SWITCH GRASS AND ETHANOL

[Alaa1991]

Hello

My name is Alaa, and I am an 10th will be an 11th grader next year of course, and I have planned to start way ahead, to do a project for next year, since I believe this project will take plenty of time and thinking. So I really need help.

I am planning to do a project that has to do with Switchgrass, which can be a good candidate for biofuel, like ethanol fuel. I am planning to do this project as a contiuning project also for 12 th grade, so I can kind of continue my study on from 11th grade.

Does any one have any idea?

Thanks

[Louise]

Hello

My name is Alaa, and I am an 10th will be an 11th grader next year of course, and I have planned to start way ahead, to do a project for next year, since I believe this project will take plenty of time and thinking. So I really need help.

I am planning to do a project that has to do with Switchgrass, which can be a good candidate for biofuel, like ethanol fuel. I am planning to do this project as a contiuning project also for 12 th grade, so I can kind of continue my study on from 11th grade.

Does any one have any idea?

Thanks

Switchgrass grows pretty tall... may be difficult to find space for it.

Have you looked at the wikipedia entry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass

It sounds like there is some doubt about whether switchgrass is a good source for ethanol.

I would look in to the work done in TN on this issue and see which questions are most appealing to you.

I'm really impressed that you are starting this early- this should give you time to do a really interesting project.

It would be great if you could find a mentor with a lab who could help you. Especially if you are interested in doing this project for two years and might be willing to work during the summer.

The University of Michigan has a campus in Flint- you might want to look at their webpages and see if you can find anyone who does something you are interested in. I looked quickly but couldn't find anyone who was interested in ethanol production:
http://www.umflint.edu/
http://www.umflint.edu/departments/chem ... earch.html
http://www.umflint.edu/departments/biology/

You could also try looking at Kettering (which I have never heard of, but there is lots of cool stuff on their website)
http://www.kettering.edu/

You should look at biology or chemistry departments (or chemical engineering) and see if you can find a prof. who is interested in ethanol production.

Louise

[Alaa1991]

Thanks for the great information!
Next year I won't be in Flint, but while I am still here, in Flint is the next four months I will search for someone in one of these universities who could help.

I was really planning to do this project instead of the refraction one; but it seemed too much for me at that time, and thought maybe I should keep it till next year. But while I was searching, I found that two students have done the project, and I really want to do it.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=6181462


if Switchgrass is too tall, we can cut them, and make them shorter.


I really think that it is a good idea for me to find a mentor that could help. when I first started thinking about doing this project, I was about to have a mentor who is a prefossor, in Mott commuinty college, maybe I will get back to him.

I am planning to do research for two months, and try to understand the idea very well.

I think that we could make ethanol, biofuel from grass the same way it is done with corn.
These days, the government is looking for someone who could find a cheaper way of making ethanol. Bush thought that Switchgrass is better source, since it is everywhere. While corn, runs out quickly.

So far I have gathered theses research:


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archiv ... 008148.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/featur ... jaffe.html

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3128

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/4932

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/abcs_biofuels.html

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=6181462

http://www.ilcorn.org/Education/Ethanol ... tproj.html

http://buzz.smm.org/buzz/making_fuel_from_trash

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... nol-1.html

http://sustainablog.blogspot.com/2006/0 ... o-gas.html

http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/?p=10

http://irenew.org/beta2004/legislog.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... t=1&f=1025

http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/d ... 001-10.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5963507/site/newsweek/


THANK YOU

[deleted-71576]

Wow. You've already got quite the collection of resources.

Work your way through them, and let us know if you have any questions.

[Alaa1991]

I found that there are so many ways to make ethanol, and that ethanol depends of sugar.
In Brazail, ethanol is made from sugar cane. Grass has sugar, so it is possible to make ethanol. People have done it before, after President Bush talked about it, but some say that it doesn't have as much energy as gasoline, while some say that it gains more energy.

I could do something about Ulization of cellulosic ethanal from Switchgrass, or from Sweet sorghurm.

Is there any one in Science Buddies who is an expert in my topic?


Any advice?

Thank you

[Louise]

I found that there are so many ways to make ethanol, and that ethanol depends of sugar.

