Oct. 2: Butanol’s beauty as biofuel

CFAES’s Thaddeus “Teddy” Ezeji speaks on “Butanol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass: Challenges and Opportunities” at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in 081 Halterman Hall at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute, 1328 Dover Road, in Wooster. Ezeji is an associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences. Butanol, which can be used in place of gasoline as fuel in car engines, can be made from plant-based biomass. A 2013 story in Fortune called it “The fuel that could be the end of ethanol.” ATI is CFAES’s two-year degree-granting unit. Among its majors is an associate of science degree in renewable energy. Details: yoder.275@osu.edu.

Capitol ideas

OSU CFAES Legislative LunchFrom left, State Rep. John Becker (District 65, Union Township) and Harold Keener and Yebo Li, both of CFAES, talk during yesterday’s (March 12) CFAES Legislative Luncheon in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. Becker is a member of the House Education Committee. Keener and Li are scientists in CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, where they work in the sustainability-related fields of bioenergy, biobased products and large-scale composting. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain.)

Pedal to the steel

OARDC FABE building construction Steel deliveryThe first truckload of structural steel for OARDC’s new Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building arrives this morning in Wooster. When finished, the building will house research on biofuel, bioproducts, bioenergy and more. It replaces a building damaged beyond repair by 2010’s Wooster tornado. OARDC is CFAES’s research arm. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain.)

Jan. 31: Producing liquid biofuel from biomass

thaddeus ezejiCFAES scientist Thaddeus Ezeji presents “Liquid Biofuel Production from Biomass: Challenges and Opportunities” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, in 244 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus and in 121 Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave., on the Wooster campus of CFAES’s research arm, OARDC. The talk’s sponsor is our Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. (Photo: Center for Applied Plant Sciences.)

How to grow, sell new bioenergy crops in Ohio

guayuleOhio State’s South Centers in Piketon, part of CFAES, will hold a workshop April 8 on growing and marketing bioenergy crops, including miscanthus and guayule (pictured). Get more details here and here (pdf; check out the list of expert speakers). (Photo: Clarence A. Rechenthin @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.)

This ‘good’ algae can be used to make biofuel

OSU OARDC FABE Dr. Yebo Li Alage TouchStoneThere are algae we don’t want. And algae we do. A pilot algae farm now operates near Wooster (pictured) and CFAES’s research arm, OARDC, is one of the project’s partners. Studies at the farm should give us new, specific details on the system’s costs, biofuel yields, evaporation rates (including an innovative material that cuts them), and sustainability. Of note: Some of the carbon dioxide released by the farm’s coal-burning greenhouse heat source gets reused. It gets pumped back into the water, which helps the algae grow. Also: Residue left after processing the algae for biofuel also gets reused. It feeds an anaerobic digester that in turn generates energy too.