Aiming to establish "an energy-recycling next-generation farm model" through WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Aiming to establish "an energy-recycling next-generation farm model" through WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
~ Using agricultural waste as fuel for agricultural greenhouses ~

Department of Food and Energy Systems Science Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering and Systems Science (Distinguished Graduate School)
Tatsuya Sudo, 3rd year of integrated doctoral program (equivalent to 1st year of doctoral program)

We spoke with WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is continuing his research into particle engineering at Department of Food and Energy Systems Science in the Graduate School of Bio-Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering and Systems Engineering, while also working on establishing a "next-generation energy-circulating farm model" that will enable sustainable food production through the WISE Graduate School Program (hereinafter referred to as the "WISE Graduate School").

* Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (Program name: Nurturing outstanding leaders who will drive the "super smart society" through new industry creation and diversity)
Characterized by "creation of new industries" and "diversity," the program collaborates between agriculture and engineering, and cooperates with private companies and overseas research and educational institutions to develop advanced doctoral talent, setting research themes in a variety of research fields with a high degree of freedom, with one example being "creation of new industries that contribute to the agricultural distribution revolution realized through cutting-edge engineering technology." Students enrolled in WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology work on the assignments of the program in addition to the courses of their own graduate schools, such as Graduate School of Engineering, Graduate Graduate School of Agriculture of Agriculture, or Graduate WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering.
Website: http://www.wise.jskrtf.com/

What projects are you working on?

As the world's population grows, the demand for food resources is expected to increase, making it necessary to achieve stable food production. In this context, "agricultural greenhouses," which are less affected by weather, are attracting attention as a horticultural method that can achieve stable food production. However, agricultural greenhouses use a lot of energy derived from fossil fuels to control the growing environment. This poses two challenges: high utility bills put pressure on management, and the use of large amounts of petroleum as fuel goes against the trend toward decarbonization in society.

Another issue in agriculture is that stems, leaves, roots, and other parts of crops that are not harvested end up as waste known as "agricultural residues." Agricultural residues are sometimes used as compost, but when there is too much residue, it cannot be consumed by composting alone, resulting in high disposal costs.

Therefore, we would like to establish a business model that utilizes agricultural residues as an energy source, and solves both the problem of reducing the fuel costs required to maintain agricultural greenhouses and the problem of disposing of agricultural residues.Specifically, our business plan is to collect agricultural residues from farmers, manufacture "residue pellets" at our own factory, and sell them as fuel for agricultural greenhouses equipped with heating equipment.

There are many different agricultural crops, but this time we are mainly targeting agricultural residues from tomato cultivation. Tomatoes are a common vegetable that is sold in supermarkets all year round, with several farms cultivating them in the Kanto region. When interviewing tomato farmers, we heard that they were struggling with how to dispose of the large amounts of residues such as leaves and stems that were generated, and this led us to focus on tomato residues. In addition, since there are members on the team researching rice, rice straw is easily available, so we are also focusing on agricultural residues from rice cultivation. Therefore, in this project, we plan to proceed with our investigations using both rice straw and tomato residues.

Please tell us about the background of this project and what it aims to achieve.

This project was born in the "Global Excellence Leadership Introduction" class of WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. At the beginning of the class, I didn't have much of an emotional attachment to this theme, but when I actually started working on it, I felt that it was an interesting theme that could make the most of TUAT 's strength of combining "agriculture" and "engineering." I also feel rewarded by being able to tackle the huge challenge of the world's food problem.

The business model draft that was built in the "Introduction to Global Excellence Leadership" class from September 2020 to February 2021 was further refined through the "SVA Innovation Training" class from February to July 2021. SVA Innovation, a US company, is a spin-off from SRI International, which has its origins at Stanford University, and provides instruction in innovation creation and business planning methodologies, mainly in Silicon Valley. Through repeated discussions in English with Senior Assistant Professor from SVA Innovation, the direction of the business plan was revised to make it applicable worldwide.

