8 October 2007

Energy agriculture - farmer investment decisions

If I start a value-added agricultural business, will farmers invest in it?  This is the uncertainty faced by many farmer entrepreneurs attempting to fund a value-added business. A long-time consultant friend of mine told me, “I can find business opportunities for farmers, but I can’t anticipate if they will invest the funds needed to capitalize the business.” (more…)

26 September 2007

One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil - Wired Magazine

Read Wired Magazine’s article on cellulosic and renewable energy.

20 June 2007

For Industry

*I think this is an exciting project, and I would like to learn more. Who can I talk to?*

Contact Charles Hoslet, Managing Director of the UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations, to discuss your interests. Based on your company’s profile, he can connect you with the best resources on the UW-Madison campus.

Charles Hoslet
Managing Director
University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Corporate Relations
www.ocr.wisc.edu
hoslet@ocr.wisc.edu
(608) 263-2840

*What is the collaborators’ network at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Center?*

The GLBRC collaborators’ network will make the center’s sciences available to businesses and organizations involved in biofuels research, development and utilization. Members are chosen for their technical role in a particular biofuels niche. The executive director of the center, Kenneth Keegstra, will be responsible for recruitment of members and communicating between the network and the center’s researchers.

*What is the GLBRC’s scientific advisory board?*

This is a group of distinguished scientists who will provide external guidance on the past and future activities of the GLBRC. These individuals will provide objective strategic and technical oversight to both focus the research agenda and align center’s priorities with those of our stakeholders. Timothy Donohue, scientific director, will recruit and manage this body.

*How will I learn of innovations resulting from the work of the GLBRC?*

Once the center is up and running, the GLBRC plans to bring bioenergy concepts to people of different scientific expertise. Staff will work through an outreach and education office set up in the GLBRC to communicate scientific results and innovations. Results will be communicated in scientific journals and other scientific and popular press outlets. GLBRC staff will also provide programs on bioenergy concepts for K-12 teachers and students, museums and other public venues.

19 June 2007

Areas of Focus

In the United States and around the world, agricultural and forestry activities create considerable excess plant biomass that has little or no economic value and are often discarded as waste. These feedstocks, such as corn stalks, wood chips and other plant materials, contain energy in the form of sugars, which could be used to create new sources of sustainable, renewable energy.

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) will advance these goals through five areas of research:

Improved plant biomass. The inability of many plants to store carbon-rich hydrocarbons, as well as difficulties in breaking down cell walls in plants, present barriers to using biomass for bioenergy production. Increasing hydrocarbons in plants and strategies to more easily degrade cell walls are long-term goals of the GLBRC for improving plant biomass.

Biomass processing. Efficiently converting plant biomass to sugars is a major challenge to the economical production of bioenergy products. To remove this bottleneck, new treatments are needed for processing feedstocks such as corn stover, switchgrass or wood chips. In this area, the long-term goal of the GLBRC will be to develop new physical and biological ways to process plant biomass.

Bioconversion. To improve how we convert biomass into energy products, the GLBRC will explore solutions to easily convert plant-derived chemicals to bioenergy compounds. The long-term goals of the GLBRC are to improve methods for converting biomass into ethanol and to develop ways to convert plant material into hydrogen, electricity or other chemical feedstocks that can replace fossil fuels.

Development of a sustainable bioenergy economy. For a bioenergy economy to positively impact the United States, we must address complex issues in agricultural, industrial, environmental and behavioral systems. Within this area, the GLBRC will take a holistic approach to evaluating the economic and environmental sustainability of transforming biomass to biofuel.

Enabling technologies. This focus crosses all areas of research, creating the tools that make it possible to integrate new technologies into bioenergy research. The center’s success depends on sharing the biological, physical and computational research that enable biomass production, processing, conversion and sustainability.

