Roadside Gumweed in Nevada Could Be Used as Jet Fuel for the Military

by Whip Villarreal (University of Nevada, Reno) College of Ag, Biotech and Natural Resources leads research project at University of Nevada, Reno -- Glenn Miller is leading the effort in a project at the University of Nevada, Reno to convert roadside gumweed into biofuel, which could help contribute to fuel supplies for the military.

"The plant grindelia squarosa, known as curly top gumweed, has extractable hydrocarbons with the potential use as a biodiesel or biomaterials crop," Miller, a professor in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, said. "Gumweed is native in Nevada and grows on the side of freeways and, more importantly, is an arid land crop that requires less water than other substitutes like alfalfa. Alfalfa takes five feet of water to grow while gumweed uses no more than a foot of water."

The collaborators on the project planted the gumweed at the University's Valley Road Field Laboratory and the Main Station Field Laboratory using minimal water and fertilizer resources. After growing and harvesting the gumweed, it went through biomass processing where it was broken down to liquid that smells like tar.

Miller said the U.S. Navy is interested in using the biofuel as jet fuel. The project received $500,000 in grant funding from the United States Department of Agriculture and has the potential to supply up to 20 percent of fuel demand for the military.

"It is estimated that if even 10 percent of sagebrush-covered lands in Nevada are used to grow gumweed for aviation biofuels, 400 to 600 million gallons per year of jet biofuels could be produced," Hongfei Lin, a collaborator from the College of Engineering, said. "That's definitely incredible. There's lots of potential."

Lin, a professor of chemical and materials engineering is working on the project with Miller to identify a catalyst that can be used to convert biomass into fuel using an unconventional approach to biofuel production. Instead of adding hydrogen to biomass, Lin is exploring a more cost-effective manner using an oxidation process.

The highly drought- and salt-tolerant crop can be harvested twice in its second year of growth, ... READ MORE and MORE (KTVN includes VIDEO) and MORE (BigStory/Associated Press)

Excerpt from KTVN: He says there is the potential for 60 to 70 gallons of fuel conversion from a single acre of gumweed. ... "If we can grow this, capture the carbon dioxide out of the air, turn that into fuel and burn that, it's kind of a cycle that will allow us to reduce the amount of CO2 we put into the atmosphere," says Miller. READ MORE