1) More than 900 million tons of standing forest biomass in Alabama are equivalent to 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil. 2) Growing forest biomass or agricultural energy crops to make biofuels has great potential to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. 3) Development of biofuels is a major goal of the laboratory.
Alabama’s climate and growing conditions are ideal for producing trees, grasses, and other plants that can be used to produce biofuels, as well as manufacture a wide range of bioproducts—from pharmaceuticals to car parts. For example, Alabama’s vastforests contain more than 900 million dry tons of standing woody biomass. This is equivalent to approximately 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil.
Auburn University has embarked on a major bioenergy and bioproducts initiative to turn these biomass resources into biofuels and new products, thus creating new jobs and business opportunities that will benefit Alabama farmers as well as forest landowners, and revitalize local economies. Most importantly, this initiative will help the nation achieve its energy security goals by developing new supplies of liquid transportation fuels made from locally grown cellulosic biomass resources that are separate and distinct from those used for food or feeds.
Auburn University has a long history of extensive research and education efforts focused on biomass production and bioenergy. In 2006, a major initiative was launched to focus those various efforts across the university into a comprehensive program aimed at creating biofuel technologies that are cost competitive with petroleum-based fuels. Through this initiative, Auburn is investing significant resources into major equipment acquisitions, as well as into research and outreach in biochemical and thermochemical conversion of biomass toliquid fuels, power, and other high-value products.
The newly created Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, under the auspices of the Auburn University Natural Resources Management & Development Institute, plans to create a comprehensive Bioenergy and Bioproducts Laboratory which will allow these research and education activities to occur in one location combining all aspects of research, from feedstock production and processing, through biofuel conversion to biofuel testing. The laboratory will attract creative faculty, staff, and students from across campus, the nation, and the world. It will also draw entrepreneurs throughout the state and region interested in partnering with Auburn University to create products and solve problems.
Located on the Auburn campus and adjacent to the Auburn Research Park, the laboratory will assist in drawing potential tenants to the park, where their proximity will facilitate collaboration. will create an extraordinarysynergistic environment in which the best minds—on and off the Auburn University campus—can leverage their expertise and creativity to advance significant areas of energy study. With state-of-the-art design, the laboratory will house individual areas for feedstock processing, biomass fractionation, fermentation, gasification, distillation, and biofuel testing. Creative spaces will be included to stimulate innovation among faculty, students, and entrepreneurs. Additionally, the Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts will team scientists, engineers, economists, industrial designers, business planners, and others to take research results from the laboratory into local communities in order to provide hands-on solutions to today’s energy challenges.
The Bioenergy and Bioproducts Laboratory at Auburn University will be a unique research and education component of the infrastructure needed to meet the United States’ critical energy goals. Not only will the laboratory foster the development of new energy technologies, but it will educate the next generation of engineers and scientists needed to implement them.
4) The laboratory, which will house pilot scale equipment for fermentation and gasification of biomass, will position Auburn for a leadership role in bioenergy and bioproduct research in the Southeast. 5) Energy from sunlight ultimately becomes the food, fuels, and materials that we depend on for life. 6) Other products like pharmaceuticals may hold even greater value in a biobased economy. 7) Agricultural crops like switchgrass canbe grown and converted to biofuels.