USDA invests $136m to encourage next gen biofuels

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $136 million (€100 million) in five major agricultural research projects.

These schemes will help further establish renewable energy markets in the US, and reduce the nation's reliance on imported fossil oil. Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack announced the five-year programme on 28 September.

University teams from Washington, Louisiana, Tennessee and Iowa states will lead the projects, but grants will be distributed to public and private sector partners in 22 states. Each project is in some way dedicated to using biomass to produce bio-jet fuel for the aviation industry.

· $40 million of the grants were awarded to a research group from the University of Washington. The team will focus on using sustainably grown wood-based crops to produce ethanol and renewable aviation fuel.

· Washington State University and its research team received $40 to convert closed timber mills into bioenergy development centres. These facilities will look at feedstock development and sustainable forest production. The project will also work to develop innovative ways to identify the best-suited feedstocks for renewable fuel production. The team hopes to develop a regional source of renewable aviation fuel for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

· A research team led by Iowa State University will utilise its $25 million grant to develop a regional biomass production system for advanced transportation fuels derived from native perennial grasses such as switchgrass, big bluestem and Indian grass.

· A team of researchers led by Louisiana State University received $17.2 million to enable the regular production of biomass for economically viable conversion using existing refinery infrastructure.

· A $15 million grant was awarded to the University of Tennessee and its team of scientists to develop sustainable feedstock production systems such as switchgrass and woody biomass, that will produce low-cost, easily convertible sugars into biochemical conversion to butanol, lignin by-products and forest mill residues, and dedicated energy crop feedstocks to produce diesel, heat and power.