The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association works closely with agriculture educators in the state to provide students with a better understanding of biofuel production.
These include classroom resources such as renewable fuels lesson plans and module courses from the National Future Farmers of America (FFA), educational videos that were developed with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, corn-to-ethanol demonstration kits and grants for ethanol plant visits.
NATIONAL FFA RENEWABLE FUELS LESSON PLAN AND CORN-TO-ETHANOL DEMONSTRATION KITS
The National FFA's resources provide FFA advisors, agriculture educators and students a single source for online delivery of new and exciting instructional materials, tools and resources. The Renewable Fuels instructional materials were created for educators to provide students with a solid foundational understanding of renewable fuels.
The instructional materials comprise of six units of curriculum which include information ranging from the definitions of ethanol and processes within the ethanol industry to the exploration of career opportunities in renewable fuels.
These lesson plans can be enhanced with corn-to-ethanol demonstration kits that can be loaned out from the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association. The kits, produced by the National Corn-to-ethanol Research Center, contain 13 sealed vials that include corn, ethanol co-products and reactants to demonstrate the various stages of the corn-to-ethanol conversion process.
Click here for the National FFA’s Renewable Fuels Lesson Plan
Download the form to loan an ethanol-to-corn demonstration kit
ETHANOL PLANT TOUR GRANT PROGRAM
To give students a first-hand experience of the ethanol production process, the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association offers a grants to schools to tour an ethanol plant. The maximum grant per school is $500 and the ethanol plants participating in this grant programme are:
Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (Benson), Al-Corn Clean Fuel (Claremont), Granite Falls Energy (Granite Falls), Guardian Energy (Janesville), Highwater Ethanol (Lamberton) and Heartland Corn Products (Winthrop).
To apply for the grant, please download the form here
THE ETHANOL PRODUCTION PROCESS
Here's a short video on the ethanol production process.