Yes, and this is why corn is so popular- it has a lot of sugar. You can make ethanol from anything plant like- they all have sugar. So, if you read information about Sawgrass you see that there is enough "biomass" to make plenty of ethanol. The problem is much of the sugar is locked up in a chemically inaccessible way. You can get this sugar out, but it takes energy. Some calculations indicate that it will take more energy to make the ethanol from sawgrass than you will get from the ethanol itself. It talks about this on the wikipedia entry I gave you.

So, there is an interesting puzzle. The stuff that is easiest to make in to ethanol (and takes the least amount of energy) is always food crops. This is because we (our bodies) want sugar too, and we don't want to spend a lot of energy to get it out of the plant. But does it make sense to turn food in to gasoline? This is both a political and economical question. Is it "right" to turn corn to gas if people are hungry? Is it financially wise to turn corn in to gas, when you can make plenty of money selling it as food.

The better choice is to use weeds or non-agriculturally important plants (like saw grass). But, it is hard to get ethanol from these plants cheaply. You have to break down the cellulose in to usable sugars. Obviously, it can be done, but the trick is to figure out how to do this most cheaply. There is a LOT of research being done on this question.

I could do something about Ulization of cellulosic ethanal from Switchgrass, or from Sweet sorghurm.

In my opinion, the key question is "how do you cheaply and efficiently turn high cellulose materials in to ethanol?" If you are interested in this question, saw grass is a perfect choice to study.

There are a couple different approaches that I know about. One is the design of special chemicals called catalysts. Catalysts make it easier to do a chemical reaction, so you end up using less energy and get more product. Catalyst design is hard-core chemistry and you would need a mentor with a research lab. The second method is using bacteria to do the work for you. Many animals or insects or bacteria are able to process cellulose. So, you let them do some of the work breaking down cellulose, and then you process the sludge to ethanol. You would want to find a microbiology lab for this.

Here are some links about this issue:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-017.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol
http://www.ethanol-gec.org/information/briefing/20.pdf


This page talks about how it may be possible to extract other chemicals from this process. So, the plant could make ethanol as the major product, but then small amounts of other (expensive) chemicals are also made and could be sold to support the process:
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsre ... oducts.htm

So, read this stuff, and see if you can narrow down an area of interest.

Is there any one in Science Buddies who is an expert in my topic?

I don't think so, but I will ask on the experts board.

Louise

[Alaa1991]

THANKs for all your information, the sites are very helpful.

I am planning to do this project as a two years continuing project


Ulization of cellulosic ethanol from from Sweet sorghurm. I got it from the following website:

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=6181462

I agree with all what you said about taking food and turning it to fuel instead of feeding the people.

No one eats grass though. But you think that it not an efficent and cheap way?

I will see about "How do you cheaply and efficiently turn high cellulose materials in to ethanol?" actually I think that is what should really be done.
There has to be another resource other than corn, so we don't have to waste plenty of food on fuel.

Thanks

[Alaa1991]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass

I have already read what is in this website,

is sawgrass the same as Switchgrass?
I am confused. And I am just starting basically have not enough knowledge of this topic yet.

[deleted-71576]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass

is sawgrass the same as Switchgrass?

I don't think so. Switchgrass is Panicum virgatum. Sawgrass is in the genus cladium.

Switchgrass:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... peg/240px-


Sawgrass:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... jpg/240px-

Not sure why the above images aren't loading, but you can click on the links to see the images of switchgrass and sawgrass. They don't look anything like each other.

[Louise]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass

is sawgrass the same as Switchgrass?

I don't think so. Switchgrass is Panicum virgatum. Sawgrass is in the genus cladium.

Switchgrass:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... peg/240px-


Sawgrass:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... jpg/240px-

Not sure why the above images aren't loading, but you can click on the links to see the images of switchgrass and sawgrass. They don't look anything like each other.

Sorry, that was my fault. I don't know why I typed saw grass instead of switch grass.

Louise

[Louise]

No one eats grass though. But you think that it not an efficent and cheap way?

I think it is currently more difficult to get the energy out of cellulose plants (grass/wood/ non-food) rather than starch plants (corn, food plants). The current process uses a lot of chemicals (like acid) and energy to make this work.

