Clemson to build biofuel processing plant

SCBIZ Daily
SCBIZ Daily Staff
October 15, 2008

Clemson University has received a $1.2M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund a bioethanol research project. Clemson researchers will work with the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken to find the best way to produce plant-based fuels — switchgrass and sweet sorghum in particular — in the region.

The grant will also fund the development of a small-scale biofuel processing plant at Clemson University’s Restoration Institute in North Charleston.

Clemson University asserts that research at the pilot plant could be an economic development asset for the state because it could assist energy producers interested in energy-crop bases in the Southeast to build regional ethanol-production facilities.

South Carolinians use more than 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline every year, all of which comes from out of state. Producing enough plant-based ethanol to replace 20% of South Carolina’s fuel use could create thousands of jobs and add $2 billion to the state economy, according to the report “Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol” produced by the U.S. Department of Energy in June 2006.

There are also environmental benefits, Clemson said. Ethanol made from cellulosic feedstocks such as switchgrass and sweet sorghum, or agricultural residues such as corn stover, has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 86% compared to gasoline. Biofuels have the added benefit of providing a “carbon sink.” As crops grow to produce the feedstocks for making the biofuel, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to the DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Web site.

Switchgrass could become a significant source for ethanol fuel produced in South Carolina, producing as much as 800 to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre. A group of Clemson and USDA-Agriculture Research Service scientists is investigating switchgrass production systems at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence, including soil and crop management, new variety development and measuring environmental impacts.

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