Research Sprouts in Richmond

The Lane Report
November 2009
By Debra Gibson

EKU enters biomass-to-biofuel exploration with California tech firm

Eastern Kentucky University’s Dr. Bruce Pratt is director of EKU’s Center for Renewable and alternative Fuel Technology, which is participating in research into replacing foreign petroleum with biofuels based on oil produced by algae.

It won’t singlehandedly solve the complex energy problems plaguing the United States, but new research at Eastern Kentucky University has the potential to make a significant dent in the need for imported oil. That according to Dr. Bruce R. Pratt, chair of the EKU Department of Agriculture and director of the university’s Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuel Technology (CRAFT).

Boosting a research relationship with a California high-tech defense corporation, EKU recently received $220,000 through the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund and $10,000 each in Clark and Madison County Agricultural Development Funds to evaluate biofuel production potential in Kentucky. The goal is to establish algae feedstocks that could grow the raw material to produce diesel and jet fuel. The project also will evaluate the on-farm economics of transitioning from traditional ag production to biofuel feedstock production in Kentucky.

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