The Tobacco Biomass Papers

The following PDF files offer you a look at early published tobacco biomass-related research that’s almost impossible to find through conventional online or library searches. The first three focus on the remarkable potential of tobacco as a source of low cost food-grade protein for medicines and human consumption.

The last two are detailed crop management papers by the man who led the NCSU tobacco biomass trials in the last 1970's and early 1980's. They offer critical information for anyone considering biomass tobacco production.

For more information on tobacco biomass production, whether for ethanol, biogas, or protein, including which variety might work best in your area, please contact me directly at bdrake@ktc.com

Here is an article by Dr. Sam Wildman “Tobacco: A Potential Food Crop” from Crops & Soils Magazine/January 1979. This short piece is important because it lays out how to produce maximum biomass by successive cuttings the top 10-15 inches from young plants. Also has a detailed discussion of how to extract tobacco protein, and the properties of this food-grade protein.

This article (coming soon - 8/28/08) is by Dr. Ray Long of NCSU, who was the original researcher into producing tobacco as biomass material for protein extraction. It originally appeared in Crops & Soils Magazine in February 1983.This is a general discussion, with photos, of the viability of tobacco biomass production without special tools or methods.

This is a letter to me, and a research paper by Dr. Shuh J. Sheen with a detailed discussion of the costs, processes and products related to production of protein from tobacco biomass.

This (coming soon - 8/28/08) is part of a research paper presented by Dr. Ray Long of NCSU to the 28th Tobacco Workers Conference in 1980, entitled “Tobacco Production for Protein.” This paper lays out the detailed production plan and results from biomass tobacco production at NCSO in 1979-80. Results cover differences in biomass yields of many different tobacco varieties, along with yields of overall as well as F1 and F2 protein, sugars, starches, cellulose and other economically valuable constituents.

This is another research paper by Dr. Long from the 1981 Tobacco Workers Conference entitled “Coppicing/Ratooning Plant Beds For Biomass and Protein Production”. Here Dr. Long details his experiments with different production methods for tobacco biomass, and provides valuable information for anyone planning biomass production.