Entomology, Soils, & Plant Sciences professor helps lead effort to reduce state dependence on oil
Monday, November 24, 2008CLEMSON - To reduce the Southeast's dependence on oil, Clemson
University will lead a $1.2 million bioethanol research project to find
the best way to produce plant-based fuels in the region.
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the grant to Clemson, which will
collaborate with DOE's Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken. The
purpose of the grant is to assess the potential of switchgrass and sweet
sorghum as 'feedstocks' - plants used as fuel - that can be processed
into ethanol. The grant also will fund development of a small-scale
biofuel processing plant at Clemson University's Restoration Institute
in North Charleston.
The pilot plant is designed to 'scale up' new biofuel technologies, a
crucial step between small laboratory experiments and full-scale
production. The facility could assist energy producers interested in
energy-crop bases in the Southeast to build regional ethanol-production
facilities.
Regionally, research at the pilot plant could be an economic-development
asset. South Carolinians use more than 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline
every year, all of which comes from out of state. Producing enough
plant-based ethanol to replace 20 percent of South Carolina's fuel use
could create thousands of jobs and add $2 billion to the state economy,
according to the report 'Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic
Ethanol' produced by the U.S. Department of Energy in June 2006.
Environmentally, DOE scientists estimate that current biofuels already
have prevented 13 million tons of greenhouse gases from being released
into the atmosphere.
The next varieties of plant-based biofuels from non-food sources, like
the ones that are the focus of South Carolina's research initiative,
have potential for significant environmental and economic benefits.
Ethanol made from cellulosic feedstocks, such as switchgrass, or
agricultural residues such as corn stover, has the potential to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 86 percent compared to gasoline.
Biofuels have the added benefit of providing a 'carbon sink.' As crops
grow to produce the feedstocks for making the biofuel, they absorb
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to the DOE Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy Web site
.
Switchgrass could become a significant source for ethanol fuel produced
in South Carolina, producing as much as 800 to 1,000 gallons of ethanol
per acre. Even more striking, the energy-return ratio could be as high
as 10 for switchgrass, compared with 0.81 for gasoline.
The South Carolina Bioenergy Research Collaborative has been formed to
demonstrate the economic feasibility of using plants, such as
switchgrass, trees and sorghum, to make ethanol. The collaborative
includes scientists at Clemson, the Savannah River National Laboratory,
South Carolina State University and industry incubator SC Bio, as well
as industrial partners who are committed to building a biofuels-research
pilot plant in the state.
A group of Clemson and USDA-Agriculture Research Service scientists, led
by agronomist Jim Frederick, is investigating switchgrass production
systems at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence,
including soil and crop management, new variety development and
measuring environmental impacts.
For more information, contact Frederick, 843-662-3526,
jfrdrck@clemson.edu or see
http://agroecology.clemson.edu/switchgrass/sg.htm.
CONTACT: Karl B. Kelly, 864-993-1981
WRITER: Peter Kent, 864-656-4355
karl@clemson.edu
pkent@clemson.edu
