.

The row system pioneered by Peggy takes advantage of present hardware suited for dry environments.

Increasing Green Growth: Human Ecology, an Interdisciplinary Journal:(2009):

Presently, most Typha harvesters reported cutting ramets above the water surface, rather than cutting below water as had been done previously to control Typha. Cutting above water was reported to promote regrowth, as opposed to underwater cutting (n = 9). Harvesters also observed that cutting above the water surface avoided the Typha ramet base, which was too thick to be useful for weaving (n = 4). Only the youngest Typha harvesters reported cutting below water; they harvested from large wetlands accessible to the public and reported that Typha was never lacking. No one reported problems related to the sustainability of Typha harvesting, and most respondents harvested the same Typha plants four times per year, although some apparently harvested less frequently due to time constraints (n = 5).

But Why? What we want at this point is rhizome development to convert the rich polysaccharides into alcohol. During our evaluation study this summer we have witnessed the BEST rhizome development in the emerging plant and the BEST ratio of rhizome to stalk at about 4 months in estimated growth analysis of wild stands of cattail. Next spring we will be experimenting with the absorbent natural nature of the mulched green biomass. The object is to plant the cattail in soil that rapidly allows the moisture to reach the rhizome and then to spread the water (or retain it) at this level (between eight and eighteen inches. Moisture that seeps lower will encourage a strong ‘tap’ root that makes harvesting difficult.

Because we are not in a ‘flood’ zone, that tap root is not necessary to anchor the plant. Retaining moisture at the level of lateral rhizome growth propels the rhizome to grow in a shallow level thus facilitating harvesting. Also, evaporation is an issue in our current location. Therefore, keeping a moisture laden layer of biomass beneath the ground surface assists water use reduction. At this point we have ample wastewater; however, we also have abundant land that can become fields of cattail that will only be limited by the amount of wastewater that is available. It is best to discover moisture retention at an early stage. At this time we are experimenting with a proprietary biomass, yet it seems reasonable that the cattail itself may provide that retentive biomass. Please experiment and get back with us.

You may reach Peggy here:

Water Assurance Technology Energy Resources

40 Sun Valley Dr., Spring Branch TX 78070
FAX (830) 885-4827; Cell: (512) 757-4499
Email: rpk@gvtc.com

Peggy Korth on Cattail Culture

This article by Peggy Korth shows that cattail culture is advancing and we will monitor this. In particular, she is also associated with the marketing of a farm sized ethanol production unit made from off the shelf hardware. I will do a separate column on that. I am posting the article after our correspondence. Her efforts are well worth supporting as she is getting answers.



Hello Robert,

I thought the letter copied below may be of interest. The intent if such messages is to change the false precepts of overzealous informants who do not fully understand climate warming and certainly do not understand the food and fuel concept. Making all kinds of generalized statements about fuel ethanol can be quite detrimental to the use of an excellent fuel. With my system, we remediate both water and soil, we capture carbon dioxide from the air, we restore fallow land, we have ABUNDANT potential per acre for starch and sugar conversion, we have a new product to provide pulp and fiber without chemical farming or killing trees, we promote rural economic development, we provide new jobs and educational training, we provide low-cost safe equipment for the small and mid-sized producer, and the list goes on...

Out of courtesy, please do not quote the names of the recipient of the letter. The magazine did not respond because they want to holler about their point of view instead of finding solutions. In my opinion, unless the complainer is offering advice or alternative solutions, then that message is not constructive. Building hope relates to practical solution that can be implemented by communities and NOT dependent on big business or government.Also after working for fourteen years out of my own pocket, I intend to offer paid services and equipment that I helped forge through my input and support. I give generously to the public. Yet, I also expect the public to be responsible for their own future. In the past I have lived frugally and enjoyed a good professional life. Awakening the hope of the next generation means building a passion to make a difference for their own posterity.

Sustainable Technology Systems, Inc.

Peggy G. Korth, President
40 Sun Valley Dr., Spring Branch TX 78070
Cell: 512 757-4499, 830 885-4823; FAX 830 885-4827
Email: rpk@gvtc.com
September 25, 2008

Gentlemen,

####Over seven years ago I presented a concept to ##### concerning alternatives to corn as co-development. He patted me on the head and said, “Well, maybe someone will listen to you in ten years, but right now corn is king.”

And now people are starting to listen. Our company had developed a propagation and growing methodology to raise over a thousand gallons of fuel ethanol from cattails as a row crop. The limiting factors are wastewater availability, diverting a polluted stream, and/ or land adjacent to or nearby wastewater processing.

