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The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the University of Illinois a $10.6 million five-year grant to convert the two most productive crops in the United States into sustainable biodiesel and biofuels. The new research project uses ultra-high-yield energy cane to generate renewable energy (or called the ROGUE project). The study kicked off at a team meeting held in Tysons, Virginia on February 25th with the 2018 Genome Science Program Annual Lead Investigator Conference.
"The United States continues to enjoy cheap and abundant energy, but more than 80% of it comes from natural gas, coal and oil," Stephen Long, ROGUE's director, is chairman of the Ickenberry Chapter. "Heavy diesel-powered semi-trailers and the aviation industry hope there are other options, but power batteries are not feasible and current biofuel crops cannot meet the demand for biodiesel and power fuels."
Bioenergy
ROGUE will design Energycane and Miscanthus to produce oils for biodiesel and biojet fuels. Their work is guided by a computer model that predicts that these crops can achieve 20% oil in the factory - a sharp increase from natural levels of less than one percent.
"If they are fully successful, these crops can produce 15 times more biodiesel than soybeans. Soybean is a food crop and half of our country's biodiesel comes from this crop," said Long.
Previously funded by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency's Department of Energy (ARPA-E), which achieved 8% oil accumulation, ROGUE will now further increase oil production, and ROGUE's patented extraction technology will make it easier to obtain oil.
"Redirecting these plants to producing oil rather than sugar will enable us to make full use of these productive crops to produce biodiesel and biofuels," said Chen Liqing, an assistant professor of plant biology in Illinois.
sustainable development
ROGUE will also increase the efficiency of these crops converting solar energy into plant energy to promote its bio-oil production. Increasing the photosynthetic efficiency of these crops will ensure that the production of high-energy-density oil will not reduce production while inhibiting the plant's own defense mechanisms. Increasing photosynthetic efficiency will also help plants conserve limited resources such as water and nitrogen, especially under stressful conditions.
"Photosynthesis is the process that ultimately produces all of our food and most of the fiber and increases our fuel load," said Don Ort, a professor of plant biology and crop science, who will co-lead the photosynthesis section with the project leader. "By improving this process, we can strengthen the ability to create these crops to achieve more efficient productivity to produce sustainable bioenergy."
technology
ROGUE applies synthetic biology to energy sugarcane and miscanthus. This technology uses engineering principles to optimize and accelerate the design of biological systems. The project will also make energy cane more hardy to expand its growing area and extend its growing season.
“Our crops can thrive on 235 million acres of land, transforming underutilized fringe areas into sustainable sources of bio-oil,†said Long. "More importantly, we have the existing infrastructure to use the existing sugar cane plant to immediately grow, harvest and process bio-oil. These oils can be processed into biofuels through existing technologies and marketed."
effect
ROGUE will ensure the effectiveness of its crop technology through technical economic analysis and replicated field trials. Energy cane will be evaluated in Florida and Mississippi, and Miscanthus will be tested in Illinois. The project will continue to refine and evaluate its patented process to separate oil from biomass and its processing technology.
"According to our model, ROGUE's crop yields and benefits per acre are much higher than those of corn or soybeans," said Vijay Singh, director of the integrated biological treatment research laboratory responsible for the technical economic analysis and processing technology of the project.
ROGUE is a collaboration of researchers from Illinois, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Florida, and Mississippi State University with the support of the DOE Science Office (Biological and Environmental Research Office).
(Original from: Biomass Magazine)
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