Fueling Washington With Bioproducts
FUELING
WASHINGTON WITH BIOPRODUCTS
Washington State University
2007-2009
Joint Biennial Operating Budget
Request
Oct. 24,
2006
Printable Adobe PDF version
A $6.7 million comprehensive joint bioenergy and bioproducts research program
with specific identified outcomes to reduce Washington State’s foreign energy
dependence and boost economic development through production of high-value
consumer goods using in-state crops and biomass.
n an unprecedented
partnership, this comprehensive bioproducts technologies strategy has been
developed jointly by:
· Washington State University, the state’s land grant university with a scientific team that is
nationally prominent in bioproducts. WSU has a prominent research team from
Biological Systems Engineering, the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Wood
Materials Engineering Lab, and is among the top universities in the country in
cereal grains.
· The Washington State Department
of Agriculture, the lead state agency for developing a bioenergy industry in
the state.
· The Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, which is managed by Battelle in Richland for the U.S. Department of
Energy. PNNL has 30 years of history working on biomass conversion and
production of fuels and chemicals and has about 25 staff engaged in this
research area.
This package seeks outcomes
that are specifically detailed in the request:
1. Short
term: Washington-grown feedstocks. This proposal seeks alternatives leveraged by federal dollars that
would develop Washington-grown feedstocks to be processed into fuel and other
products by in-state plants and sold to Northwest consumers. Such feedstocks
include canola and other oilseeds, and starchy crops such as wheat, barley and
cull potatoes. Some new fuel production plants being built in this state to reduce
reliance on foreign petroleum products still rely on palm oil and other
feedstock materials imported from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Canada. This research package will lead to short-term outcomes like identifying three
to five plants to serve as the fundamental feedstock base for fuels in Washington, documenting oilseed crop performance in different climate zones, demonstrating new
products from starch-based biomass, and more effectively converting glycerol
from bio-diesel production to other products.
2. Produce
high-value products in addition to fuel: These
goods could include pharmaceuticals, feeds, oils and plastics. These products
may be co-produced with fuels, and at a higher value. Thus, these by-products
or co-products could improve the long-term and short-term economics of methane,
ethanol or biodiesel production.
3. Long
term: Move toward using cellulose for biofuels and bioproducts. Cellulosic materials could include forest
residue, wheat straw, corn stalks, orchard trimmings, urban yard waste such as
grass clippings, poplar trees, etc. These materials could provide 3-4 times the
energy as the energy expended to convert them.
4. Advance the strategies for
“anaerobic digesters,” that use
microorganisms to create gas that can power a generator to make electricity. In
order to maximize the advantages of anaerobic digesters. Such strategies
include improved anaerobic digestion technology and nutrient recovery from
digested dairy waste.
5. Educate a Washington workforce to design and operate these
emerging technologies.
Washington State University requests $4.7 million and Washington State Department of Agriculture
and WSU jointly request $2 million to:
· [WSU request] Fund a system-wide
Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy (CBB) at Washington State University led by a director with exceptional experience and qualifications, desirably with
standing in the National Academy of Engineering or the National Academy of
Sciences. The CBB is the overarching program that links together the efforts
system-wide of WSU faculty, PNNL scientists, and the WSDA.
· [WSU request] Provide $2 million
in matching state funds to complete a team of ten scientists in Tri-Cities that
would have joint Washington State University/Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory appointments. These scientists would work on longer-term projects
(five years or more) but also have goals for short-term deliverables. The ten
scientists will occupy the new, jointly-funded (WSU and PNNL) Bioproducts
Science and Engineering Laboratory under construction on the campus of WSU Tri-Cities.
The request funds and supports five state Bioproducts faculty scientist
positions, which would be matched by the equivalent of five positions funded by
federal research programs through PNNL. These scientists will also educate
undergraduate and graduate students participating in research and taking
classes at WSU Tri-Cities.
· [WSU request] Fill three critical
gaps in state Bioproducts research capacity with new Pullman-based scientists
in metabolic engineering, microbiology and molecular biology, and a crop
scientist/Extension specialist. The cost is $1.1 million. Like the
Tri-Cities-based scientists, the three new Pullman scientists would either fill
critical technical gaps or enhance the critical mass of the existing expertise
identified collaboratively by WSU and PNNL. A metabolic engineer is needed to
understand how microorganisms can break down feedstock more efficiently. A crop
scientist is required to understand how to grow the proper crop to be converted
to fuel and other bioproducts more efficiently.
· [WSDA-WSU request] Conduct $2
million in pressing applied agronomic, economic and engineering research on
technology and cropping systems for more efficiently growing oilseed and other
energy crops and more economically converting these and other biomass to fuel. These
research projects, with short-term implications, would be directed by the bioenergy
roadmap for Washington which is currently being developed by WSU and WSDA. The
funding for this joint applied program would be passed to WSU from WSDA. WSU
will partner with PNNL to execute portions of this applied research.
This proposed program builds
on a number of existing state and federal studies. It will be guided by a joint
WSU-PNNL working group in cooperation with the state Department of Ecology and
the state Department of Agriculture.
More information is
available by contacting:
Larry Ganders, Assistant to the WSU President
360-280-6320,
ganders@wsu.edu
Jim
Petersen, WSU Vice Provost for Research, 509-335-9141
Ralph Cavalieri, associate dean and director of the WSU
Agricultural Research Center
509.335.4563,
cavalieri@wsu.edu
For the complete text of the Fueling
Washington budget request, and a link to a printer-friendly copy,
click here.
