UGA's Newest Eminent Scholar to Expand Bioenergy Research Efforts

Harry Gilbert, who has worked extensively on carbohydrate enzymes, focusing primarily on how these biocatalysts contribute to plant cell wall degradation, has joined the University of Georgia's Complex Carbohydrate Research Center as the latest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Gilbert, who comes to UGA from the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences at Newcastle University, joins faculty in the CCRC who seek to unravel the secrets of cellulosic biomass, a basic component of green plants and a key to the mass production of biofuels. The group's primary goal is to make lignocellulosic-based ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline, thereby reducing the nation's gasoline consumption by some 20 percent in the decade ahead.

"The search committee chaired by Professor Michael Adams, of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, set a very high bar of recruiting the world's best scientist working in this area," said UGA Vice President for Research David Lee. "We are all delighted that they hit the mark. Professor Gilbert is a world-class scholar with diverse interests and a highly creative mind. He will add considerably to our bioenergy initiative."

A native of England, Gilbert earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a B.S. in physiology and biochemistry at the University of Southhampton. He worked in a research institute as a biochemist and a microbiologist before entering academia at Newcastle University in 1985. Since then he has conducted research and taught courses in genetics, biotechnology, transgenic animal technology, enzymology, carbohydrate biochemistry and biomedical sciences.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to work with this group of knowledgeable scientists," said Gilbert. "My research looks specifically at the degradation of cell walls, and I look forward to developing synergistic interactions with colleagues who are working on other aspects of carbohydrate research."

Gilbert has published a number of peer-reviewed research articles on the enzymology of plant cell wall degradation, and has held several patents on the use of xylanases in the paper industry. Xylanases are a class of enzymes that aid the breakdown of hemicellulose, a major component of the cell wall of plants.

"We are so pleased that UGA has hired Professor Gilbert as a GRA Eminent Scholar in Bioenergy," said Alan Darvill, Regents Professor and director of UGA's Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. "He brings to Georgia a wealth of knowledge and expertise in understanding the deconstruction of biomass by microbial enzymes that could result in novel methods to produce biofuels."

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DOE Announces Additional Steps in Developing Sustainable Biofuels Industry

Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman and Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer today (October 7, 2008) released the National Biofuels Action Plan (NBAP). The Plan, developed by an interagency board co-chaired by DOE and USDA, outlines specific action areas and goals toward achieving renewable fuels production targets. Secretary Bodman also announced additional steps the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is taking to support the development of a sustainable biofuels industry: research to enable increased use of biofuels, deployment of cellulosic biorefineries, and biofuels research and development.

“The challenge is to find ways to go farther and to go faster – we must progress to the next level,” said Secretary Bodman. “That means we must accelerate the development and deployment of next generation biofuels, fuels made from cellulose, algae and from other non-food products as well as fuels compatible with our existing energy infrastructure including renewable diesel, green gasoline and bio-butanol.”

Increasing the Use of Biofuels
U.S. consumers already use E10, gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol, in conventional vehicles and other engines. In order to meet the goals set forth in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, however, the U.S. will likely need to use higher blends of ethanol in conventional vehicles. To assess the potential impacts of higher blends of ethanol such as E15 and E20, gasoline blended with 15 and 20 percent ethanol, on conventional vehicles and other gasoline engines, DOE initiated a testing program in August 2007.

A preliminary report released today by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, provides results available to date from testing E15 and E20 on 13 vehicles and 28 small non-road engines, including lawn equipment and generators. The information reported today, along with data that will be collected over the course of this broad test program, will help determine whether higher blends of ethanol can be effectively used in conventional vehicles. The report showed that most of the regulated emissions with E15 and E20 were within the normal test variation, and no statistically-significant change was detected. While the data collected to date is encouraging, particularly with regard to regulated emissions, additional studies are needed on a wider range of vehicles and engines

Supporting Deployment of New Technologies
The deployment of cellulosic biorefineries is a critical pathway to meeting renewable fuels production mandates. Today, DOE announced additional funding with POET, LLC of Sioux Falls, S.D. This commercial-scale cellulosic biorefinery project was originally announced by Secretary Bodman in February 2007; today an additional phase of funding was announced. POET received $3.7 million in the first phase of funding under a cooperative agreement that covers initial design, permitting, and preparation of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation. Today in the second phase the Secretary announced POET would be awarded an additional award for up to $76.3 million in federal funding, subject to annual appropriations. Today’s funding supports final design, construction, and commissioning of the project to develop an economically viable cellulose-to-ethanol biorefinery that employs alternative energy technologies will be co-located at POET’s Emmetsburg, Iowa ethanol plant and will use corn cob, and potentially corn fiber, to increase plant production of ethanol by up to 25 million gallons per year. Subject to annual appropriations, DOE’s total investment in the POET project is up to $80 million, with an expected total project cost of nearly $200 million.