I will see about "How do you cheaply and efficiently turn high cellulose materials in to ethanol?" actually I think that is what should really be done.
There has to be another resource other than corn, so we don't have to waste plenty of food on fuel.

This is exactly why it is a good question. I would look carefully in to the method currently used. Can you come up with an experiment to try to fix some of the problems? For example, look at the first step, which often involves a lot of acid. Is there a better way to break down the cellulose?

Louise

[Alaa1991]

So right now, next year I will concentrate on how to create better
enzymes that will degrade cellulose into sugars for a more efficient conversion to ethanol.
And prehaps in my 12th grade I will continue, and build up to my work.

Should I start by genetically engineering the switchgrass?

Any Advice?

[Louise]

So right now, next year I will concentrate on how to create better
enzymes that will degrade cellulose into sugars for a more efficient conversion to ethanol.
And prehaps in my 12th grade I will continue, and build up to my work.

Should I start by genetically engineering the switchgrass?

Any Advice?

Easier to genetically engineer bacteria which would decompose the weeds, I think.

Or... you could test a bunch of different weeds/plants and see which one produces the most ethanol for given conditions.

Louise

[Alaa1991]

Thanks! I like that Idea.

[deleted-71447]

Sounds like a fun project.
Some fungi (e.g. Pleurotus ostreatus) grow well on cellulose. You might be able to take advantage of that.

[Alaa1991]

I found that Swicthgrass is more efficent than corn
"The government views switchgrass and other sources of biomass as plentiful and low-cost alternatives to corn for making fuel ethanol." (http://www.exchangemagazine.com/XQuarterly/energy.html)

Do you think that the project that I am doing has been done by someone,
"How do you cheaply and efficiently turn high cellulose materials in to ethanol?"

I want to do a popular, and exciting, and new project


Thanks for those who encourage me, could you help break down what I should research.

[deleted-71447]

I don't see any comment in that article that switchgrass being more efficient than corn. The text is mostly about the economics of biofuel production, and the difficulty of getting farmers to grow switchgrass.

If you are looking for a justification of why the U.S. might want to look towards switchgrass (as opposed to corn) as a source of biofuel, I think this article would be a better starting point:
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/05/olmstead/

Yes, It is certain that others have done projects that could fall under that category. Don't worry about it - when you do your background research, you'll see what questions have been answered and what remains to be discovered.[/b]

[Alaa1991]

THANKS!

So when I found what is remained to be discovered, probably that is what I could do.
But I want to know what should I do, now. Help me break it down a little so I can finish my research. Like should I start first gathering information on .
I thought maybe I should research enough, until I understand what is needed.
I decided first to study Ken Vogel work, and what he did. And then later on when I am knowledgable enough prehaps I might contact him, since he is an expert in that field. He is doing work on genetics of switchgrass. And then later I should be able to contact Vogel and convince him that he should encourage me to help him in his reasearh. That way I could benfit while he also benefits.
Then the next step I will be taking is to understand the biological needs for producing ethanol from cellulose. And understand the process is takes to extracting ethanol from the Switchgrass (cellulose).
I will study my reasearch very well, and then later try to find an expert whom I can contact.
But right now, I will keep in mind the problem as “How can you enhance the extraction of ethanol from Switchgrass?� or How do you cheaply and efficiently turn high cellulose materials in to ethanol?" so the research is eaiser for me, and then maybe when I meet and expert face to face, we can try to come up with an idea. Or as Chris G. said, do the background reasearch, and later I can find the undiscovered and that might help me form my problem.

So does anyone have an advice?

[Alaa1991]

Below is reserach I have found that can assist in the science of genetic


[b]http://www.ifgene.org/beginner.htm[/b]

[i]What is genetics?[/i]
Genetics is the scientific study of genes, i.e. variations in the characteristics -- resemblances and differences -- of organisms and how these characteristics are inherited from generation to generation. Modern genetics is as much concerned with the organismic level of this process as it is with the cellular and molecular levels.

