Energy Department to Spend $250 Million on Fuel Study

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The federal government will spend $250 million to help create two research centers that will focus on finding more efficient ways to produce cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The federal government will spend $250 million to help create two research centers that will focus on finding more efficient ways to produce cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced Wednesday during a visit to Illinois.


"This is an important step toward our goal of replacing 30 percent of transportation fuels with biofuels by 2030," Bodman said in a statement. "The mission of these centers is to accelerate research that leads to breakthroughs in basic science to make biofuels a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels."


Bodman made his announcement during a discussion of bioenergy with local officials, farmers and businessmen in Channahon that was hosted by Rep. Jerry Weller.


Universities, laboratories, nonprofit organizations and private companies around the nation can compete for the money by submitting proposals to establish and operate a center, the department said. The proposals are due by Feb. 1, 2007, and the choices will be announced next summer.


The two winning organizations each will receive $25 million per year for five years, beginning in the 2008 federal fiscal year, to develop and operate the research centers, which are expected to be fully operational by 2009, said Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary of energy for science.


While corn and soybeans are widely used to produce ethanol and biodiesel for fuel, the new research centers will be charged with looking to efficiently break down other natural materials, or biomass -- such as grasses, crop residue and animal byproducts -- to help make fuel.


Plants and plant wastes can be turned into fuel by using an enzyme to convert cellulose, the primary structural component of green plants, into sugar. The sugar is then fermented and distilled into ethyl alcohol, or ethanol.


"It's looking at what we've learned from nature through microbial function to try to understand how nature does it, and then make it more efficient," Orbach said in a telephone interview.


Farm states such as Illinois should benefit from the research because it could lead to new cash crops and markets for them, said Mazon-area farmer Jay Fillman.


"When you do that basic research, that can really open up new opportunities and probably make it a more sustainable, economic driven industry, instead of being driven by the subsidies as it is right now," he said.


And developing new raw materials for biofuels lessens the nation's dependence on food crops as the primary sources of ethanol and biodiesel, said Weller, R-Ill.


"We have to diversify our sources of raw material, and that's why this research is so very, very important," he said. "There are other crops that can be developed from this research not only to provide good farm income in Illinois, but also to help us reduce our dependence on imported oil."


The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign might compete to host one of the centers, said Hans Blaschek, assistant dean at the university's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The agriculture college and the university's Institute for Genomic Biology already are focusing research efforts on biomass energy and the DOE's announcement Wednesday is just the latest in a line of research initiatives on the subject, he said.


"There is just an incredible amount of activity in this area. I've never seen it like this in 25 years," Blaschek said. "I think we here at Illinois can be competitive and hope to be competitive."


Source: Associated Press


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