Pyrolysis Oils Projects
While supporting deployment and increased biofuels usage, DOE continues to focus on research and development of advanced biofuels technologies. Today, DOE announced the selection of five advanced biofuels projects up to $7 million, subject to annual appropriations. The five projects selected will develop cost-effective, environmentally friendly ways to convert non-food feedstocks into stabilized pyrolysis oils. These biologically-derived oils are generated through the rapid heating of biomass, for the ultimate production of transport fuel. Pyrolysis oils offer the potential of a greenhouse-gas neutral, renewable, and domestically produced alternative to petroleum-based fuels.

Five advanced biofuels projects received negotiation of awards:

UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.) With partners: Ensyn Corp, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colo.), DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Wash.) and USDA-Agricultural Research Service.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Blacksburg, Va. and New Brunswick, N.J.) With partner: Rutgers University.
Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa and Houston, Texas) With partner: ConocoPhillips.
RTI International (Research Triangle Park, N.C. and Decatur, Ill.)With partner: Archer Daniel Midland Co.
University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Amherst, Mass.) With partner: Renewable Oil International.

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UGA Gets $2.5 Million in Grants to Study Plants to Make Biofuels

University of Georgia researchers were recently awarded two grants totaling $2.5 million to help find better ways to produce biofuels from switchgrass and sunflowers.

UGA was one of eight universities to receive grants from a program jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program aims to accelerate research in biomass genomics and further the use of cellulosic plant material for bioenergy and biofuels.

“Developing cost-effective means of producing cellulosic biofuels on a national scale poses major scientific challenges,” said Raymond Orbach, a DOE undersecretary. “These grants will help in developing the type of transformational breakthroughs needed in basic science to make this happen.

“The USDA is committed to fostering a sustainable domestic biofuels industry at home in rural America,” said Gale Buchanan, a USDA undersecretary. “These grants will broaden the sources of energy from many crops as well as improve the efficiency and options among renewable fuels.”

The UGA grants were awarded to scientists in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Steven Knapp, CAES professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Jeff Dean and Joe Nairn, UGA researchers, Mark Davis, DOE researcher, and Laura Marek, USDA researcher, received $1.2 million to study the genomics of sunflower.

“Certain wild species of sunflower produce woody stems and high biomass yields, often reaching heights of 18 to 21 feet,” Knapp said. “Our grant focuses on understanding genetic mechanisms underlying wood production and biomass accumulation in sunflower.”

In addition, Knapp is working with Mark Davis at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado to study the biofuel properties of sunflower.

“They will be providing us with state-of-the-art chemical measurements which are needed to identify genetic factors affecting wood formation and cellulosic biomass accumulation,” Knapp said.

Jeffrey Bennetzen, the Norman and Doris Giles/Georgia Research Alliance professor of molecular genetics in Franklin College, received the second grant for $1.295 million. It will fund a cooperative project with Katrien Devos, a CAES professor of crop and soil science and plant biology. They hope to develop genetic and genomic tools to study foxtail millet, a close relative of switchgrass.

Switchgrass is an excellent source of biomass for producing ethanol. Unlike corn, which is used now to make most U.S. ethanol, switchgrass is a perennial that grows on poor soil with little water, fertilizer or pesticides.

“Ethanol from switchgrass is a very different story from ethanol from maize grain,” Bennetzen said. “Ethanol from maize grain requires large inputs and produces no net carbon capture to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Switchgrass captures carbon dioxide very effectively and will not lead to increased food costs because it does not take acreage away from food production.”

But switchgrass has limitations, he said. Researchers need to find more efficient ways to convert lignocellulose—the material that makes up wood, leaves, stems—into ethanol.

