New research center will assist in turning plant materials into fuel

Eastern announced on Monday that it is entering into a government-funded partnership to research and produce an alternative fuel source made from plants farmed in Kentucky.Eastern President Doug Whitlock said Eastern will be working with its corporate partner, San Diego-based General Atomics, to develop an "optimum mix" of plant materials grown in Kentucky that can be used to create fuel using algae.

General Atomics Vice President Bill Davison said General Atomics has already done work producing biofuel using algae in the sunny desert areas of the southwest U.S., but wants to develop the capabilities to produce the fuel in other areas of the country as well.

General Atomics has already done work in Kentucky, including the creation of hazardous waste disposal units for the Blue Grass Army Depot, Davison said.

Eastern's role in the project will be through its newly created Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuels Technology (CRAFT), Whitlock said. Whitlock said the center is currently staffed by two Eastern agriculture professors, Dr. Bruce Pratt and Dr. Don Llewellyn, and an Eastern economics professor, Dr. Frank O'Connor.

The center will conduct research on Eastern's campus and in the field to determine which inedible plant parts create the best mix for pairing with algae to creat biofuel.

Pratt said potential plant choices include switch grass, corn stalks and sawdust. The plant parts must be made of cellulose, an indigestible part of the plant for humans, Pratt said.

In order to create the biofuel, the cellulose must be broken down into its sugar components. Those sugars are then used to feed the algae, which have a very high oil content, Pratt said. That oil is then extracted from the algae and refined into biodiesel, he said.

Whitlock said the first step would be to create diesel fuel, but ultimately the goal would be to produce jet fuel.

Sen. Harry Moberly (D-Richmond) said Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is one potential consumer of the biofuel.

General Atomics and Eastern worked with federal and state legislators to obtain an estimated $1.5 million in state and local funding and a $4 million earmark on the federal defense appropriations bill for the biofuel project.

Gov. Steve Beshear said the $1.5 million in state and local funding would go towards the first phase of the project, which is more focused on research and planning, and the $4 million from the federal government would go towards designing facilities for manufacturing the biofuel.

Davison said General Atomics would only be investing "intellectual property" in the first stage of the project, but would be investing heavily in the creation of a commercial plant. Davison declined to estimate how much General Atomics would be spending on the plant, but called a suggested estimate of $5 million to $10 million "much too small."

No estimates could be obtained for how much biofuel could eventually be produced, how many Kentuckians might be employed at the processing facilities, or how much money Kentucky farmers or General Atomics stand to make. Whitlock said down the road there's a potential for Eastern to receive royalties from the research it does on the project.

Moberly said it was important not to underestimate the importance of the project.

"This is something that can be done," he said. "We just need the research. We've got the people to do it and we can move forward in Kentucky."

Beshear agreed.

"Today we can explore and embark upon ideas that today may seem novel or even revolutionary," Beshear said. "But tomorrow will cast us as leaders.