Sun Grant biofuels project looks at feedstocks, processing [Oct. 2007]
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SDSU RESEARCH NEWS
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
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Cutline: Plant science researchers Jose Gonzalez, left, and Arvid Boe, right, are studying prairie cordgrass as a potential biofuels crop as one aspect of a major Sun Grant award to fund research at South Dakota State University.
For release: Oct. 25, 2007
Contact: Bill Gibbons, (605) 688-5499
Sun Grant biofuels project looks at feedstocks, processing
BROOKINGS, S.D. — SDSU scientists are renewing ties with the engineers who helped SDSU launch today’s corn-based ethanol industry in the late 1970s — only this time the focus is cellulosic ethanol.
It’s part of a new South Dakota State University project that will focus $1.8 million of research funding on biofuels feedstocks and processing, partly through important partnerships with private industry.
SDSU researchers have landed one of five grants approved recently through the SDSU-based North Central Sun Grant Center. Project director William Gibbons leads a team that will work to develop sustainable feedstocks and next-generation processing technologies for biofuels production.
The four-year project will receive a total of $1 million in funding through the Sun Grant Initiative, plus $100,000 annually from each of two companies, for a total match of $800,000 from private industry.
SDSU Vice President for Research Kevin Kephart noted that SDSU competed with about 60 other proposals that were submitted from every state in the North Central Region.
“With only 10 percent of the projects receiving awards, the program was very competitive and only the very best ideas could be supported. This project is a good demonstration of the strengths SDSU has developed in biofuels research,” Kephart said.
The two companies working with SDSU on the project are Brookings-based VeraSun Energy Corp. and ICM Inc. of Colwich, Kan.
Gibbons said it’s worth noting that SDSU already has old ties to President and CEO David Vander Griend and his brother, process engineer Dennis Vander Griend, of ICM Inc.
Dennis Vander Griend was an SDSU student in 1978 when he and his brother, Dave, a skilled welder, built the first licensed fuel-alcohol still. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued them the first commercial fuel ethanol manufacturing permit for their two-column, 190-proof distillation equipment. That first set of distillation columns was known as “Old Blue” because of its bright paint.
That work was done in cooperation with SDSU microbiology professor Paul Middaugh, giving SDSU and the Vander Griend brothers legitimate claims to having helped launch today’s corn ethanol industry.
Now the Vander Griends and ICM Inc. are preparing for a new generation of ethanol plants that will be designed to process cellulose.
“For nearly 30 years, my brother Dennis and I have been grateful for the strong ties we’ve forged with SDSU,” ICM President and CEO Dave Vander Griend said. “We could not have made ‘Old Blue’ a reality without the support of Dr. Middaugh and others. Because of our relationship over the years with SDSU, we understand the importance of innovation – and we’ve aggressively applied it at ICM. We’re very excited to work with SDSU again, and our collaboration with VeraSun on this project shows how passionate the academic community and industry leaders are when it comes to innovation.”
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