Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Jerry W. Jackson

The research plant will help university scientists to figure out how to more efficiently make ethanol as an automotive fuel from cellulose, the woody residue from crop waste, wood and plants.

Technology at the pilot plant is the work of UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences microbiologist Lonnie Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels. Ingram has developed genetically engineered bacteria that can break down the inedible portions of plant material.

Most commercial ethanol today is produced from the sugar and starches in the edible portions of plants, such as field corn. Once "cellulosic" ethanol becomes commercially viable, it will reduce the need to use food crops for fuel, eliminating one of the complaints that critics have against ethanol.

UF President Bernie Machen was at the plant`s dedication ceremony on Friday and said that cellulosic ethanol "is just one of many likely new energy sources," but noted that "it could be a big one." Florida is a year-round growing state, he said, which means crops and forests make a lot of unused cellulose that could be converted to fuel for vehicles.

Ethanol can already be made from cellulose but it is not as simple as the traditional method, which is essentially large-scale "moonshine" production. Once ethanol from cellulose is economically competitive with the fuel made from corn it will make the supply of woody "fuel" for ethanol production vastly greater, driving down prices and making "farm" production of the fuel more widespread.

Ethanol does not have quite as much energy as regular gasoline on a per-gallon basis, so vehicle mileages is reduced, ethanol burns cleaner and is domestically produced, reducing the need for imports from places like Saudi Arabia and generating more profit for U.S. farmers and less for Big Oil.


© 2008 Orlando Sentinel