19 June 2007

Glossary

Biobased economy: “Bioeconomy” and “biobased economy” describe a future in which people rely more on renewable resources to meet society’s needs for energy, chemicals and raw materials. Instead of an economy dependent on the planet’s limited supply of nonrenewable resources such as petroleum and coal, we will convert biomass — plant material and municipal and livestock waste — into electricity, fuels, plastics and the basic components of chemical processes.

Biodiesel: A fuel made from plant oils that can be used in a conventional diesel engine.

Biodiversity: The relative abundance and variety of plant and animal species and ecosystems within particular habitats.

Bioenergy: Renewable energy made from organic matter. The organic matter may be used directly as a fuel or processed into liquids or gases.

Biofuel: Fuel made from renewable resources such as cellulose, corn or plant oils. Ethanol, biodiesel and methanol are all biofuels.

Biomass: Renewable organic matter, including wood and other forest products, plants, agricultural crops, human and animal waste, and aquatic plants.

Bioproducts: Products made from renewable resources or processed from renewable resources.

Biorefinery: A factory where biomass is processed into biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials and other bioproducts. Byproducts are used to power the factory or are turned into other products.

Cellulose: A carbohydrate in plants. Cellulose makes plant stems, stalks and trunks rigid and gives structure to cell walls.

Fuel cell: A device that converts the energy of a fuel directly to electricity and heat, without combustion.

Greenhouse gas: A gas that traps heat from the sun in the Earth’s atmosphere and produces greenhouse effects. Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas. Others include nitrous oxide and methane.

Nanotechnology: Technology that works at the atomic or molecular level.

Petrochemicals: Chemicals made from oil, natural gas or other fossilized hydrocarbons.

19 June 2007

What is Bioenergy?

What are biofuels?

The bioeconomy is about more than biofuels, but the promise and the potential of biofuels for the economy and the environment have captured the attention of politicians, the public and the media like no other bioproduct.

Plant sugars have been fermented into ethanol for hundreds of years. Currently, most ethanol is made from corn grain or sugar cane. Several GLBRC scientists are experts on making ethanol from cellulose, plant stalks, grass, corn cobs and other woody plant parts.

Oils from plants such as canola, sunflowers, corn and soybeans can be converted into biodiesel. Both ethanol and biodiesel are currently available to consumers, but it can be difficult to find a station that has biofuel pumps. Both biodiesel and ethanol are available as blends, which means a percentage of ethanol or biodiesel is blended with petroleum fuel to make the final product. For example, E85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline; B20 is 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel.

The cost of refining ethanol and biodiesel is considered one of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption of the biofuels. Compared with petroleum, biomass raw materials are inexpensive. Many of these raw materials are considered waste — stems and stalks left over after plants are harvested. But the processing costs for turning the biomass into ethanol and biodiesel traditionally have been much higher than the costs for turning crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel. At $20 per barrel, oil is cheaper to refine than biofuels. But when oil costs $40 per barrel, biofuels are very competitive.

Biofuels not only can reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but also produce lower amounts of greenhouse gases when they’re used in vehicles.

What are biochemicals?

Enzymes from plants and microorganisms, as well as bacteria and other microbes, can be used in industrial chemical reactions to make a number of everyday products: glues, cleaners, solvents and plastics. Using biochemicals instead of chemicals derived from petroleum can reduce pollution, increase efficiency, and limit the use of hazardous materials in the manufacture and use of chemicals.

According to research done by the industry, the global market for industrial enzymes is valued at more than $1 billion annually and is growing. Enzymes help bring about and speed up chemical reactions. Enzymes are in laundry detergent to improve stain removal. They convert cellulose to sugar, bleach paper and curdle milk for cheese and yogurt.

What are some examples of bioproducts?

Bioproducts are any products — fuels, chemicals, raw materials — made from renewable resources. Instead of depending on the planet’s limited supply of nonrenewable resources (petroleum and coal), plant material and municipal and livestock waste — biomass — are turned into electricity, fuels, plastics and the basic components of chemical processes.