ga magazine 3.2008 alt-fuels

8/14/2019 GA Magazine 3.2008 Alt-fuels

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31GEORGIA MAGAZINE MARCH 2008

Just a ew months ago, the Universitywas awarded one o the largest grants in

its historynearly $20 million by the U.S.Department o Energy (DOE)to searchor efcient ways to turn the tough, fbrousparts o plants into ethanol, an eort thathas the potential to increase dramaticallythe amount o biouel the nation produces.Das and a team o UGA researchers alsorecently have developed an entirely newbiouel derived rom wood chips.

Theres a widespread perception,including among legislators and the Gov-ernors Ofce o Economic Development,that bioenergy constitutes a great oppor-

tunity or Georgia, says David Lee, vicepresident or research at UGA. We havethe ability to be a leader in this area, and Ithink its entirely consistent with our role asa land grant institution that we do so.

From farm to fuelThe idea o turning plants into uel

isnt new. Henry Ford designed the ModelT to run on either gasoline or ethanoltheintoxicating ingredient in beer, wine and

liquorand Rudol Diesel, the inventor othe engine that bears his name, used peanut

oil to power his engine. Ample supplies ocrude oil, however, put the brakes on theearly use o plant-based uels.

With the basic science o creatingbiouels understood, the task o UGAresearchers is to make the process moreefcient and, ultimately, cost competitivewith petroleum. Waste products rom ag-riculture, the poultry industry, orestry andeven rom restaurants and bakeries have thepotential to uel vehicles, power plants andthe states economy.

Agriculture is the states largest

industry, but this is a very difcult timebecause o higher uel and ertilizer costs,says Scott Angle, dean o the College oAgricultural and Environmental Sciences.I we can somehow take our waste prod-ucts, or maybe even an intentionally growncrop, and turn that into useable energy, thatcould be the dierence between keepingour armers in business versus an uncertainuture.

With that in mind, scientists at the

Titon campus are working to breed variet-ies o peanuts that produce large amounts

o oil. Others are turning sweet potatoesinto uels. Angle explains that sweetpotatoes grow well in Georgia, but ourhard clay soil leaves them misshapen andunappealing to consumers. The ugly sweetpotatoes work beautiully as a source oethanol, so scientists are exploring how togrow them efciently or uel production.

What were learning now is how togrow them to cram as much energy peracre as possible, Angle says.

Revolutionizing ethanol

Most o the ethanol Americans use to-day is derived rom corn kernels, which hasdriven the price o livestock eed up and cutinto the bottom line o the poultry industry.Prices o grains such as soy and wheat arerising, too, as armers devote more acres tocorn and ewer to other crops.

Turning corn kernels into ethanol isa relatively simple process (moonshinershave been doing it or ages), but the tough,fbrous parts o plants are much more di-

by Sam Fahmy(BS 97)

FUELFUEL


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32 MARCH 2008 GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Using wood to help meet our

energy needs is something thats re-

newable and sustainable. We plant six

trees for every tree that we harvest.

Dale Greene, professor, Warnell

School of Forestry and Natural Resources

The exciting thing for me is

having all these teams of people from

around campus coming together to

address one problem and do it so well

and so interactively.

Alan Darvill, co-founder and director

of the Complex Carbohydrate Research

Center

Scraps o wood let behind ater trees are

harvested are a vast source o raw materia

that can be used to create biouels, says

orestry proessor Dale Greene.

fcult to break down.

Thats where Alan Darvill, whohas spent the past 20 years studying theintricate structure o plant cell walls, comesin. Darvill, co-ounder and director othe Universitys Complex CarbohydrateResearch Center, is leading a team o UGAscientists who are collaborating with OakRidge National Laboratory in Tennesseeand several other institutions to fndefcient ways to break down plants to

make whats called cellulosic ethanol.Rather than using corn kernels or

other edible plants, the scientists hope toturn agricultural waste such as husks andstems into ethanol. Switchgrass, whichdoesnt require much water or ertilizer togrow, is another candidate, as are ast-growing poplar trees.

Their task isnt easy: Plants haveevolved their tough cell walls to resistdisease, insects and climate extremes. Theresearch team at UGA is made up o 10labs, each applying the insights theyvegained rom years o basic research into

how plants are put together and brokendown at the cellular level.

The exciting thing or me is havingall these teams o people rom aroundcampus coming together to address oneproblem and to do it so well and so inter-actively, Darvill says. Its un.

The grant is unded by the DOE ornearly $20 million over fve years. At theend o those fve years, Darvill expects tohave inormation that sets the stage orcommercial applications that increase thenations production o ethanol.

