Florida Tomorrow is a day...
when the use of renewable fuels from biomass and environmentally friendly technologies makes the state and nation less dependent on traditional energy sources.
Bioenergy
A breakthrough technology developed by IFAS researchers will
produce fuel ethanol from biomass at a new $20 million research
and demonstration facility in Florida. Site selection is under way.
Funded by the 2007 Florida Legislature, the facility is designed to commercialize the process of making ethanol from inedible plant biomass, such as sugarcane residues, rice hulls, municipal green waste, trees and wood waste, and other organic materials.
Florida could produce as much as 90 million tons of biomass each year, enough to make 9 billion gallons of ethanol — nearly double the 4.8 billion gallons now made mostly from corn nationwide. Converting biomass to fuel ethanol could replace half of the imported petroleum in the United States.
The bioconversion technology, selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce to become landmark patent No. 5,000,000, is also being commercialized by Verenium Corp., a UF licensee headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.
Additional support for bioenergy research comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, which recently awarded $750,000 to IFAS for developing sorghum as an ethanol feedstock. Sorghum — a plant species related to corn and sugarcane — is an attractive biomass crop because of its high sugar content. IFAS genetic research is aimed at identifying and combining desirable plant traits so that sorghum can be used for commercial bioenergy production.
In Florida’s largest biotechnology program for commercially important species of grasses, IFAS researchers are working to enhance the process of converting grass biomass into lowcost ethanol. The research is currently focused on developing plant-based technologies for high-level expression of cell wall degrading enzymes — a promising technology for reducing the cost of producing ethanol from biomass.
By identifying all the major genes controlling specific wood properties and disease-resistance in loblolly pine trees, IFAS researchers are increasing their understanding of the highestvalued crop in Florida and eight other Southern states. Loblolly pines, which cover just 6 percent of forest land in the United States, account for 58 percent of the nation’s total wood production. Wood is a renewable energy source, and increasing productivity through genetics will help reduce the nation’s dependence on nonrenewable energy.
A wood-to-energy outreach program, coordinated by IFAS in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and other agencies, is helping Gainesville and other Southern communities learn about the economic and environmental aspects of using wood as a fuel source for electricity.
