BioFuels Journal

The following Sun Grant Initiave awards were presented this year from the North East SGI Region, Cornell University:

• Biomass Feedstock Production in the Northeast: Economic and Environmental Implications, Tom Richard, Pennsylvania State University in collaboration with Michigan State, Cornell, USDA-ARS, Univ. Maryland-Eastern Shore (2 year project, DOT $439,000, Total project $ 526,800 ).

Objective: This policy and economics project will examine the economic and environmental impacts and opportunities from a range of feedstock production systems relevant to the Northeastern US at the field level, whole-farm level, biorefinery and watershed-level, and the Northeast Sun Grant region level. • Improving woody biomass separation by enzymatic means, Nancy Kravit, University of Maine in collaboration with Tethys Research (2 year project, DOT $90,581, Total project $259,650).

Objective: This conversion process project will devise a method to isolate and identify 3 microorganisms in a collection with the ability to break an important chemical bond in woody tissues (enzyme type: hemicellulose:lignin etherase (HLE) bond broken: galactomannan-lignin ether bonds). • Development of a temperature-phased anaerobic digestion process for enhanced conversion of solids in livestock manure and food wastes to methane, Zhongtang Yu, The Ohio State University. (2 year project, DOT $100,000, Total project $120,000).

Objective: This conversion process research project will improve the efficiency of solids consumption in an anaerobic digestion process by optimizing the temperature for different microbes at different time-points in the digestion process and identify the key microbes/enzymes involved in the process through genomics. • Influence of alternative pretreatment strategies on cellulosic ethanol production using simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of high solids concentrations, James Gossett, Cornell University. (2 year project, DOT $99,999, Total project $160,068).

Objective: This conversion process research project seeks to improve the efficiency of ethanol production from Switchgrass through basic research into the inhibitory by-products that build up during the conversion process. • Developing the potential of hazelnuts as a feedstock for biodiesel and other oleochemicals in the Northeast, Thomas Molnar, Rutgers University. (2 year project, DOT $58,062, Total project $71,766).

Objective: Hazelnuts produce nearly twice as much oil per acre as soybean, but are susceptible to a blight.

This feedstock development project will evaluate up to 200 Eastern Filbert Blight Resistant varieties of hazelnut for oil quality and yield and will establish field trials on the top 10 performers. • Small farm integrated project, Norm Scott, Cornell University in partnership with local Ficken family farm. (1 year project, DOT $75,010, Total project $121,876).

Objective: Dairy farms with less than 100 cows represent 75% of the dairy farms in New York.

This systems-integration and demonstration project will build and demonstrate a simple small farm system to produce both ethanol and methane for electricity production using off-the-shelf materials and technology that will not exceed the normal management skills of a small farm operator. • A Biofuel screening program for grass feedstocks: diversity, physiological traits and compositional characteristics for optimal yield, Jocelyn Rose, Cornell University. (2 year project $100,000 DOT, $120,000 Total project).

Objective: This feedstock development project will evaluate biomass yield, stand establishment and predicted ethanol yields on a wide range of monoculture and mixed grasses in the northeast region. • Enhanced microbial cellulose degradation and H2 production above 80 C PI: James Holden, University of Massachusetts. (1 year project, DOT $22,346, Total project $27,980).

Objective: This conversion process research project will screen a culture collection (>25) of microbes from deep-sea geothermal vents for their ability to grow on microcrystalline cellulose and will determine whether these organisms can degrade cellulose with H2 as the primary waste product.