Beyond ethanolEthanol isnt the only biouel UGA

researchers are working with. Theyre cre-ating biodiesel rom oils ound in chickenat, seeds and even algae.

Theyre also pioneering a conceptknown as a biorefnery. Das explains thatjust as an oil refnery takes a raw productlike crude oil and converts it into gaso-line, plastics, asphalt and 50 or so otherproducts, a biorefnery takes wood chips,restaurant grease and other wastes andconverts them into biodiesel and non-uel

products. One o the products is char,which can be used as soil ertilizer. Puttingcarbon back into the soil as char osetssome o the carbon dioxide pumped intothe atmosphere by the ossil uels.

You have a valuable product and atthe same time you are getting a net reduc-tion o carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,Das says.

The biorefnery concept is so excitingthat Ryan Adolphson, who directs UGAs

biomass processing acilities, last yearound himsel describing the process ata roundtable with President George W.Bush.

Im not so sure i theyd believe mein the coee shop in Craword [Texas] i Itold them what he just told me, the president said, drawing laughter rom thosegathered. But its possible.

EconomicsO course, a biouel may be tech-

nologically possible to produce, but not

PAUL EFLAND

Alan Darvill and his team study plant cells

on a molecular level. The knowledge they

gain will help them develop technologies

that break down plants to create biouels

more efciently.

ANDREW DAVIS TUC


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33GEORGIA MAGAZINE MARCH 2008

I have two small children, and

most of us in the group have a family

of some sort. That really motivates

me and gives me a vested interest in

making this happen now.

Joy Doran Peterson, professor,

microbiology and head of the UGA

biofuels task force

Microbiology proessor Joy Doran Peterson

says that natural processes that insects

use to break down leaves may oer clues

about how humans can break down plants

and create tomorrows biouels.

economically easible. John McKissick, thedirector o the UGA Center or Agribusi-ness and Economic Development, is anexpert in putting a dollar value on the costsand benefts o biouel production.

Weve shown in our research earlyon that the eedstocks that make the mostsense were not the things that we growexclusively or biouels production, butrom byproducts rom other operations likeat rom the poultry industry and letoverscraps o timber ater harvesting, he says.

Dale Greene, proessor in the WarnellSchool o Forestry and Natural Resources,

says the most valuable uses o harvestedwood are traditional products such aslumber and paper, but the small trees andwastes that are let behind are a promisingsource o energy. Greene has ound thathaving a wood chipper on site to processtree limbs, tree tops and other wastes cangenerate more than 10 tons o uel per acrethat can be cleanly burned in electricalpower plants or refned to produce biouels.

Using wood to help meet our energy

needs is something thats renewable andsustainable, particularly the way orestryis practiced in the United States, Greenesays. We plant six trees or every tree thatwe harvest.

Coordinated effortUGA has more than 80 scientists,

engineers and economists who are workingon basic and applied biouels research, andthey aim to share their knowledge witheach other and with the government andprivate sector like never beore.

Joy Doran Peterson is a microbiology

proessor who is leading the Universitysnew biouels task orce. Her researchocuses on understanding natural processesthat break down plantslike the processcertain insects use to digest leavesandapplying that knowledge to biouel produc-tion. As head o the task orce, she aims toincrease collaboration among the research-ers on campus and to make it easier or thegovernment and private sector to connectwith the Universitys experts. The goal othat kind o partnership, she says, is to seethe Universitys expertise applied to thereal world as quickly as possible.

I have two small children, and mosto us in the group have a amily o somesort, Peterson says. That really motivatesme and gives me a vested interest in mak-ing this happen now.

Signs o the Universitys involvementin the biouels revolution are already evi-dent in small towns such as Gordon, whereMacon-based Alterra Bioenergy operates

a biodiesel plant that opened last year.

The company recently broke ground ona second plant in Plains, and together thetwo plants will ultimately produce up to150 million gallons per year.

UGA scientists have shared theirexpertise with Alterra in what companyCEO Wayne Johnson calls a win-winor the entire state. The plant primarilyuses Georgia-grown soybeans as a sourceo biomass, and Georgians manuactureand distribute the uel. Because biodieselburns cleaner than petroleum diesel, italso benefts the environment.

Without the research and leadership

at the University, what we did would nothave been possible, Johnson says.

Sam Fahmy is the science writer for the

UGA News Service.

GET MORE

Bioenergy research at UGA:www.uga.edu/bioenergy

Ryan Adolphson, who directs UGAs biomass

processing acilities, shows a handul o

wood chips thatthanks to research at UGA

can be turned into an entirely new type o

biouel.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

TERRY ALLEN

ga magazine 3.2008 alt-fuels

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