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I've always had the idea of growing sugarbeet on a conveyor belt. It would take 100-120 days to get from one end to another. You plant a seed with dirt at the s

I've always had the idea of growing sugarbeet on a conveyor belt. It would take 100-120 days to get from one end to another. You plant a seed with dirt at the start and a sugarbeet rolls off the end after the grow time. You filter out the sugarbeet from the dirt when it falls off (sieve). The conveyor would be fully solar powered and it's power requirements would not be very much due to the slow progression. Once you have the sugarbeet, you turn it in to ethanol, hopefully with another automated process. Economics of sugarbeet to ethanol: http://www.isosugar.org/Egypt/GL2.2.pdf http://www.isosugar.org/Egypt/GL2.2.pdf

fleitz 12y ago
Sugar Beets -> Ethanol http://drinkicd.com/#top http://drinkicd.com/#top
Someone 12y ago
I would guess it is more economical to move just the sugarbeet and the farming machinery, not the sugarbeet and the ground it grows in. Plant beets on a strip 1/120 of the land each day, and after 120 days, your land will be full, and the first 1/120th part will be ready for harvesting. Harvest them, and throw them on a conveyor belt. More importantly, each of these approaches assumes constant weather, which I doubt you will have northwest of Chicago. Those sugar beets might grow a bit slower in he months October-March or so. That's one reason farmers plant all their land at around the same time each year.
- mparlane 12y ago
  Idea was to minimise the work needed to collect the sugarbeet, I could be overestimating the automated collection of sugarbeet from the ground though :)
nostromo 12y ago
Check out this conveyor belt farm in Japan: http://youtu.be/F_WuJ9P1u-k http://youtu.be/F_WuJ9P1u-k
- Istof 12y ago
  Combine this technique with multiple layers like this: http://www.gereports.com/post/91250246340/lettuce-see-the-future-japanese-farmer-builds http://www.gereports.com/post/91250246340/lettuce-see-the-fu... edit: fixed link....
  - mparlane 12y ago
    Did you mean to post the same youtube clip as above?
crisnoble 12y ago
Sounds pretty neat. Similar in theory to hydroponic factories where you plant a seed on one end, and let it slowly float down a moat and get harvested at the end of the line.
oconnore 12y ago
You can probably beat this efficiency with algae. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_fuel#Algae_cultivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_fuel#Algae_cultivation
D_Alex 12y ago
Cool idea... but doing some back-of-the-envelope calcs on this, I get: Yield, assuming 3 harvests/year = ~ 24,000 l ethanol per year Price of ethanol =~ $1/l... if feedstock = 50% of price, then value of beet grown = ~ $12,000/year Neglecting all running and maintenance costs,to get a 6% return you'd need to cover your hectare with conveyor belt for $200,000... that's $20/m2, inc substructure. Considering carpet costs $40+/m2... I doubt this could be done economically. Comments?
- skj 12y ago
  Carpet may cost $40/m^2 to lay down (actually a bit less than that), but it costs significantly less to maintain. Yes, there'd be an up-front investment, but you just need to keep your maintenance down.
  - smeyer 12y ago
    The commenter is already assuming no maintenance costs. The $20/m^2 is the number you'd have to hit to be economically viable (with $0 maintenance) rather than putting the money in the market for a 6% return.

fleitz 12y ago

Sugar Beets -> Ethanol http://drinkicd.com/#top http://drinkicd.com/#top

Someone 12y ago

I would guess it is more economical to move just the sugarbeet and the farming machinery, not the sugarbeet and the ground it grows in. Plant beets on a strip 1/120 of the land each day, and after 120 days, your land will be full, and the first 1/120th part will be ready for harvesting. Harvest them, and throw them on a conveyor belt. More importantly, each of these approaches assumes constant weather, which I doubt you will have northwest of Chicago. Those sugar beets might grow a bit slower in he months October-March or so. That's one reason farmers plant all their land at around the same time each year.

mparlane 12y ago
Idea was to minimise the work needed to collect the sugarbeet, I could be overestimating the automated collection of sugarbeet from the ground though :)

nostromo 12y ago

Check out this conveyor belt farm in Japan: http://youtu.be/F_WuJ9P1u-k http://youtu.be/F_WuJ9P1u-k

Istof 12y ago
Combine this technique with multiple layers like this: http://www.gereports.com/post/91250246340/lettuce-see-the-future-japanese-farmer-builds http://www.gereports.com/post/91250246340/lettuce-see-the-fu... edit: fixed link....
- mparlane 12y ago
  Did you mean to post the same youtube clip as above?

crisnoble 12y ago

Sounds pretty neat. Similar in theory to hydroponic factories where you plant a seed on one end, and let it slowly float down a moat and get harvested at the end of the line.

oconnore 12y ago

You can probably beat this efficiency with algae. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_fuel#Algae_cultivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_fuel#Algae_cultivation

D_Alex 12y ago

Cool idea... but doing some back-of-the-envelope calcs on this, I get: Yield, assuming 3 harvests/year = ~ 24,000 l ethanol per year Price of ethanol =~ $1/l... if feedstock = 50% of price, then value of beet grown = ~ $12,000/year Neglecting all running and maintenance costs,to get a 6% return you'd need to cover your hectare with conveyor belt for $200,000... that's $20/m2, inc substructure. Considering carpet costs $40+/m2... I doubt this could be done economically. Comments?

skj 12y ago
Carpet may cost $40/m^2 to lay down (actually a bit less than that), but it costs significantly less to maintain. Yes, there'd be an up-front investment, but you just need to keep your maintenance down.
- smeyer 12y ago
  The commenter is already assuming no maintenance costs. The $20/m^2 is the number you'd have to hit to be economically viable (with $0 maintenance) rather than putting the money in the market for a 6% return.