UF-Led Research Team Selected for $125 Million Joint U.S.-India Energy Project

(University of Florida) A University of Florida-led research team has been selected to participate in a five-year, $125 million energy project involving the United States and India, U.S. Department of Energy officials have announced.

Known as the Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center, or JCERDC, the project is aimed at reducing energy consumption, cutting dependence on petroleum products and increasing use of renewable fuels.

The UF-led team will develop biofuels derived from inedible plant material. Two other research teams, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will focus on solar energy and energy efficiency of buildings, respectively.

...Also on the UF-led team are the University of Missouri, Virginia Tech, Montclair State University, Texas A&M University, Show Me Energy Cooperative, and Green Technologies. They will work with a counterpart team based in India and led by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology-Hyderabad.

The researchers’ primary goal will be to develop and optimize several crops as biofuel feedstocks, said Pratap Pullammanappallil, an associate professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The crops include high-yield biomass sorghum, sweet sorghum, pearl millet, bamboo and switch grass.

...Much of the work will take place in the Biofuels Pilot Plant on the UF campus and the Stan Mayfield Biorefinery Pilot Plant in Perry, a joint venture between UF and Buckeye Technologies Inc. READ MORE and MORE (CleanTechnica.com) and MORE (PennEnergy.com)