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[OCT.
7, 2004]
URBANA --
Developing a petroleum-free fuel
from corn byproducts is one of the goals of a newly funded research
project at the University of Illinois. Eight research laboratories
will pool their expertise, attacking the problems from different
directions in order to work to improve the efficiency of
bioconversion of plant fibers into fuels and other value-added
products.
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This is the seventh theme to be chosen
for the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois
under the direction of Harris A. Lewin, Gutgsell Endowed Chair in
the Department of Animal Sciences. Although the building itself will
not be completed until 2006, the work that will go on inside has
already begun.
Lewin said that the new Institute of Genomic Biology research theme,
led by Hans Blaschek, will address one of the most critical problems
facing our nation. "With crude oil at $50 per barrel, we must
examine renewal sources of energy as a viable alternative to fossil
fuels," said Lewin. "The vision and experience of Blaschek and his
co-workers will be important in setting the national agenda for
future research on renewable energy sources. Importantly, the
outcomes of this research may have direct benefit to farmers and the
agricultural industries of the Midwest. I am proud to have the new
theme on ‘Molecular Bioengineering of Biomass Conversion’ as part of
the IGB's research, education and economic development portfolio."
Blaschek is a microbiologist in the
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences. For over 20 years he has been studying
microorganisms that are used in fermentation processes. He wants to
try to overcome the obstacles related to biomass conversion into
value-added products. "The beneficiaries of this research will be
agriculture and agriculture-based industries in Illinois," he said,
"but ultimately all of us will benefit as consumers of energy." He
believes that renewable fuel made from corn is the direction we need
to go in order to be free from our dependence on petroleum products.
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"This program will
focus on an integrated, multidisciplinary approach towards replacing
the petroleum-based economy with a bio-based economy that uses
agricultural crops as the platform.
"The U.S. has access to significant amounts of bio-based resources,
including those of the highly productive corn-soybean cropping
system in the Midwest -- arguably the largest man-made ecosystem on
the planet," said Blaschek. "This agro-ecosystem is still largely
focused on providing raw materials for the food, feed and fiber
industries and not on chemicals and fuels."
Blaschek hopes that this research will change that focus and provide
the need for an additional 200 million bushels of corn for the
production of butanol and acetone alone. "The boom in construction
of dry-mill-based ethanol plants that has tripled the production of
ethanol in a five-year period is evidence of the bio-based
opportunities in this area," he said.
[University
of Illinois news release]
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