[i]What is genetic engineering?[/i]

Engineering is the technological manipulation of the objects of the natural world in a way that is perceived to be beneficial to people. Traditionally we used the word in the context of inanimate nature: bridges, railways and machines etc. But the term can be used and is used in the context of biology, namely for bioengineering, i.e. modifying or manipulating living organisms. Another term used in place of the term 'genetic engineering' is 'biotechnology'. Some people think that 'biotechnology' sounds less emotive, less fearful. How is genetic engineering defined then? As with the term 'gene', it depends upon who is using it and in what context

[i]How is genetic engineering done? [/i]

there is insufficient extracted DNA for further manipulation it can be exactly copied and thus reproduced in the test tube exploiting the property of bases in the two complementary strands of the DNA helix to pair with each other in a precise way. The procedure used for doing this is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) named after the polymerase enzyme which catalyses the building up of new DNA chains from its building blocks, the single units which hold the bases. It is precisely this method which is used in DNA-fingerprinting, a technique used by forensic sciences to identify individuals who were at the scene of a crime and may have committed it.
Finding the gene or DNA-sequence of interest in an organism's DNA is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The DNA has to be got into some form where it can be 'filed', catalogued and retrieved at will in sufficient quantities for further work. A convenient way of doing this is to clone the DNA in microorganisms such as yeast or bacteria, thus creating living 'libraries' of DNA. The procedures exploit the normal reproductive properties of the microorganisms, such as transformation and transduction in bacteria. Migroorganisms can be manipulated in a precisely controlled way in the laboratory and have the advantage that their generation or doubling time is short, e.g. about 20 minutes for bacteria. Unused organisms can also be stored frozen indefinitely in a viable form for immediate use. This part of the genetic engineering process is carried out in laboratory facilities which should provide complete containment of the organisms and such procedures are controlled by the 'contained use' GMO regulations. Different stringencies of contained use apply according to the level of perceived danger from the GMO.
To find the particular gene of interest the gene library has to be searched with a suitable probe. Just like finding a book in a library one needs to have a bit of an idea about what one is looking for, so too, in searching a gene library one needs to know something of the nature of the gene one is looking for. Such information can come from classical genetics, for instance the gene could be closely linked in the process of inheritance to another which has already been identified. Or one can construct a probe by working backwards from the protein, the known expression product of the gene. By knowing the sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, in the protein or in part of the protein it is possible to work out from the genetic code for each amino acid, i.e. the sequence of three bases which codes for it, what the sequence of DNA is in the gene that codes for the protein. A short DNA probe can then be constructed which has the property that it will bind relatively strongly to the complementary strand of the DNA of the gene of interes in the gene library. Various blotting, washing, transfer and chemical methods are used with the organism in the gene library and the DNA obtained from it to find the gene of interest. In practice a whole collection of methods are used gradually to home in on the gene. It must be obtained intact, that is in a form where it could given the right circumstances produce its normal protein expression product. To make sufficient quantities of it for further work it can be multiplied by PCR



[i[/i]

[Alaa1991]

Also this has to do with the gentic


[i]Genetic engineering and research[/i]Although there has been a tremendous revolution in the biological sciences in the past twenty years, there is still a great deal that remains to be discovered. The completion of the sequencing of the human genome, as well as the genomes of most agriculturally and scientifically important plants and animals, has increased the possibilities of genetic research immeasurably. Expedient and inexpensive access to comprehensive genetic data has become a reality with billions of sequenced nucleotides already online and annotated. Now that the rapid sequencing of arbitrarily large genomes has become a simple, if not trivial affair, a much greater challenge will be elucidating function of the extraordinarily complex web of interacting proteins, dubbed the proteome, that constitutes and powers all living things. Genetic engineering has become the gold standard in protein research, and major research progress has been made using a wide variety of techniques, including:
Loss of function, such as in a knockout experiment, in which an organism is engineered to lack the activity of one or more genes. This allows the experimenter to analyze the defects caused by this mutation, and can be considerably useful in unearthing the function of a gene. It is used especially frequently in developmental biology. A knockout experiment involves the creation and manipulation of a DNA construct in vitro, which, in a simple knockout, consists of a copy of the desired gene which has been slightly altered such as to cripple its function. The construct is then taken up by embryonic stem cells, where the engineered copy of the gene replaces the organism's own gene. These stem cells are injected into blastocysts, which are implanted into surrogate mothers. Another method, useful in organisms such as Drosophila (fruit fly), is to induce mutations in a large population and then screen the progeny for the desired mutation. A similar process can be used in both plants and prokaryotes.
· Gain of function experiments, the logical counterpart of knockouts. These are sometimes performed in conjunction with knockout experiments to more finely establish the function of the desired gene. The process is much the same as that in knockout engineering, except that the construct is designed to increase the function of the gene, usually by providing extra copies of the gene or inducing synthesis of the protein more frequently.
· 'Tracking' experiments, which seek to gain information about the localization and interaction of the desired protein. One way to do this is to replace the wild-type gene with a 'fusion' gene, which is a juxtaposition of the wild-type gene with a reporting element such as Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) that will allow easy visualization of the products of the genetic modification. While this is a useful technique, the manipulation can destroy the function of the gene, creating secondary effects and possibly calling into question the results of the experiment. More sophisticated techniques are now in development that can track protein products without mitigating their function, such as the addition of small sequences which will serve as binding motifs to monoclonal antibodies.



