Archives

Basic Genomics Research on the Development of Biofuels to be Accelerated. (http://www.doe.gov/news/3872.htm)

Craig Stevens - DOE - August 2, 2006

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Cellulosic_Biomass_Reactor_to_Ethanol.jpg
Cellulosic pretreat reactor - solution to lower cost of Biomass to Ethanol.

JOLIET, IL – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced today that DOE will spend $250 million to establish and operate two new Bioenergy Research Centers to accelerate basic research on the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. The Secretary made the announcement with Congressman Jerry Weller (IL-11th), local officials and biofuels stakeholders during a visit to Channahon, IL.

“This is an important step toward our goal of replacing 30 percent of transportation fuels with biofuels by 2030,” Secretary Bodman said. “The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) calls for the creation of new programs to improve the technology and reduce the cost of biofuels production. The mission of these centers is to accelerate research that leads to breakthroughs in basic science to make biofuels a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels.”

Four billion gallons of ethanol were produced this year, mainly from corn. EPAct requires that by 2012, at least 7.5 billion gallons per year of renewable fuel be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. To meet these goals, future biofuels production will require the use of more diverse feedstocks including cellulosic material such as agricultural residues, grasses and other inedible plants.

Universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations and private firms are eligible to compete for an award to establish and operate a center. Awards, based on evaluation by scientific peer review, will be announced next summer. The centers are expected to begin work in 2008 and will be fully operational by 2009.

The centers’ mission will be to conduct systems biology research on microbes and plants, with the goal of harnessing nature’s own powerful mechanisms for producing energy from sunlight. A major focus will be on understanding how to reengineer biological processes for more efficient conversion of plant fiber, or cellulose, into ethanol, a substitute for gasoline.

The announcement of the Bioenergy Research Centers initiative culminates a six-year-long effort by the DOE Office of Science to lay the foundation for breakthroughs in systems biology for the cost-effective production of renewable energy. In early July, DOE’s Office of Science issued a joint biofuels research agenda with the Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy titled Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol. The report provides a detailed roadmap for cellulosic ethanol research, identifying key roadblocks and areas where scientific breakthroughs are needed.

The proposal deadline for this funding opportunity is February 1, 2007. DOE’s Office of Science will provide $25 million in the first year for the establishment of each center and up to $25 million per year for the following four years to support the operations of each center - for a total award of up to $125 million per center. Additional details on the funding opportunity and the centers’ objectives are available at: http://www.doegenomestolife.org/centers.

DOE began supporting pioneering research on microbes and microbial communities in 2000, with the objective of tapping microorganisms’ powerful and diverse capabilities to produce renewable energy, clean up the environment and manage atmospheric carbon. This research has been supported by the Genomics: GTL program in the Office of Science. Since initiating the Human Genome Project in 1986, DOE has played a major role in advancing modern biotechnology, and the department’s recent research on microbes for energy production builds on those advances.

Today’s announcement is part of a series of events highlighting the first anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which President Bush signed on August 8, 2005. A kickoff event was held in Washington, D.C., with Secretary Bodman and two Chairmen of Congressional Committees, Senator Pete Domenici and Congressman Joe Barton. Later today, Secretary Bodman will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he will visit the Clipper Wind Manufacturing Facility and discuss the importance of wind and other forms of renewable energy to our nation’s energy security. In addition to the production tax credits for renewable energy, including wind, in the Energy Policy Act, President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative significantly increases the government’s investment in research and development to bring more affordable renewable energy to market. The Advanced Energy Initiative proposes a 13 percent increase in wind research and development in DOE, to a total of $44 million.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and helps ensure U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines. The Office of Science supports a diverse portfolio of research at more than 300 colleges and universities nationwide, manages 10 world-class national laboratories with unmatched capabilities for solving complex interdisciplinary scientific problems, and builds and operates the world’s finest suite of scientific facilities and instruments used annually by more than 19,000 researchers to extend the frontiers of all areas of science.

More info for you!

From SCIENCE NEWS

A new analysis of tow commercial biofuels finds that while both provide more energy than they consume, soybean biodiesel gives more bang for the buck than ethanol made from corn does.
Corn-grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel are the two major alternative transportation fuels in the United States. The biofuels can replace gasoline and diesel, respectively. A team of Minnesota ecologist and economist set out to add u all the energy and environmental costs and benefits of the tow food-based biofuels.
The researchers included the energy required to grow the crops, run farm machinery, manufacture fertilizers and pesticides, transport the crops, and transform the raw material into fuel. They also considered the environmental impact of the added fertilizers and pesticides.
Both biofuels yield energy, but with corn-based ethanol, “it takes so much energy to grow the corn and convert it into a fuel, you don’t gain very much energy in the overall process,” says ecologist David Tilman at he University of Minnesota in St. Paul. While ethanol provides 25 percent more energy than it consumes, the energy gain from soybean biodiesel is 93 percent. Various steps in making ethanol, such as distillation, are energy intensive.
Corn also needs more fertilizer and pesticides than soybeans do per unit of energy gained, biodiesel requires 1 percent of the nitrogen, 8.3 percent of the phosphorous, and 13 percent of the pesticides that corn derived ethanol does. Meanwhile, producing and using ethanol from corn decreases greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent, compared with making and burning gasoline. But soybean biodiesel results in 41 percent less of those emissions than diesel does, the researchers report in an upcoming PRODEEDING OF THE NATINAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.
“The goal wasn’t to pick a winner or loser,” says Tilman. Instead, the team intends the new information to be a guide “to help formulate better biofuels for the future.”
The new analysis points out eat even if all the U.S. corn and soybean crops became biofuels, they would still satisfy only 12 percent of the country’s gasoline demand and 6 percent of its diesel demand. “Using foods for biofuels has been very good way to demonstrate that biofuels are a viable product”, says Tilman, but to meet energy needs in the long term, “we need non-food based crops.”
For example, converting prairie grasses to ethanol could provide a larger energy gain than corn does and would cost less environmentally, he says. The grasses can be grown on abandoned agricultural lands and need little or not fertilizer or pesticides.
Daniel M. Kammen of the University of California, Berkeley, who studies energy resources, says the Minnesota team has done “neat work.” He agrees that ethanol from nonfood sources is more promising. However, he says that “the U.S. is awash in corn and some of the could and should be used” as biofuels

By A. CUNNINGHAM