 ‘Grassoline’ Research of UMass Amherst’s Huber on Scientific American Cover; Congressional Briefing Set For Thursday
June 16, 2009
.jpg) AMHERST, Mass. – The cover story of the July issue of Scientific American on newsstands this week features an article by chemical engineer George Huber of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a co-author who predict that if the United States maintains its commitment to biofuels over the next 15 years, the number of vehicles powered by “grassoline”― gasoline and diesel fuel made from plants―could “fundamentally change the world.”
“Biofuels can be made from anything that is, or ever was, a plant,” Huber and his co-author Bruce Dale of Michigan State University write. Yet recent experience has shown that first-generation biofuels such as ethanol can only meet about 10 percent of demand. The authors, experts in second-generation technologies for using cellulosic material, predict these newer methods should produce commercial amounts of biofuel within the next 10 years. Best of all, they can be used undiluted, directly in a vehicle’s gas tank, “at a price that can compete with gasoline.”
In recognition of his position at the forefront of the development of green biofuels, this week Huber is briefing congressional staffers in Washington, D.C. in an event sponsored by a major funder of green gasoline, the National Science Foundation, along with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Discovery magazine. Huber’s lunchtime talk on Thursday, June 18, is the first in a series of monthly events to be held at Capitol Hill on “The Road to the New Energy Economy.”
Huber’s opening 20-minute presentation will be followed by a 20-minute policy discussion and 20 minutes of Q&A from congressional staffers and the audience. The presentations will be recorded and featured later on www.discovermagazine.com
In their article, Huber and Dale cite dozens of cheap sources or “feedstocks” now available such as sawdust, construction debris, cornstalks and wheat straw which can yield huge amounts of sustainably harvested biofuel per year. Feedstocks can also be grown in short rotation on marginal land expressly as biomass without peril to the food supply, they point out. With the U.S. Department of Energy, the researchers estimate that new techniques should yield 100 billion gallons of biofuels, or about half our current annual consumption.
Dale and Huber describe technologies currently showing practical results in the quest to break up one of Nature’s most resilient materials, cellulose, and use its energy, but these also include refining animal fats from slaughter houses. Dale has gotten satisfying results from treating biomass with ammonia to release cellulosic biofuels, while Huber’s quick, efficient method relies on heating and use of a low-cost catalyst.
In fact, a start-up company started by Huber that uses his catalytic fast pyrolysis technique, Anellotech, has already licensed the method from UMass Amherst and within the next year will be in discussions to build a pilot demonstration plant in the Orchard Hill area of nearby Springfield. Anellotech is currently negotiating with biomass suppliers for one ton per day of feedstock for the pilot facility. The company expects to open a commercial biofuel production plant by 2014.
Success in replacing our current unsustainable dependence on foreign oil would realize a long-held dream for Huber. Only half joking, he ruefully points out that chemical engineers “helped get us into this mess” by cleverly developing ways to turn fossil fuels into hundreds of products we now find hard to live without. To his way of thinking, it’s only fair that now the next wave of clever chemical engineers should help us kick the old habit by helping to develop a sustainable green energy future.
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