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Contact: Tim Ledbetter (509) 375-5953
Release date: January 6, 1998
Pacific Northwest's History in Agriculture Serves as a Foundation for New Effort
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's recently established Agriculture and Food Processing Initiative is not exactly a venture into new territory.
From 1973 to 1981, Pacific Northwest's Food and Agriculture Section employed as many as 30 staff and operated on an annual budget of up to $1 million. Initially viewed as an "experiment," in many ways the section was visionary and ahead of its time.
Pacific Northwest's involvement in agriculture and food processing is chronicled below.
1973
The Food and Agriculture Section is formed under the leadership of Lyle Perrigo. Initial projects consisted of:
- basic science Efforts to convert animal manure into fuel oil evolved into a project known as "Fundamental Chemistry of Biomass Conversion," which lasted for over 10 years and was a mainstay of the section. Work in this area eventually led to new sewage sludge recycling and disposal techniques, successful collaborations with the Environmental Protection Agency and a Japanese firm and eventually the award-winning Sludge-To-Oil Reactor System (STORS).
- hydroponics The Laboratory developed soiless cultivation techniques for various clients who sought to grow food crops in areas where conventional agriculture was not practical.
- deodorizing mint oil for the Washington Mint Commission Market prices for Washington's mint oil were discounted because of a unique odor in the mint. Pacific Northwest staff identified the source of the odor hydrogen sulfide and came up with an easy method to remove it.
Mid 1970s
The section continued to build on past successes and expand into new areas, such as bioprocessing (fermentation) and biomass-derived chemicals. Although not directly tied to the lab's agriculture research, a biomass conversion technique that successfully transformed sewage sludge into an asphalt substitute that could be used for road paving was developed by the section.
Other key projects during this period included:
- energy efficiency in irrigation
- alternatives to open field burning
- energy conversion of food wastes
- co-generation in food processing
- integrated farming concepts designed to recycle agricultural wastes into the production process.
1978-80
The section continued to seek out new markets and projects to replace declining demand in conventional areas, such as biomass and food production and processing. During this period, one of the successes was a series of projects aimed at extracting industrial chemicals, oils and biofertilizers from algae and seaweed. The work culminated with a major contract with a Japanese firm to produce a microalgal polysaccharide from a marine alga. Polysaccharides can be used as thickening agents in a variety of products.
Other highlights from this period included the section's entry into the emerging areas of genetic engineering and food irradiation.
Early 1980s and beyond
Late in its existence, the section devoted much of its energy to chemical, biochemical and fermentation-related projects, but also continued to make strides in genetic engineering, food irradiation and novel polymer development.
Changes in the business climate made it difficult for the section to survive as a separate entity and it was merged with other laboratory groups in the early 1980s, though agriculture-related research did not go away entirely.
In the late 1980s, the laboratory's connection with agriculture resurfaced in a significant way when Pacific Northwest and various local and regional groups came up with the idea for an agribusiness center. Early organizers recognized that Pacific Northwest's research and development activities could benefit the regional agriculture community, but that no mechanism existed for transferring technologies and ideas out of the lab and into commercial use. Their concept became reality when the Agri-Business Commercialization and Development Center was established in Richland in 1994.