Researcher studying ways to handle huge quantities of biomass

Farm and Dairy
Monday, December 14, 2009

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As scientists scramble to develop ways to generate enormous amounts of energy from cleaner-burning, renewable fuels to replace coal and oil, promising agricultural crops such as switchgrass have made headlines.

But selecting the plants from which to make energy is just part of the challenge. Systems to handle huge volumes of biomass to feed power generators also must be devised.

Jude Liu, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is one of the researchers working on the logistics of handling massive quantities of biomass. He recently received a $100,000 grant from the Sun Grant Initiative to support his work.

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