Furthermore, the concept of mega-sized production plants is not necessary or practical. Our engineers have developed farm-scale systems for bioenergy with an amalgamation of energy-savings adjuncts such as gasification from waste woody biomass and parabolic solar collectors to provide low-cost functionality.

Your discussion perpetuates a number of myths, as discussed in the recent Texas biofuels conference in Austin last week where we once again gave state officials information on both rhizome and stalk processing from cattail crops.

Numerous alternative crops are available and it is wise to advance small to mid-sized systems that will provide both the farmers and rural communities with a means for self-sufficiency serving first-responders and community based fleets. Your larger systems can serve the public interest if excess fuel is not available. However, our group DOES have a mechanism to impact the controversy and provide biofuels production systems as a real, doable, and affordable safety net to our rural communities.

Thanks you for your interest. Hopefully we can expand your horizons beyond the corn field. Best wishes,

Peggy


Water Assurance Technology Energy Resources—a 501C3 Educational and Research Organization dedicated to Clean air, Clean water, and Clean energy.

Peggy Korth, President 40 Sun Valley Drive, Spring Branch TX, 78070, 512 757-4499, F 830 885-4827, rpk@gvtc.com


Optimize bioenergy, remediate wastewater, and impact soil amelioration for communities through a methodology suitable to global adoption. Merged clean technologies begin with propagating cattails as a row crop adjacent to municipal wastewater treatment. A new applied methodology brings technological innovation to small and mid-sized bioenergy production units suitable for most any community. Abundant and renewable bioenergy provides a safety-net of security for fuel availability in conjunction with low-cost equipment design merging parabolic solar energy, gasification of invasive species, and waste from sewerage additionally reducing toxins, heavy metals, and drugs from wastewater streams. Furthermore, the benefits of building soil from sludge transforms here-to-fore barren land into fertile acres to grow additional energy and non-food crops.

Practical demonstration began with academic studies through a DOE grant. New feasibility studies related to climate influence are scheduled to begin in January 2009 in Otero County New Mexico—a barren desert with brackish ground water and rugged terrain. Forward-thinking town fathers promote systems for long-term renewable energy application. Supported by a conservation alliance, the United States Forest Service shares research and information gathering with our outstanding group of STS specialty associates. Novel industry application implements remediation and watershed services plus value-added benefits in rural economic development, homeland security, and practical solutions to community self-sufficiency. Modern technical application from spent feedstock residue extraction of pulp and fiber from feedstock waste opens new industry opportunities to the building materials and paper industries.

Collaboration with a research division of the University of New Mexico utilizing algae waste assists in soil building demonstrations. Through the efforts of Ms. Korth ‘Cattails to Ethanol’ is favorably embraced by numerous independent researchers and foreign communities. As new feedstock cattails offers over a thousand gallons of fuel ethanol per acre plus numerous benefits to provide ongoing affordable renewable energy.

Feasibility studies provide unique operating formats to bring most any global village into compliance while reducing surface flow pollution diverting contaminated, non-potable water through remediation beds accessed by unique harvesting equipment. By reducing the cost of operations and providing processing equipment that allows incremental expansion, facilities enlarge on a pay-as-you-go plan. Development of the concept began in the early 1980’s with academic validation of the concept.

Expanding that knowledge into additional beneficial processes brings new low-cost practicality to communities sustaining affordable quality-of-life programs and first responder fuel security.

As the principle of an adjunctive association of specialist working through Sustainable

Technology Systems, Inc. Peggy Korth has been featured at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and The World Biomass Conference presenting lectures and break-out sessions in How to Implement a Community Feasibility Study and Data Collection Basics, Small Scale Energy and Fuel Production for Farmers and Communities, Alternative Crop Efficiencies as well as developing training curriculum for biofuels programs. Ms. Korth authored two Small Scale bio-energy and Fuel Production text: Cattails to Ethanol and Bioenergy Business supporting producers in their due diligence and presentation preparation. Her compilation of the most comprehensive Bioenergy Glossary is being translated into Spanish. Ms. Korth’s USDA, SARE grant program, Livestock and Feedstock: Distiller’s Grain and Fuel Ethanol, proved dairy application benefits for farmers to produce their own fuel in farming operations. Additional environmental lectures are highlighted in Ms. Korth’s biographical summary which is available upon request.

There are good pictures here but we do not have a address for them so they will likely not survive pasting.