Midwest drought propels biofuel research

The Daily Illini
Posted: July 29, 2012 - 11:39 PM

by Nora Ibrahim
Fires, drought and more than 4,000 broken temperature records have made the summer of 2012 particularly noteworthy. But the unshakeable heat has provided the impetus to push research in alternative fuel sources and bioenergy in a different direction.

 The Department of Energy awarded a $12.1 million grant toward research into drought-tolerant grasses as a sustainable bioenergy source. The five-year project will be headed by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis in collaboration with the University, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Minnesota and Washington State University.

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NAABB executive director named leader of LANL bioscience division

Biodiesel Magazine
By The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts
July 24, 2012

The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, a consortium of leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry and national laboratories led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, announced Executive Director José Olivares has been selected to serve as division leader for the bioscience division, a central hub for biotechnology development at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Olivares, who has considerable experience in algal biofuels research, will lead a team of 180 researchers and staff within disciplinary groups that include genome science, biosecurity and public health, bioenergy and environmental science and advanced measurement science, who execute a portfolio of more than $70 million per year.

“This is an inspiring time to be researching algal biofuels and I pledge to continue to lead NAABB as its executive director until the end of the currently funded consortium term, which is April 2013,” said Olivares. “The LANL efforts within NAABB are executed primarily out of the bioscience division, therefore NAABB and its future will remain a major focus of mine for the time to come.”

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Danforth Center wins DOE funding to study drought, biomass crops

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
July 17, 2012

The U.S. DOE awarded a five-year, $12.1 million grant to researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and their collaborators at the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the University of Minnesota and Washington State University to develop a new model plant system, Setaria viridis, to advance bioenergy grasses as a sustainable source of renewable fuels.

Drought is the number one stress crops endure which limits yield and is of growing concern due to the globe’s diminishing water supply and climate change. This year, extreme heat and lack of rainfall combined with the mild winter has resulted in an all-time low in soil moisture and is producing new challenges for our nation’s farmers. Reduced yields will likely spark a rebound in global food prices. Drought conditions also have a major impact on crops that serve as sources of bioenergy.

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Researchers say $100B needed for plant science R&D to meet food, fuel targets

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane
June 22, 2012

In Washington, writing in The Scientist, Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Wolf Frommer and Tom Brutnell of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center said that a 10-year, $100 billion investment in food and energy science is required, in order to address the planet’s long term fuel and food needs.

The authors note a 2012 FAO estimate that 920 million people lack sufficient food to meet suggested daily caloric intake goals, and that global food production must increase 70 percent by 2050 to meet basic needs. The authors said that research in plant sciences, which has been shrinking, must be increased in the areas of crop yield, plant pathogens, water and fertilizer use — as well as the develop of plants that can produce sustainable biofuels.

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Danforth Plant Science Center Receives $5.5 Million DOE Grant ...

Biofuels Journal
Date Posted: October 12, 2011

...to Study Camelina as Sustainable Biofuel Source

St. Louis, MO—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $5.5 million to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to develop the oilseed plant camelina (Camelina sativa) as a sustainable source of biofuel.

Sixty grants, totaling $156 million, were awarded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency within the DOE, for cutting-edge energy technology projects aimed at dramatically improving how the U.S. produces biofuels.

Camelina has great potential to serve as a replacement for petroleum-based fuels, and for other industrial applications.

Specifically, the $5.5 million grant will support research led by investigators associated with the Danforth Center’s Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels team to develop an enhanced variety of camelina that produces more oil per acre.

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Genotype to phenotype: Carrington takes charge at Danforth Plant Center

Biofuels Digest Jim Lane April 4, 2011 Recently, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announced that Dr. James C. Carrington, will become the next President Center. Carrington is the Director of the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing (CGRB), the Stewart Professor for Gene Research, and Distinguished Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Jim Carrington took some time out to talk with the Digest about his goals. “There are so few centers of this scale focused on plant science,” says Jim Carrington, the new head of the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center in St. Louis, “where you have the opportunity to help humanity by providing more and better food, and improving the environment.” Read more

Danforth-led algae biofuel research wins $44M in stimulus

MSN Money.com
January 13, 2010 1:14 PM ET

Research efforts led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to turn algae into renewable energy got a $44 million boost Wednesday.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Wednesday the investment of $78 million in federal stimulus money for advanced biofuels research and fueling infrastructure that will help support the development of a clean sustainable transportation sector.

The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, led by the Danforth Center, is getting $44 million of that to commercialize algae into a biofuel.

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