Given today's economic and environmental realities, SIUC researchers think it's time to take a fresh look at propane for use down on the farm.

"It's readily available, the infrastructure is already here, it burns cleanly, and it's an alternative fuel source--it reduces our dependence on oil from the Middle East," says Tony Harrison, an agricultural systems expert in SIUC's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"Is it better than the old reliable--diesel--that's been around for decades? Our job is to take it out in the field and see.

"We're going to collect data in our engine lab, then put it out there and look at how it performs under farm conditions so that we can say if it's all it's made out to be--and have the data to support what we say."

Harrison and colleagues Dennis Watson and Richard Steffen will test the relative benefits of propane and diesel fuel in a study involving an irrigation system. A $487,000 grant from both the state and national propane councils is underwriting the two-year project.

"The small engine industry is eagerly awaiting the results," says Bernard Sieracki, who serves on the national council's agriculture advisory committee. "Nothing like this kind of direct comparison has ever been done before."

The three researchers are setting up a center-pivot irrigation rig--one of those elevated, rolling watering lines that circles around a fixed point--on a 40-acre field southwest of campus.

In running the system's pump and pivot, automated equipment will switch between propane and diesel engines during each watering period, using an innovative hydraulic system to allow each to operate at peak efficiency.

"This lets us compare apples to apples," Harrison says. "If we test diesel one day and propane the next, we're not running under the same temperature and relative humidity--and those affect what the engine is doing."

Electronic monitors will keep track of emissions, fuel flow, efficiency, and other data. In the project's final phase, the researchers will set up wireless transfer of information back to campus so they can upload the data on the project's Web site.

Site visitors will be able to look at results from just one of the power sources or compare the two--on a particular day, week, month, year, or over the life of the entire project.

The project's near-real-time feature and its automated control and monitoring systems should make it a desirable test site for other kinds of power sources, Harrison says. According to Sieracki, it is the only test bed of its kind in the United States.

--by K. C. Jaehnig, Media & Communication Resources

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