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Forty six students from across the country and the world, most of them graduate students or post-doctoral researchers, were filing in to hear Steven Fales, an Iowa State professor of agronomy, speak about "Next Generation Biofuels: What are the Challenges?"

The intensive program features talks, tours, demonstrations and tests that cover the opportunities and the challenges of developing a bioeconomy. The talks cover starch chemistry, plant biology, cell wall biochemistry, biofuels production, biofuels economics, next generation feedstocks and more. The tours include visits to Cargill headquarters in Minneapolis, Iowa State's BioCentury Research Farm, the Renewable Energy Group biodiesel plant in Ralston and the Lincolnway Energy ethanol plant near Nevada. And there are three exams to keep the students focused.

After several years of participating in a biorenewables program in Europe, "We thought this was our chance to bring students from around the world to the center of the real action in biorenewables," said Larry Johnson, the director of Iowa State's Center for Crop Utilization Research and the university's BioCentury Research Farm, a professor of food science and human nutrition and a program organizer.

Biofuels

Besides, "I feel we need to do a much better job of articulating the need and the opportunities and the state of the technology around biofuels," Johnson said. "Biofuels have taken such huge and terrible hits based on faulty information, we need to get the other side of the story out - one that is based on sound science."

The state of the science was front and center during Fales' talk. He walked the students through a paper he co-wrote that outlines five steps to build a biofuels industry based on cellulosic biomass rather than grain. He said researchers need to:

1. Gather and assess biomass yield data
2. Redesign crop systems to optimize biomass production without limiting yields of food, feed and fiber
3. Develop advanced energy crops ("This is as exciting to me as medical science," Fales told the students. "This is no longer about farming. This is about life sciences. There are now tremendous opportunities in the life sciences.")
4. Plan and build the technologies, logistics and infrastructure necessary to transport and store biomass
5. Spread the facts about the promise and challenges of a bioeconomy through education and extension programs.

Abigail Martin, a doctoral student in environmental policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said Fales and others at Iowa State's intensive program are providing her with a different perspective on energy and environmental issues.

In California, she said the discussion is about land-use policies and low-carbon fuel standards. In Iowa, she's hearing about new cropping systems and sustainable ag practices. She said the new perspectives can contribute to her research of biofuel policies and regulations.

Raj Raman - the associate director of educational programs for Iowa State's Bioeconomy Institute, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and a program organizer - said one goal of the intensive program was to bring students from a variety of backgrounds together to share and debate their views.

Another goal was to share some of Iowa State's expertise in biorenewable research and technology. Iowa State's Bioeconomy Institute boasts more than 160 affiliated faculty members across the university and more than $51 million in cumulative sponsored research funding from industry and federal agencies since 2002. Its director, Robert C. Brown, has written one textbook on biorenewables and an upcoming book about biofuels.

"This is an important topic," Raman said, "and we have a unique ability and expertise to share it with the world."

A $600,000 gift from Cargill is supporting the Intensive Program in Biorenewables and other Iowa State education programs focused on the bioeconomy.

Air Resources Board adopted a regulation that will implement California Governor Schwarzenegger's Low Carbon Fuel Standard calling for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from California's transportation fuels by ten percent by 2020.

The new regulation is aimed at diversifying the variety of fuels used for transportation. It will boost the market for alternative-fuel vehicles and achieve 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020. ARB representatives describe the measure as the most important early-action called for under AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act (Nunez, 2006).

"The new standard means we can begin to break our century-old dependence on petroleum and provide California with greater energy security" said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "The drive to force the market toward greater use of alternative fuels will be a boon to the state's economy and public health - it reduces air pollution, creates new jobs and continues California's leadership in the fight against global warming."

According to ARB analyses, to produce the more than 1.5 billion gallons of biofuels needed, over 25 new biofuel facilities will have to be built and will create more than 3,000 new jobs, mostly in the state's rural areas.

Production of fuels within the state will also keep consumer dollars local by reducing the need to make fuel purchases from beyond its borders.

The regulation requires providers, refiners, importers and blenders to ensure that the fuels they provide for the California market meet an average declining standard of 'carbon intensity'. This is established by determining the sum of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, transportation and consumption of a fuel, also referred to as the fuel pathway.

Economic mechanisms will allow the market to choose the most cost-effective clean fuels (those with the lowest carbon intensity) giving California consumers the widest variety of fuel options.

Seeking to enhance private sector and federal investment into alternative fuel production and distribution, California is also providing funding to assist in the early development and deployment of the most promising low-carbon fuels. The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, AB 118 (Nunez, 2007), managed by the California Energy Commission, will provide approximately $120 million dollars per year over seven years to deploy the cleanest fuels and vehicles.

Regulators expect the new generation of fuels to come from the development of technology that uses algae, wood, agricultural waste such as straw, common invasive weeds such as switchgrass, and even from municipal solid waste.

The standard is also expected to drive the availability of plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel-cell powered cars while promoting investment in electric charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations.

California's Governor issued the executive order requiring a low carbon fuel standard in early 2007. It directed the state to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector which accounts for 40% of the state's total greenhouse gas emissions.