Learning more about foxtail millet, he said, will help. It’s easier to study than switchgrass.

“Once the foxtail millet genome is sequenced, we will be able to quickly find the genes involved in making lignocellulose in foxtail millet, and this will make them easy to find in switchgrass as well,” Bennetzen said.“We can then study these genes and find ways to improve this performance so that switchgrass is easier to convert to ethanol.”

Improving this process is part of another project at UGA called the BioEnergy Science Center.

“For the average Georgian, the outcome of the research in this project will be less expensive liquid fuels, less dependence on foreign oil, lower food costs and less release of carbon dioxide into the environment,” Bennetzen said. “We won’t see these outcomes in the next year or two, but there is every reason to believe that they will come into effect over the next five to 10 years.”

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Forest Biotechnology Expert Comes to UGA, Tsai Working to Expand Tree Biofuel Technology

The University of Georgia’s bioenergy initiative has received a boost with the successful recruitment of forestry scientist Chung-Jui Tsai, who joins the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources as the latest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Tsai now holds the Winfred N. “Hank” Haynes Professorship in forest biotechnology. Her research will emphasize creating high-energy yielding trees for use in biofuel, she said, hopefully leading the industry toward using trees as a power source instead of ethanol from food crops.

“Biofuel will be a wonderful opportunity to revitalize the forest industry,” Tsai said, explaining that grain ethanol has had a detrimental impact on other consumer goods. “Food prices have gone crazy because of the grain ethanol—food prices and animal feed.”

A native of Taiwan, Tsai has a Ph.D. in forest science from Michigan Technological University, where she also taught for 11 years in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences. She was the director of the interdisciplinary Biotechnology Research Center at MTU from 2002 to 2007.

Tsai has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and holds five patents that involve methods for modifying lignin, the key component that acts as glue in trees but also hinders efforts to extract the much-desired cellulose, which is vital to biofuel production.

Jeff Dean, a Warnell professor of forest biotechnology, noted that Tsai has established a respected program for the study of metabolic pathways leading to lignin and other phenolic compounds in woody plants.

“These molecules greatly impact our ability to efficiently utilize plant materials for the production of biomaterials and bioenergy,” Dean said. “Dr. Tsai’s expertise in this area is highly complementary to existing research programs in several departments and schools across the campus, and her addition to the faculty should serve to catalyze significant innovation as Georgia strives to become a leader in the field of biomass utilization.”

David Lee, vice president for research at UGA, and Michael Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance, believe that Tsai will strengthen Georgia’s emerging biofuels economy.

“Dr. Tsai’s recruitment strengthens an important dimension of our bioenergy initiative,” Lee said. “UGA is well positioned to discover sustainable and efficient approaches to biofuels production, and C.J. will be an important part of our team. Also, she has a history of making the latest biotechnology advances available to colleagues. We expect she will play a similar role at UGA.”

“Dr. Tsai’s expertise in developing trees as the feedstock for biofuels has enormous potential for making Georgia a leader in this critical area,” Cassidy said. “Her insight as a scientist and her commitment to advancing the state’s vital forestry industry exemplify what we seek in a GRA Eminent Scholar.”

Tsai’s research will not stop at biofuel. She said her interests expand into other tree studies, such as how they defend themselves by using chemical compounds to ward off bugs and grazing animals. Determining how that works, she said, could lead to the creation of “smarter trees, which have great ecological implications because they interact with so many organisms.”

As part of its mission to leverage university research for economic development purposes, GRA provides the universities with funds to help recruit scientists, known as Eminent Scholars, whose research can yield economic benefit to the state. Tsai is UGA’s 16th Eminent Scholar.

Sandi Martin

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Southern Forest Industry Braces for Bioenergy

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emerging biomass markets will significantly strengthen demand for wood fiber in the South, driving prices higher for forest products as the United States turns to alternative fuels for energy, according to a study released Monday by Forest2Market.

The new demand will be fueled by wood-burning power companies that produce and sell electricity to public utilities, as well as an increasing amount of wood pellets that are exported to European energy markets. The development of new facilities that turn biomass into cellulosic ethanol for transportation fuel will also impact the forest products industry.

