TAMU Turns Waste Materials Into Bioenergy
Published Jan 24, 2008
Texas A&M researchers are trying to develop clean bioenergy by combining grain with garbage, grease and other waste products.
Toss it out, and they just might come. And when they arrive, these researchers from the Texas A&M University System will try to figure out a way to make fuel out of it. At least, that’s the plan in Aggieland.
The way the researchers see it, garbage and grease, along with grain, could become sources of clean energy. Make that bioenergy.
The Texas A&M Agriculture and Engineering BioEnergy Alliance was formed during summer 2006, bringing together two formidable research units – the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station – to develop renewable bioenergy as a means of offsetting higher oil and gas prices.
Texas A&M officials say researchers from several departments have for many years been studying the possibilities for bioenergy, but previously the lack of a market due to low oil prices had stymied much of the development.
The strength in the new BioEnergy Alliance, the officials say, lies in the perpetual research and development of drought-resistant crops by the agriculture scientists, coupled with ongoing R&D of the engineers for technologies and engines that can run on bioenergy fuels.
Mark Holtzapple, a chemical engineering professor, has developed a process that converts biodegradable material into alcohol for fuel. “We can use anything biodegradable,” Holtzapple says. “Trees, grass, manure, sewer sludge, garbage – if you put it outside and it rots, we can use it.”
The alliance will “lay the foundation for an extremely fruitful bioenergy program” all across the country, says Lee Peddicord, Texas A&M vice chancellor for research and federal relations. “It’s very exciting; it opens up numerous possibilities in this field.
“These are two very strong programs in the A&M system,” Peddicord adds. “To have agriculture and engineers collaborating to look at different systems will give us a really broad focus on this whole bioenergy field, and it opens up numerous possibilities.”
Story by Danny McKenzie
Photo by Stephen Cherry
Current Weather Conditions In Bryan, TX (77805)
Mostly Cloudy, and 74 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