The regulation is designed to increase the use of alternative fuels, replacing 20 percent of the fuel used by cars in California with clean alternative fuels by 2020, including electricity, biofuels, hydrogen and other options.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

The study, "Meat vs Fuel: Grain use in the U.S. and China, 1995-2008," concluded that a complete shutdown of the U.S. ethanol industry would extend the deadline only until 2013.

"It's not food, it's not fuel, it's China," said Jim Lane, editor of Biofuels Digest and author of the report.

The study determined that China's meat consumption since 1995 has increased by 112 percent to 53 kilograms per person per year.

"If the Chinese people had consumed the same amount of meat, per person, in 2007 as in 1995, there would have been enough grain left over to support 927 million people with food for an entire year," said Lane.

The study found that the U.S. increased corn production by 157 million tonnes of corn since 1995. 31 million net tonnes of grain went to support U.S. ethanol production, and 27 million tonnes supported a 15 percent increase in U.S. population during the period. By contrast, the study projected that livestock grain demand to supply Chinese meat consumption increased by 199 million tonnes between 1995 and 2007.

"Given that the U.S. population grew 15 percent, the 82 percent increase in U.S. corn production left plenty for
people, plenty for livestock, and plenty for ethanol," said Lane. "The bad news is that we have a global fuel and food crisis of the first magnitude. The only good news is that it's easier to find a steak in Beijing."

The study tracks the meteoric growth in Chinese meat consumption since 1983, a trend spotted early by commentator Lester Brown in his prescient article "Who Will Feed China?" In 1995, meat consumption was 25 kilograms per person, reaching 31 kilograms by 1999, 50 kilograms by 2000, and is 53 kilograms per person today.

"Chinese meat consumption is still 45 percent less than the average consumption in the U.S.," Lane warned. "An
additional 277 million tonnes of grain would be needed to support China at parity with the U.S. That would take 68
million acres to grow. There isn't that kind of arable land available anywhere is the world, whether we use grains for renewable energy or not."

The study is available for free download at http://www.biofuelsdigest.com.

Biofuels Digest provides a free daily summary of biofuels news via web, email and RSS to subscribers at more than 1500 organizations. The Digest is syndicated on Reuters, Fox Business News and other international media.

CONTACT:
Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane
jlane@biofuelsdigest.com    
786-393-8530 

(left) Researchers hike Yellowstone National Park, left, on the hunt for microbes that could potentially be used in bioenergy production.

(right) They analyze the samples back home in the lab

Bioenergy from Microscopic Organisms

Oak Ridge National Laboratory microbiologist Tommy Phelps sees the untapped potential of bioenergy in shelves of bottles and beakers containing microscopic organisms that just might hold the elusive bug or enzyme capable of digesting large quantities of plant matter into ethanol.

Phelps's current batch of microbes, stockpiled in dozens of bottles of silt, rocks and soils, was collected from Yellowstone National Park, where the hot springs that draw millions of summertime visitors also nurture microscopic life in their boiling waters. These bugs, in turn, beckon microbiologists like Phelps, who seek a solution to transform Earth's abundant cellulosic sources into a modern energy supply. Yellowstone's warm waters offer the promise of microbes that can rapidly and efficiently degrade cellulose—the woody, leafy matter that makes up plants. Scientists hope to tap the power of these microbes for industrial-scale consolidated bioprocessing of plants, including trees and switchgrass, the species central to the BioEnergy Science Center's research efforts.

BioEnergy Science Center

The hunt for this cellulosic "super bug" is part of a suite of efforts under way at the BioEnergy Science Center, headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Since being named one of three $135 million Department of Energy bioenergy research centers, researchers at ORNL and its partner institutions have quickly gotten to work.

DOE's ambitious goal is to replace by 2030 one-third of the nation's transportation fuel with cellulosebased sources. At these centers, researchers are carrying out the targeted, fundamental science needed to bridge the gap between the potential of cellulose-based fuels and their reality.

Current microbes and enzymes are relatively slow at attacking plant matter's complicated and protective structure. Researchers will determine precisely the genes involved in the interaction of the microbes and enzymes to break apart cellulose. Other genes responsible for producing undesirable products, such as acetic acids, will be knocked out in the hope of, ultimately, developing the perfect ethanol-manufacturing microbe. Particular enzymes will be isolated as well and genetically analyzed, with a focus on determining the ideal formula of enzyme or microbe and enzyme to serve as the vehicle for cellulosic ethanol production.

Plants with Good Biofuel Sugars

Microbes, however, are just a piece of the puzzle. Other researchers at the Oak Ridge center are going through similar steps to develop plants with qualities most conducive to processing into biofuel. Similar to the microbial work, researchers will analyze thousands of genetically modified switchgrass and poplar tree samples in order to discover and develop the best varieties for ethanol production. As part of the process, the biofeedstock, together with the microbes and the enzymes, will be joined in a complex matrix of analysis and R&D in order to develop the best biofuel recipe.

On the biomass formation side, the partners will produce samples of plant material genetically altered to modify their cell walls for optimum breakdown into usable sugars. Such altered species might feature lower amounts of lignin—the substance that holds cellulose fibers together—or a reduction in the crystallinity of the cellulose. ArborGen and ORNL will be primarily responsible for creating and studying various altered trees, while scientists from the University of Tennessee, the University of Georgia and the Noble Foundation will take the lead in switchgrass research.

Read more at ORNL