http://www.voice.buz.org/genetic_engine ... andge.html

[deleted-71447]

I'm not sure if I understand your question/request, but I think you have a very good plan. One thing you can do to help narrow down your search is to make an initial decision about which part of the process of generating biofuel is most interesting to you. Right now, your stated interests seem too broad for a single project. Your scientific question seems to be about how to chemcially process cellulose, but you also mention an interest in genetic modification of switchgrass. Choose the topic that interests you the most and don't spend much energy (for now) on the other topic! Later, you will probably discover that there are even more choices to make that will help you to narrow down your topic.

[Louise]

I think you should not worry about genetic modifications for the first part of your research. I think the simplest question that you can answer is "What plants are good sources of ethanol?" where you look at different fast growing high cellulose materials. People study switchgrass because it grows well in the US. In India, people are working on a totally different plant that is also a weed.

People are not really testing these plants against each other, they are just trying to make weeds work. So, you could look at several different plants.

Please don't post huge blocks of text here about genetics- especially since this doesn't yet relate to your project. This type of background we know already!

I think you should spend a week or so reading the links we've given you, and the material you've found yourself and think carefully about what part is most interesting. Then we can start discussing this again. I cannot imagine you have read and understand everything we've posted since it has only been a few days. Read, think, and then think some more. We will still be here when you come back!

Louise

[Alaa1991]

I found that there are several different types of switchgrass.
" Can perennial switchgrass be as effective for biofuel production as other crops such as corn?"


Ok I will choose a topic that intrest me than research it.
This year I will focus in genetic modification of switchgrass.
and next year maybe I should focus on how to chemcially process cellulose.

Is that what I should do?

I seem to be really confused.

[Alaa1991]

Ok

I apologize to putting this bunch of stuff of the gentic engineer. Thank you things are very clear now.




Thanks.

[Louise]

I found that there are several different types of switchgrass.
" Can perennial switchgrass be as effective for biofuel production as other crops such as corn?"


Ok I will choose a topic that intrest me than research it.
This year I will focus in genetic modification of switchgrass.
and next year maybe I should focus on how to chemcially process cellulose.

Is that what I should do?

I seem to be really confused.

Genetic modification is more difficult than chemical processing, so I would switch the parts around. Do chemical processing this year, and genetic modification next year.

Louise

[deleted-71447]

If you are going to focus on how to chemically process cellulose, a better starting question might be "how can cellulose be chemically processed for use as a biofuel?" As you learn more about the process and begin to develop your own ideas for experiments, you will be able to make this question more specific. If you are not going to study corn (or other plants), you don't need to include those in your question.

[mfripp]

I am not an expert in this area, but just to reiterate what a few people have said, you will find this easier if you narrow your question down to make a feasible science project. There are many companies and government programs focusing on the general question of how best to make ethanol from cellulosic biomass. It's impossible for anyone to answer this big question from a single research project. Instead, people break it down into questions that can be answered by a single project, like this:

1) Which of three plant species (e.g., switchgrass, poplar trees and something else) produce the most sugar (or the most ethanol) when I apply one particular process. (To do this experiment, you will need to find some process that people are already using to extract sugars or ethanol from cellulose, and then apply that process to existing plants. You will also need to use some established technique for measuring the sugars or ethanol.)