Starting this year, the WISE Graduate School has started the "Agriculture and Industry Collaborative Creation Project," which provides funding for student ideas, and nine teams are currently active in the program. We were selected as one of these teams, and were able to receive funding. We hope to use the funding to make the agricultural model we came up with in class academically meaningful, and are currently conducting experimental studies within the project to verify the validity of the business model.
The photo shows a pellet combustion experiment conducted at a farm on the Fuchu Campus. We actually produced residue pellets and first collected data on wood pellets for comparison in order to obtain information such as ignition time, burning duration, and amount of ash produced. We plan to conduct combustion experiments using residue pellets in the future and incorporate the results into our business plan.

The goals of the activities are an academic goal of "creating a sustainable food production model that breaks away from petroleum-dependent food production" and an educational program goal of "students acquiring the knowledge they need to develop businesses and implement them in society." The Agriculture and Engineering Collaborative Creation Project is a new project at the Graduate School of Excellence that allows students to obtain funding and create prototypes to give shape to ideas conceived in business plans. By taking the initiative in the process from creating a business plan to creating a prototype, the students hope to become role models for TUAT involved in commercializing and implementing their ideas.

Please tell us about the project members.

There are four members, including myself. All of us are taking WISE Program in Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, one of us is in the field of agriculture and three are in the field of engineering.
Mr. Sengou Koki Department of Biological Production Science at United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, and Mr. Azumadani Takuya, a researcher in Department of Bio-Functions and Systems Science Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, are researching rice and energy, respectively. As their research fields and projects are deeply related, they are able to utilize the expertise they have gained in their research to build farm models and experimental systems. Ms. Zhang Yanyingjiao, Department of Food and Energy Systems Science Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering and Systems Engineering, and I are not as closely related to our research fields and projects as the other two, so we do not have as many opportunities to utilize our own expertise. Therefore, Mr. Zhang is active in the management of the project, such as managing expenses, and I am in charge of coordinating the entire project and negotiating with external parties. We respect the expertise and personalities of each member and allow them to utilize their strengths in our activities.

Please tell us what you learned at the Graduate School of Excellence and what challenges you faced.

What was attractive about the WISE Graduate School was that I could learn the practical skills necessary to write applications and obtain public budgets and expenses. After completing my doctoral course, I would like to become a researcher in a company. Through my activities at the WISE Graduate School, I believe I was able to acquire an important way of thinking that will be useful in developing projects within companies in the future.
I also believe that working on the project has been a useful experience when taking a step into new areas and collaborating with others, as well as when managing a team effectively.

The hardest part is balancing this with my research.
I am working on research related to nanoparticles, which are the key to nanotechnology, at the Department of Department of Food and Energy Systems Science Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering and Systems Engineering. Nanoparticles have excellent material properties due to their small size, but the challenge is that they stick together and become large clumps during the material manufacturing process. Therefore, my research goal is to develop a method to stably maintain nanoparticles at nano size. If this research progresses and nanoparticles can be effectively used as functional materials, it will be possible to manufacture new electrode materials for solar panels with high power generation efficiency, which will greatly contribute to society. Fine particle engineering is a field of chemical engineering, but I originally entered TUAT because I was interested in chemical engineering, which is a field where I can learn chemistry that is close to practical studies, so I find research very rewarding.
However, there just isn't enough time to balance various activities, such as research experiments, classes, project work, etc. However, by continuing to make an effort to create a schedule within the limited time, I feel that I have naturally acquired the ability to make an efficient schedule and have become better at using my time.

Please give a message to prospective prospective students.

I think January and February are the months when people put in the effort to study for exams. When I was prospective students studying for exams, I remember feeling suffocated and stressed during this time.
Of course, it is important to continue studying, but it is also important to take a break.
It's also a good idea to take breaks by listening to your favorite music, eating your favorite sweets, etc., so that you can be in the best physical and mental condition for the exam.
I hope you will take the exams believing in the efforts you have made so far. Good luck to everyone!

(Published on January 14, 2021)