FUTURE

Researchers combine
efforts and explore
options in developing
alternative fuels

W

hen K.C. Das first started exploring
ways to convert wood chips into en-
gine fuel five years ago, people thought his
work was interesting—but not particularly
urgent.
“Five years ago, nobody really cared
because crude oil was cheap,” says Das,
associate professor of engineering and
director of UGA’s biorefining and carbon
cycling program. “Now it’s a big deal, and
everybody is calling and asking about what’s
going on.”
And there is a lot going on at UGA.
PAUL EFLAND
From wood chips to watermelons, switch-
Engineering professor K.C. Das uses UGA’s pilot-scale biorefinery, located just a few miles from grass to sweet potatoes, researchers
the main campus, to test new biofuels made from raw materials as diverse as wood chips and throughout the state are exploring opportu-
algae. nities to create new fuels.

30 MARCH 2008 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

FUEL
Just a few months ago, the University
was awarded one of the largest grants in
its history—nearly $20 million by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE)­—to search
for efficient ways to turn the tough, fibrous
parts of plants into ethanol, an effort that
has the potential to increase dramatically
the amount of biofuel the nation produces.
Das and a team of UGA researchers also
recently have developed an entirely new
biofuel derived from wood chips.
“There’s a widespread perception,
including among legislators and the Gov-
ernor’s Office of Economic Development,
that bioenergy constitutes a great oppor-
tunity for Georgia,” says David Lee, vice
president for research at UGA. “We have
the ability to be a leader in this area, and I
think it’s entirely consistent with our role as
a land grant institution that we do so.”
From farm to fuel
The idea of turning plants into fuel
isn’t new. Henry Ford designed the Model
T to run on either gasoline or ethanol—the
intoxicating ingredient in beer, wine and
by Sam Fahmy (BS ’97)
liquor—and Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of
the engine that bears his name, used peanut
oil to power his engine. Ample supplies of
crude oil, however, put the brakes on the
early use of plant-based fuels.
With the basic science of creating
biofuels understood, the task of UGA
researchers is to make the process more
efficient and, ultimately, cost competitive
with petroleum. Waste products from ag-
riculture, the poultry industry, forestry and
even from restaurants and bakeries have the
potential to fuel vehicles, power plants and
the state’s economy.
“Agriculture is the state’s largest
industry, but this is a very difficult time
because of higher fuel and fertilizer costs,”
says Scott Angle, dean of the College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“If we can somehow take our waste prod-
ucts, or maybe even an intentionally grown
crop, and turn that into useable energy, that
could be the difference between keeping
our farmers in business versus an uncertain
future.”
With that in mind, scientists at the
Tifton campus are working to breed variet-
ies of peanuts that produce large amounts
of oil. Others are turning sweet potatoes
into fuels. Angle explains that sweet
potatoes grow well in Georgia, but our
hard clay soil leaves them misshapen and
unappealing to consumers. The ugly sweet
potatoes work beautifully as a source of
ethanol, so scientists are exploring how to
grow them efficiently for fuel production.
“What we’re learning now is how to
grow them to cram as much energy per
acre as possible,” Angle says.
Revolutionizing ethanol
Most of the ethanol Americans use to-
day is derived from corn kernels, which has
driven the price of livestock feed up and cut
into the bottom line of the poultry industry.
Prices of grains such as soy and wheat are
rising, too, as farmers devote more acres to
corn and fewer to other crops.
Turning corn kernels into ethanol is
a relatively simple process (moonshiners
have been doing it for ages), but the tough,
fibrous parts of plants are much more dif-
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • MARCH 2008 31