2) Which of two or three processes is the most efficient at producing ethanol from switchgrass? (For this experiment, you will need to find some existing processes that produce ethanol from switchgrass. Then you would perform each one, and measure the output from each one.)

3) How can an existing process be adjusted to produce the most ethanol (or sugar) from switchgrass? (For this experiment, you would need to find an existing process of breaking down cellulosic biomass into sugars, and possibly also for converting it into ethanol. Then you would adjust one or two parameters of that process, e.g., temperature and pH, and see which conditions produce the most sugar or ethanol. This experiment could be extended to find the optimal conditions for this process to convert several different plant species, e.g., switchgrass vs. poplar wood chips.)

For all of these, you will probably want to start by finding one process that already works, that you can perform on some available biomass, like switchgrass, straw, pine sawdust, etc. Then you can expand beyond that, to try other plant species, refine the process, or try alternative conversion processes. You can also focus either on getting the most sugar, or getting the most ethanol. It might be easier to just break the biomass down into sugars and measure those, because converting the sugars to ethanol adds a few more steps. For any of these experiments, you will probably need to work with someone nearby with lab space, who can help you set up and run the experiments safely.

Here are some links I found that might help as you go through this:

This google search gives a few useful links:
http://www.google.com/search?&q=cellulo ... ir+project

The first one was about students who used an acid hydrolysis process to break down different types of biomass, and measured how much sugar each one produced:
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2003/Projects/J0516.pdf

More information on acid hydrolysis can be found through these links:
http://www.google.com/search?q=acid+hydrolysis
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/dilute_acid.html

I don't know much about this subject beyond what I found from those links. But it looks like acid hydrolysis is well established, and is being used for the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plants. This means it would be a good technique to start with, and then see how well it works with different types of biomass or different operating conditions. Like any chemistry experiment, you need to work with someone experienced who can help you do it safely!

This website also looks like a great background source to see what people are trying and proposing in this area:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/

(If you look at the acid hydrolysis article above, you will see that it is part of this website, under Conversion Technologies -> Sugar Platform -> Other Hydrolysis Technologies -> Dilute Acid Hydrolysis.)

I think the work on genetically engineered crops and novel enzymes for breaking down cellulose is more cutting-edge. That means it could make a more interesting project, but it is also much harder for a beginner to setup and perform the experiments successfully. If you can find someone working in this area to help you, these are some possible experiments you could do:

a) see whether a "normal" or genetically engineered version of a crop grows more successfully under local conditions
b) see whether a normal or genetically engineered crop produces more sugar or ethanol in an existing process
c) see which of several different enzymes produces the most sugar or ethanol from switchgrass (or some other biomass), using an existing enzymatic technique

Here's a mini-primer on the bigger-picture questions you were asking about:

1) Don't worry too much about the energy density of ethanol vs. gasoline. Yes, ethanol has less energy per gallon than gasoline, but if it can be produced sustainably at a low price, people will happily use it instead of gasoline (and it could even be cheaper per mile).

2) That gets to the two big problems with ethanol: sustainability and cost. If we make ethanol from food crops, it competes with other forms of agriculture (raising food prices), and has big environmental impacts (think of all the water, pesticides, fertilizers, etc., already used to grow food crops). Current techniques of making ethanol also use a lot of energy to breakdown and ferment the biomass, which has a big environmental impact and cost. People hope that cellulosic ethanol will help solve some of these problems -- that they can grow as much or more biomass per acre, with fewer artificial inputs, and that they can convert it to ethanol using less energy (and money) than they do now. This is why they are looking for weed-type crops that they can grow easily (which are mostly cellulose rather than sugar), and why they are looking for efficient processes to convert them. (Right now, there aren't any really good ways to convert cellulose into ethanol, and even the ones that convert starches to ethanol use a lot of energy.) So any research that suggests better ways to grow and convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol will be welcomed.

This site shows some of the mainstream view of the benefits of cellulosic ethanol: http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/benefits.shtml

But you should keep in mind that there are limits even to cellulosic ethanol. There is only so much land and so much crop waste, and I don't think anyone has proposed that the U.S. can get more than about a third of its transportation fuel from ethanol. So something else may be needed too. You may find it interesting to compare alternative large-scale scenarios, e.g., how much land would be needed to power cars using ethanol, vs. synthetic fuels made from coal, vs. electric cars charged by solar panels, wind turbines or coal-fired electricity? What would be the other environmental impacts of each of these approaches? What about switching to more efficient cars, riding buses or bicycling to work?

