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University of Florida News[http://news.ufl.edu]

UF-led research team selected for $125 million joint U.S.-India energyproject

Filed under Environment [http://news.ufl.edu/research/environment/] , Research[http://news.ufl.edu/research/] on Friday, April 20, 2012.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. A University of Florida [http://www.ufl.edu] -led research team hasbeen selected to participate in a five-year, $125 million energy project involving theUnited States and India, U.S. Department of Energy [http://energy.gov/] officials haveannounced.

Known as the Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center, or JCERDC, theproject is aimed at reducing energy consumption, cutting dependence on petroleumproducts and increasing use of renewable fuels.

The UF-led team will develop biofuels derived from inedible plant material. Two otherresearch teams, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [http://www.nrel.gov/]and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [http://www.lbl.gov/] , will focus on solarenergy and energy efficiency of buildings, respectively.

Total funding for the biofuels project is about $21 million, including about $2.7 million infederal funding destined for UF.

This award highlights many of the attributes that make the University of Florida a world-class research institution, said David Norton, UF vice president for research. Itillustrates our commitment to building interdisciplinary partnerships, both domesticallyand internationally, to achieve important scientific goals such as developing renewableclean-energy solutions.

Also on the UF-led team are the University of Missouri [http://www.missouri.edu/] ,Virginia Tech [http://www.vt.edu/] , Montclair State University[http://www.montclair.edu/index.php] , Texas A&M University[http://www.tamu.edu/] , Show Me Energy Cooperative[http://www.goshowmeenergy.com/] , and Green Technologies. They will work with acounterpart team based in India and led by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology-Hyderabad [http://www.iictindia.org/] .

The researchers primary goal will be to develop and optimize several crops as biofuelfeedstocks, said Pratap Pullammanappallil [http://abe.ufl.edu/people/directory/faculty-profiles/pullammanappallil-pratap.shtml] , an associate professor with UFs Institute ofFood and Agricultural Sciences [http://www.ifas.ufl.edu] . The crops include high-yieldbiomass sorghum, sweet sorghum, pearl millet, bamboo and switch grass.

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Sorghum and switch grass will likely be the groups initial focus, he said. The UFresearchers will concentrate on improving technology for converting biomass to fuel. Muchof the work will take place in the Biofuels Pilot Plant on the UF campus and the StanMayfield Biorefinery Pilot Plant in Perry, a joint venture between UF and BuckeyeTechnologies Inc. [http://www.bkitech.com/]

Another goal is to expand our capacity to utilize waste streams in the cellulosic ethanol

conversion process, he said. The researchers will investigate ways of using spentfeedstocks, wastewater and other materials to produce additional bioenergy and productssuch as fertilizers and bioplastics.

Pullammanappallil, based at the agricultural and biological department, is the teamsprincipal investigator. Other UF faculty members on the team are: Zhaohui Tong[http://abe.ufl.edu/people/directory/faculty-profiles/tong-zhaohui.shtml] of agriculturaland biological engineering; Lonnie Ingram[http://microcell.ufl.edu/personnel/faculty/ingram1.shtml] and Keelnatham Shanmugam[http://microcell.ifas.ufl.edu/personnel/faculty/shan.shtml] of microbiology and cellscience; Ramesh Reddy [http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/personnel/reddy.html] , George

OConnor [http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/personnel/oconnor.html] and Ann Wilkie[http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/personnel/wilkie.html] of soil and water science; and WilfredVermerris [http://agronomy.ifas.ufl.edu/wilfred-vermerris/profile/] of agronomy.

Work on the project is expected to begin this fall, Pullammanappallil said.

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Credits

Writer

Tom Nordlie, tnordlie@ufl.edu [mailto:tnordlie@ufl.edu] , [#]Source

Pratap Pullammanappallil, pcpratap@ufl.edu [mailto:pcpratap@ufl.edu] , [#] ext.203

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