U.S., Australian Universities Collaborate on Biofuels R&D

Switchgrass (Agricultural Research Service/USDA)

Clemson University in South Carolina and University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia have agreed to exchange research and create a joint biofuels development program. The institutions will raise public and private funds to advance biofuel research, and further development and commercialization of ethanol and biodiesel production.

Cellulosic biofuel technology uses the plant’s cell walls to develop biofuels, such as ethanol, and biodiesel. It takes advantage of the untapped energy in the largely non-edible parts of plants like sugarcane or sorghum to produce fuel.

The joint research includes:

– Switchgrass and sweet sorghum to ethanol. Clemson University will provide access to information it has developed for conversion of sugar cane bagasse (the fibrous byproduct of sugar extraction) to ethanol.

Clemson, with the Savannah River National Lab — part of the U.S. Department of Energy — has completed processes in the lab to convert switchgrass and sweet sorghum to ethanol, with research continuing in coastal loblolly pine.

– Ethanol pilot-scale demonstration funding. Clemson and Queensland will develop and pilot a sugar cane-to-ethanol process in Queensland using residual sugar cane bagasse.

– Cellulosic monomer conversion to biodiesel technology. The universities will develop algal and cellulosic technologies for the production of biodiesel.

These algal and cellulosic technologies are in early developmental phases, but they have the potential to convert cellulose from multiple feedstock sources to a ready biodiesel for military, mining, industrial, and personal transportation applications.

The universities will also pursue private and federal funding sources in the U.S. and Australia to develop pilot processing plants, and for design, construction, technology transfer, and operation of a cellulosic biofuels program. The cellulosic biofuel technologies under development in labs require industry partners in ethanol and biodiesel markets.

Read more: Biofuel Developer to Build Commercial-Scale Ethanol Plant

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