As a result, demand for wood fiber from these emerging markets is expected to climb from 2 million tons in 2008 to at least 13.5 million tons in 2020, according to Forest2Market, a provider of pricing information and analysis for forest products. However, the estimate is conservative, and it could be adjusted higher as more companies announce plans to build biomass facilities.

The new study, “Quantifying Forest Biomass Resources in the U.S. South,” is the first to analyze the impact of bioenergy markets on the forest products industry. The report quantifies the industry’s changing landscape, looking specifically at the effects of forest biomass on wood fiber supplies, demand and prices.

“The pace of the development of bioenergy markets and the resource requirements to feed them will disrupt the entire southern wood fiber market,” said Pete Stewart, president and founder of Forest2Market. “It will be much steeper and more disruptive than that of the OSB market over the last 15 years. We recommend that forest products companies begin planning for the future by establishing stronger relationships with their suppliers and creating more efficient transportation lines.”

Faced with rising oil prices, an international push for clean energy projects and a continued focus on reducing carbon emissions, federal and state governments have spent millions on biomass research and development. As a result, new energy markets are emerging that rely on southern forests for resources.

The primary supply for the growing demand is pulpwood and wood chips, and prices for pulpwood and chips are expected to rise. Secondary sources include construction and demolition debris, as well as leftover woody biomass from harvesting operations, such as tree limbs.

“We were beginning to see the effects of new energy markets in the delivered prices for pulpwood, chips and wood fuel in some areas in the South,” Stewart said. “We thought it was time to take a closer look, using the breadth and depth of our data, to determine what the competitive landscape for wood fiber might look like in 10 or 15 years.”

The study is based on Forest2Market’s unique database of transaction-level information gathered from millions of shipments to mills throughout the South. The study will help lay the groundwork for strategic decision making that traditional forest products and new bioenergy companies will need to survive in the future.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., Forest2Market has developed sophisticated analytical tools to accurately forecast timber prices in the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest. The company’s delivered price benchmark product is used by industry professionals to set timber prices for contracts, supply agreements and bids. The price information is more accurate because it is based on transaction-level data – not surveys. For more information, visit www.forest2market.com.

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New UGA Biomass Technology Dramatically Increases Ethanol Yield from Grasses and Yard Waste

University of Georgia researchers have developed a new technology that promises to dramatically increase the yield of ethanol from readily available non-food crops, such as Bermudagrass, switchgrass, Napiergrass—and even yard waste.

“Producing ethanol from renewable biomass sources such as grasses is desirable because they are potentially available in large quantities,” said Joy Peterson, professor of microbiology and chair of UGA’s Bioenergy Task Force. “Optimizing the breakdown of the plant fibers is critical to production of liquid transportation fuel via fermentation.” Peterson developed the new technology with former UGA microbiology student Sarah Kate Brandon, and Mark Eiteman, professor of biological and agricultural engineering.

The new technology features a fast, mild, acid-free pretreatment process that increases by at least 10 times the amount of simple sugars released from inexpensive biomass for conversion to ethanol. The technology effectively eliminates the use of expensive and environmentally unsafe chemicals currently used to pretreat biomass.

The technology is available for licensing from the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., which has filed a patent application.

Inexpensive waste products—including corn stover or bagasse, the waste from corn and sugar cane harvests, fast-growing weeds—and non-food crops grown for biofuel, such as switchgrass, Napiergrass and Bermudagrass, are widely viewed as the best sustainable resources for ethanol made from biofuels.

“Using non-food crops that can be grown on marginal lands, like grasses, and fibrous waste streams like corn stover, is important because of the ongoing food-versus-fuel debate,” said Peterson. “When agricultural crops, such as corn or potatoes, are grown for biofuels production, the cost of the starting material may fluctuate greatly because of competing demands for food and feed. The trade-off with using a biomass like grasses is that grasses are harder to break apart than corn or potatoes, and the cost of making the same fuel, like ethanol, rises.”

Developing an efficient, cost-effective process to convert the fibrous stalks, leaves, and blades of plant wastes into simple sugars is the biggest challenge to bio-based ethanol production. Thick, complex plant cell walls are highly resistant to efforts to break them down.

Currently, woody biomass requires soaking under high pressure and temperatures in expensive, environmentally aggressive bases or acids before it is subjected to enzymes that digest it, producing simple sugars. The harsh pretreatment solutions subsequently must be removed and disposed of safely. They also cause formation of side products that can slow down the conversion of the sugars into ethanol.

