News

Congratulations Lonnie O. Ingram  - recipient of the
2007 C. D. Scott Award!

This award was established in 1994 to recognize distinguished individuals in the application of biotechnology to produce fuels and chemicals. Since 1995, this award has been presented annually at this Symposium to recognize persons who have distinguished themselves through their sustained contributions to the area of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals.

The Charles D. Scott Award is presented to an individual who has made distinguished contributions to the field of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals.  Named in honor of Dr. Charles D. Scott, founder of the Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals and its chair for the first ten years, this award acknowledges contributions to the field as a whole or to this Symposium, particularly innovation in fundamental and applied biotechnology, insight into bioprocessing fundamentals, or commitment to facilitate commercialization of products from renewable resources. In his years of work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, C.D. Scott performed research and development on many novel bioprocessing systems including high production bioreactors, immobilized microbes, enzymes in organic media, and coal bioprocessing.

 

FCRC logoFCRC gets a slice of Celunol’s $5.3M grant award from U.S Department of Energy

DOE Selects Five Ethanol Conversion Projects for $23 Million in Federal FundingProjects to Develop Fermentative Organisms to Speed Ethanol Refining.

 

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner today announced just over $23 million in federal funding, subject to negotiation of final project plans and funding, for five projects focused on developing highly efficient fermentative organisms to convert biomass material to ethanol.  This research will further President Bush’s goals of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012 and, along with increased automobile fuel efficiency, reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent in ten years.

“These projects will play a critical role in furthering our knowledge of how we can produce cellulosic ethanol cost-effectively,” Assistant Secretary Karsner said.  “Ultimately, success in producing cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol could be a key to breaking our nation’s addiction to oil.  By relying on American farmers and ingenuity for fuel, we will enhance our nation’s energy and economic security.”

Today’s announcement is one part of President Bush’s comprehensive plan to support commercialization of scientific breakthroughs on biofuels.  Specifically, these projects directly support the goals of President Bush’s Twenty in Ten Initiative, which aims to increase the use of renewable and alternative fuels in the transportation sector to the equivalent of 35 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2017.  Funding for these projects, an integral part of the President’s Biofuels Initiative, will enable biorefineries to produce transportation fuels, electricity and other products from a wide variety of plant material, such as agricultural waste, trees, forest residues, and perennial grasses.  These feedstocks can be produced in nearly every region of the country.

Commercialization of fermentative organisms is crucial to the success of integrated biorefineries.  Fermentative organisms speed refining by converting lignocellulosic biomass material to ethanol.  Today’s selections build upon the announcement of six biorefinery projects announced earlier this year. Commercialized fermentative organisms will be crucial to achieving commercial scale in cellulosic ethanol refining.

Projects were selected for the organism’s capacity to convert lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol in process-relevant conditions that would be economical in the commercial market.  Additionally, the organism must be able to survive a wide range of environmental conditions and remain stable from adverse mutation.  Selectees must have the ability to produce at commercial scale in the future and have a sound business strategy to market the organism.

Combined with the industry cost share, more than $37 million could be invested in these five projects.  Negotiations between the selected companies and DOE will begin immediately to determine final project plans and funding levels.  Funding will begin this fiscal year and run through FY 2010, subject to congressional appropriations.

Projects submitted by these five applicants were selected:

Cargill Incorporated to receive up to $4.4 million

Celunol Corporation to receive up to $5.3 million

E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Company to receive up to $3.7 million

Mascoma Corporation to receive up to $4.9 million

Purdue University to receive up to $5.0 million

Cellulosic ethanol is an alternative fuel made from a wide variety of non-food plant materials (or feedstocks), including agricultural wastes such as corn stover and cereal straws, industrial plant waste like saw dust and paper pulp, and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production like switchgrass.

By using a variety of regional feedstocks for refining cellulosic ethanol, fuel can be produced in nearly every region of the country.  Though it requires a more complex refining process, cellulosic ethanol contains more net energy and results in lower greenhouse emissions than traditional corn-based ethanol.  E-85, an ethanol-fuel blend comprised of 85-percent ethanol, is already available in more than 1,000 fueling stations nationwide and can power millions of flexible fuel vehicles already on the roads.

For more information on President’s Bush’s Twenty in Ten Initiative visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/energy.html.

 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.

Lonnie O. Ingram

Director, Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels

Dept. of Microbiology and Cell Science

PO Box 110700, Bldg. 981 Museum Road

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL  32611     Phone 352/392-8176      Fax  352/846-0969

Superior Accomplishment Award

Janet Lyles

 

Janet Lyles, Secretary, in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science. Mrs. Lyles is the IFAS 2007 recipient of a Superior Accomplishment Award in the category of Clerical/Office Support. As a divisional finalist, Mrs. Lyles is now a candidate for a university-level award. Congratulations to Janet for her dedicated service to the department and university.

 

New Appointment

We are proud to announce that Dr. Raphael Katzen has joined our department! More...

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