University Researches Alternative Fuels
By Rebecca K. Quigley, Athens Banner-Herald, Ga.
Jan. 24–University of Georgia environmental planners and researchers dream of a day when university and government vehicles will run on fuel made from the unused byproducts of Georgia forests.
Two-thirds of Georgia is covered in forest, much of which is grown for sale, but only 60 percent of the byproducts from tree harvests are reused.
The remaining 40 percent is bulldozed into rows and either burned or left to decompose, said Thomas Adams, UGA engineering outreach director.
“Georgia is kind of like the center of biomass for the country,” Adams said, adding that the unused byproducts of this abundant resource should be harnessed for an alternative fuel to diversify the fuel industry.
In the ever-advancing industry of alternative fuels, wood byproducts are the newest, latest resource that scientists consider the future of energy conservation.
UGA researchers in the Faculty of Engineering Outreach department, working with a company called EPRIDA, are developing liquid fuel from wood that can be used in vehicles designed to run on “flex fuels” — fuels that have varying combinations of gasoline and ethanol, which is derived from starchy crops. EPRIDA stands for Earth. People. Research. Innovation. Development. Acknowledgment.
Researchers and university planners are hopeful that someday UGA’s entire vehicle fleet will run on alternative fuels that burn cleaner than gasoline or petroleum, such as ethanol or biodiesel, which is derived from seed oils or animal fats.
A recent UGA fuel conservation committee’s proposal to step up UGA’s energy conservation efforts included replacing its gasoline-fueled vehicles with vehicles that run on flex fuels.
Newer cars and trucks are generally made with parts, at no extra cost, that don’t corrode from contact with ethanol like parts in many older vehicles do, said Daniel Sniff, UGA’s associate vice president for facilities planning.
“The good thing about flex fuels is the vehicle doesn’t cost us any more,” Sniff said.
The key to replacing the fleet with vehicles that can run on flex fuels is having a reliable supply of alternative fuels, which is where the university’s Faculty of Engineering Outreach Service can help, he said.
The facility creates alternative fuels as part of its research, teaching and land grant mission, “so we might as well use them,” said Thomas Adams, engineering outreach director.
Engineering outreach researchers have been exploring the use of peanut hulls, cotton gin waste, rice, chicken fat and other animal, grain and wood refuse to create alternative fuels and other products.
Engineering outreach’s exemption from fuel taxes and savings from using bakery waste as raw material will allow the university to make at least 70,000 gallons of 10 percent ethanol fuel per year for less than $1 per gallon — enough to supply the university’s nondiesel fleet, Adams said.
Through a process called pyrolysis — baking wood at about 450 degrees Celsius — UGA researchers have been able to extract an oil that can fuel industrial machinery and soon, with some processing, can fuel motor vehicles.
The university received a one-year $69,432 Traditional Industries Program grant from the state to explore the use of bio-oil — oil extracted from wood or crops — to fuel vehicles, Adams said.
UGA researchers are using the grant to find ways of extracting fuel-ready elements from wood-derived oil that smells like barbecue and looks like molasses, and researchers are running test engines with it, said faculty engineer Daniel Geller.
Engineers are beginning their fuel research with core wood but are more interested in the byproducts like bark and tree trimmings, Geller said.
“It would be nice if we could put a whole tree in there, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
Researchers don’t have data yet on emissions, performance or engine damage, but “chances are it will reduce a lot of emissions” because the chemicals in wood oil are different from those found in typical motor vehicle fuels, Geller said.
Research engineers are preparing the oil and repairing their test engines and expect to run their first tests next month, he said.
Developing fuels from renewable resources lessens the pressure for offshore oil drilling and keeps Georgia’s green spaces green through managed commercial forests, said Jill Johnson, an environmental advocate with the Georgia Public Interest Research Group in Atlanta.
“In general, we think alternative fuels are a good idea as long as they don’t exacerbate our current air problems,” Johnson said, adding that she hasn’t heard yet whether wood-based fuels would decrease harmful emissions.
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