In contrast, the environmentally friendly UGA technology eliminates the expense of harsh pretreatment chemicals and their disposal, and the formation of side products is minimal.

“The new technology has commercial application for the biomass industry, including producers of sugar cane, corn, switchgrass, Napiergrass and other woody biomass crops,” said Gennaro Gama, UGARF technology manager responsible for licensing this technology. “It may also help renewable energy and biofermentation companies—and local governments.

“By allowing for the use of myriad raw materials, this technology allows more options for ethanol facilities trying to meet nearby demand by using locally available, inexpensive starting materials,” he added. “This would greatly reduce the costs and carbon footprint associated with the delivery of raw materials to fermentation facilities and the subsequent delivery of ethanol to points of sale. Local production of ethanol may also protect specific areas against speculative fluctuations in fuel prices.

“It’s easy to imagine that this easy-to-use, inexpensive technology could be used by local governments, alone or in partnership with entrepreneurs, to meet local demand for ethanol, possibly using yard waste as a substrate,” he said.

UGA Takes Biofuels Exhibit to Washington

The University of Georgia gave policymakers in Washington an up-close look at the future of biofuels by demonstrating how raw materials as diverse as algae, chicken fat and wood chips can be turned into fuel.

UGA is among 13 institutions nationwide to win “The Grand Challenge,” a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the 25x’25 Alliance, a coalition of leaders from the agricultural, forestry and renewable energy communities. The challenge recognizes universities that have taken leadership roles in renewable energy research, teaching and outreach.

As winners, UGA scientists were among the 80 exhibitors at the USDA’s Bioenergy Awareness Days June 19-22 in Washington. They demonstrated ways to harness the state’s rich natural resources to create sustainable fuels that benefit the economy as well as the environment.

“The Grand Challenge helps focus the nation on the future of renewable energy,” said Craig Kvien, professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and one of several authors of UGA’s winning entry. “Collectively, there are going to be some good ideas presented that can be used to help develop bioenergy policy and to improve research and outreach programs at our institutions. The fact that UGA was recognized says a lot about all of the people across campus working on renewable energy research and outreach.”

The UGA exhibits demonstrated how:

* Algae can be grown in wastewater and then harvested and processed to create a biofuel.

* Waste chicken fat from poultry processing can be refined to oil that can be used in industrial boilers or further refined to biodiesel.

* Wood chips and pellets made from timber scraps can be processed into a biofuel.

* An autonomous, ethanol-powered tractor can save farmers time and fuel by working around the clock with minimal supervision.

K.C. Das, associate professor of engineering and director of UGA’s biorefining and carbon cycling program, pointed out that Georgia currently imports all of its petroleum-based fuel but is rich in plant materials and animal waste – collectively known as biomass. It can be converted into biofuels.

In addition to algae, chicken fat and wood chips, UGA engineers are creating biofuels from industrial and municipal wastes, restaurant grease and agricultural products that can’t be sold to supermarkets, such as bruised watermelons and peaches or even outdated cola and juice.

UGA scientists are also searching for ways to break down efficiently the tough, fibrous parts of plants so that agricultural wastes such as husks and stems, rather than corn kernels and other edible plants, can be used to create ethanol.

Other candidates for ethanol production include fast-growing poplar trees, napier grass and switchgrass, all of which don’t require much water or fertilizer to grow.

UGA has more than 80 scientists, engineers and economists working on basic and applied biofuels research. They’re collaborating through the university’s Biofuels, Biopower and Biomaterials Initiative, also known as B3I.

“The B3I allows us to synergize the resources at the university for a common goal,” said Joy Doran Peterson, professor of microbiology and B3I director. “And the recent surge in gas prices and ongoing concerns about global warming really underscore the urgency of our work.”

The UGA researchers said they’re pursing a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach because there’s no single approach – no silver bullet – that will solve the nation’s energy needs.

“The strength of UGA’s approach is that we’re exploring several solutions so that communities can derive energy from the raw materials that are best suited to their circumstances,” Das said. “Just imagine the benefits of diversifying our energy sources.”

By Sam Fahmy
University of Georgia

Sam Fahmy is a science writer with the University of Georgia.