Research to turn trees into liquid fuel is getting a boost with approval of the $410 billion federal omnibus spending bill. The bill allocates $1.4 million for a new
biofuel research program at
Michigan State University’s (MSU)
Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center (UPTIC) in Escanaba.
The funds will allow MSU and
Michigan Technological University (MTU) scientists to work together to find solutions to the most complex problems facing the forest-based cellulosic biofuels industry, using trees as raw materials for renewable fuels such as ethanol.
The facility "will be a place where new and existing research, development and outreach projects at Michigan State and Michigan Tech can be focused," says Ray Miller, MSU forest biomass development coordinator.
The funding for the center comes from the
U.S. Department of Energy and is being distributed by the
Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).
"The central U.P. is heavily forested and is at the heart of both the existing forest products industry and the emerging wood-based biofuels industry," Miller says. "It's the perfect place to investigate and demonstrate the best ways to use our vast forest resources to expand the state's rural economies in environmentally, economically and socially sustainable ways."
MSU will also see funding from other budget bill appropriations, categorized as
U.S. Department of Agriculture special research grants. They include $500,000 of a multi-state, $4.5 million grant for wood utilization research; $346,000 to share with the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for fire blight research; $346,000 to combat the plant disease phytophthora; and $266,000 for sustainable agriculture research.
MSU also will share in a $3.8 million dollar energy and water appropriation for a
Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research.
Source: MSU
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached
here.
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