PAUL EFLAND
Alan Darvill and his team study plant cells
on a molecular level. The knowledge they
gain will help them develop technologies
that break down plants to create biofuels
more efficiently.
ficult to break down.
That’s where Alan Darvill, who
has spent the past 20 years studying the
intricate structure of plant cell walls, comes
in. Darvill, co-founder and director of
the University’s Complex Carbohydrate
Research Center, is leading a team of UGA
scientists who are collaborating with Oak
Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee
and several other institutions to find
efficient ways to break down plants to
“The exciting thing for me is
having all these teams of people from
around campus coming together to
address one problem and do it so well
and so interactively.”
—Alan Darvill, co-founder and director
of the Complex Carbohydrate Research
Center
32 MARCH 2008 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE
make what’s called cellulosic ethanol. biomass processing facilities, last year
Rather than using corn kernels or found himself describing the process at
other edible plants, the scientists hope to a roundtable with President George W.
turn agricultural waste such as husks and Bush.
stems into ethanol. Switchgrass, which “I’m not so sure if they’d believe me
doesn’t require much water or fertilizer to in the coffee shop in Crawford [Texas] if I
grow, is another candidate, as are fast- told them what he just told me,” the presi-
growing poplar trees. dent said, drawing laughter from those
Their task isn’t easy: Plants have gathered. “But it’s possible.”
evolved their tough cell walls to resist
disease, insects and climate extremes. The Economics
research team at UGA is made up of 10 Of course, a biofuel may be tech-
labs, each applying the insights they’ve nologically possible to produce, but not
gained from years of basic research into
how plants are put together and broken
down at the cellular level.
“Using wood to help meet our
“The exciting thing for me is having
all these teams of people from around energy needs is something that’s re-
campus coming together to address one
problem and to do it so well and so inter- newable and sustainable. We plant six
actively,” Darvill says. “It’s fun.”
The grant is funded by the DOE for trees for every tree that we harvest.”
nearly $20 million over five years. At the
end of those five years, Darvill expects to —Dale Greene, professor, Warnell
have information that sets the stage for School of Forestry and Natural Resources
commercial applications that increase the
nation’s production of ethanol.
Beyond ethanol
Ethanol isn’t the only biofuel UGA
researchers are working with. They’re cre-
ating biodiesel from oils found in chicken
fat, seeds and even algae.
They’re also pioneering a concept
known as a biorefinery. Das explains that
just as an oil refinery takes a raw product
like crude oil and converts it into gaso-
line, plastics, asphalt and 50 or so other
products, a biorefinery takes wood chips,
restaurant grease and other wastes and
converts them into biodiesel and non-fuel
products. One of the products is char,
which can be used as soil fertilizer. Putting
carbon back into the soil as char offsets
some of the carbon dioxide pumped into
the atmosphere by the fossil fuels.
“You have a valuable product and at
the same time you are getting a net reduc-
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER
tion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,”
Das says. Scraps of wood left behind after trees are
The biorefinery concept is so exciting harvested are a vast source of raw material
that can be used to create biofuels, says
that Ryan Adolphson, who directs UGA’s
forestry professor Dale Greene.
economically feasible. John McKissick, the
director of the UGA Center for Agribusi-
ness and Economic Development, is an
expert in putting a dollar value on the costs
and benefits of biofuel production.
“We’ve shown in our research early
on that the feedstocks that make the most
sense were not the things that we grow
exclusively for biofuels production, but
from byproducts from other operations like
fat from the poultry industry and leftover
scraps of timber after harvesting,” he says.
Dale Greene, professor in the Warnell
School of Forestry and Natural Resources,
says the most valuable uses of harvested
wood are traditional products such as
lumber and paper, but the small trees and
wastes that are left behind are a promising
source of energy. Greene has found that
having a wood chipper on site to process
tree limbs, tree tops and other wastes can
generate more than 10 tons of fuel per acre
that can be cleanly burned in electrical
power plants or refined to produce biofuels. government and private sector to connect
“Using wood to help meet our energy
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER
Microbiology professor Joy Doran Peterson
says that natural processes that insects
use to break down leaves may offer clues
about how humans can break down plants
and create tomorrow’s biofuels.
needs is something that’s renewable and
sustainable, particularly the way forestry
is practiced in the United States,” Greene
says. “We plant six trees for every tree that
we harvest.”
Coordinated effort
UGA has more than 80 scientists,
engineers and economists who are working
on basic and applied biofuels research, and
they aim to share their knowledge with
each other and with the government and
private sector like never before.
Joy Doran Peterson is a microbiology
professor who is leading the University’s
new biofuels task force. Her research
focuses on understanding natural processes
that break down plants—like the process
certain insects use to digest leaves—and TERRY ALLEN
applying that knowledge to biofuel produc-
tion. As head of the task force, she aims to Ryan Adolphson, who directs UGA’s biomass
increase collaboration among the research- processing facilities, shows a handful of
ers on campus and to make it easier for the wood chips that—thanks to research at UGA
—can be turned into an entirely new type of
biofuel.
with the University’s experts. The goal of
that kind of partnership, she says, is to see
the University’s expertise applied to the
a biodiesel plant that opened last year.
real world as quickly as possible.
The company recently broke ground on
“I have two small children, and most
a second plant in Plains, and together the
of us in the group have a family of some
two plants will ultimately produce up to
sort,” Peterson says. “That really motivates
150 million gallons per year.
me and gives me a vested interest in mak-
UGA scientists have shared their
ing this happen now.”
expertise with Alterra in what company
Signs of the University’s involvement
CEO Wayne Johnson calls a win-win
in the biofuels revolution are already evi-
for the entire state. The plant primarily
dent in small towns such as Gordon, where
uses Georgia-grown soybeans as a source
Macon-based Alterra Bioenergy operates
of biomass, and Georgians manufacture
and distribute the fuel. Because biodiesel
burns cleaner than petroleum diesel, it
“I have two small children, and also benefits the environment.
“Without the research and leadership
most of us in the group have a family at the University, what we did would not
have been possible,” Johnson says.
of some sort. That really motivates
—Sam Fahmy is the science writer for the
me and gives me a vested interest in
UGA News Service.
making this happen now.”
GET MORE
—Joy Doran Peterson, professor,
Bioenergy research at UGA:
microbiology and head of the UGA www.uga.edu/bioenergy
biofuels task force
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • MARCH 2008 33