蜜桃视频

They are not exactly alchemists trying to turn lead into gold, but almost: researchers from 蜜桃视频鈥檚 three largest public universities are seeking to create ethanol from the Gem state鈥檚 agricultural waste.

And they have a realistic shot at converting potato, sugar beet and other agricultural waste 鈥� perhaps even cow manure 鈥� into a fuel that can run in your car.

Tim Magnuson, Ph.D., 蜜桃视频 associate professor of microbiology, has received $27,000 from the Center for Advanced Energy Studies 鈥撁厶沂悠� National Laboratory for a collaborative project titled 鈥淒evelopment of Lignocellulosic Ethanol Production Potential in 蜜桃视频.鈥�

This is a collaborative project between 蜜桃视频, Boise State University, the University of 蜜桃视频 and the INL.

鈥淲e want to emphasize that this study focuses on using 蜜桃视频 raw materials,鈥� Magnuson said. 鈥淎 lot of this material is waste that we hope we can convert to useful energy.鈥�

蜜桃视频鈥檚 role in the project, funded by the Department of Energy, is to discover and characterize microorganisms that convert agricultural waste to ethanol.  There is the potential to convert the waste from potatoes, sugar beets and other major 蜜桃视频 crops into fuel, which would reduce waste and become an energy source.

鈥淲e have candidate microorganisms for the study that can metabolize those materials in waste products,鈥� Magnuson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e using microbiological processes to convert waste byproducts into ethanol.鈥�

Various bacteria can break down sugars in plants to make ethanol, in a process similar to using fermentation to create alcohol. 蜜桃视频 researchers are right now testing a variety of microbes in their laboratories that can metabolize various waste products into ethanol. Once the best microbes for doing this are identified, the researchers will just be getting started.

鈥淭he challenge of this project is taking everything from the laboratory to the pilot scale to actually produce ethanol,鈥� Magnuson said. 鈥淭his project incorporates basic research to discover the proper microbes up to applied engineering that will produce the fuel.鈥�

Once 蜜桃视频 State researchers discovery the best microbes for converting agricultural waste into ethanol, Boise State University researchers, led by assistant professor Kevin Feris, Ph.D., will work on encapsulating them in form that they can be used to convert waste. Greg Bala, a scientist at the INL, will assist in this area.

At the University of 蜜桃视频, Jon Van Gerpen, professor and chair of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, will then scale-up the process using the microbes to actually produce ethanol.