Well, that turned into a long post, but I hope it helps!

[Louise]

I am not an expert in this area, but just to reiterate what a few people have said, you will find this easier if you narrow your question down to make a feasible science project. There are many companies and government programs focusing on the general question of how best to make ethanol from cellulosic biomass. It's impossible for anyone to answer this big question from a single research project. Instead, people break it down into questions that can be answered by a single project, like this:

1) Which of three plant species (e.g., switchgrass, poplar trees and something else) produce the most sugar (or the most ethanol) when I apply one particular process. (To do this experiment, you will need to find some process that people are already using to extract sugars or ethanol from cellulose, and then apply that process to existing plants. You will also need to use some established technique for measuring the sugars or ethanol.)

2) Which of two or three processes is the most efficient at producing ethanol from switchgrass? (For this experiment, you will need to find some existing processes that produce ethanol from switchgrass. Then you would perform each one, and measure the output from each one.)

3) How can an existing process be adjusted to produce the most ethanol (or sugar) from switchgrass? (For this experiment, you would need to find an existing process of breaking down cellulosic biomass into sugars, and possibly also for converting it into ethanol. Then you would adjust one or two parameters of that process, e.g., temperature and pH, and see which conditions produce the most sugar or ethanol. This experiment could be extended to find the optimal conditions for this process to convert several different plant species, e.g., switchgrass vs. poplar wood chips.)

For all of these, you will probably want to start by finding one process that already works, that you can perform on some available biomass, like switchgrass, straw, pine sawdust, etc. Then you can expand beyond that, to try other plant species, refine the process, or try alternative conversion processes. You can also focus either on getting the most sugar, or getting the most ethanol. It might be easier to just break the biomass down into sugars and measure those, because converting the sugars to ethanol adds a few more steps. For any of these experiments, you will probably need to work with someone nearby with lab space, who can help you set up and run the experiments safely.

[snip links, genetic engineering, and politics of energy]

Well, that turned into a long post, but I hope it helps!

This is a very nice summary of this thread/problem, and I think you were much clearer than I was. I think your potential research topics 1, 2, and 3 are very concisely formulated and any one of them would be a good research project that could span multiple years. Deciding which one to do is a personal preference; they are all good topics. This is why I recommended Alaa go read more- this topic contains decades worth of research projects, and any one of them could be great. The deciding factors are: what are most interesting to the researcher (Alaa) and what resources are available. I get the feeling that Alaa is very interested in the genetics aspect, but I think the resource issue is problematic. I think finding a mentor for the genetics aspects is much harder and the research is much more expensive than the chemistry that is used for the projects you outlined.

Louise

[Louise]

Here is an interesting opinion piece that was in the Washington Post about biofuel:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01625.html

I suggest you try getting the paper they talk about:

Carbon-Negative Biofuels from Low-Input High-Diversity Grassland Biomass
Tilman et al.
Science 8 December 2006: 1598-1600
DOI: 10.1126/science.1133306
Biofuels derived from low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native grassland perennials can provide more usable energy, greater greenhouse gas reductions, and less agrichemical pollution per hectare than can corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel. High-diversity grasslands had increasingly higher bioenergy yields that were 238% greater than monoculture yields after a decade. LIHD biofuels are carbon negative because net ecosystem carbon dioxide sequestration (4.4 megagram hectare–1 year–1 of carbon dioxide in soil and roots) exceeds fossil carbon dioxide release during biofuel production (0.32 megagram hectare–1 year–1). Moreover, LIHD biofuels can be produced on agriculturally degraded lands and thus need to neither displace food production nor cause loss of biodiversity via habitat destruction.

Note that this paper is about at study that lasted for 10 years!
Louise

[Louise]

Here is another interesting article about this topic:
http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xht ... 3001AT0OH8

the article is about using enzymes to create the ethanol. Here is a quote from the article.

In February, the U.S. Energy Department awarded $385 million in grant money over four years to six projects dedicated to producing so-called cellulosic ethanol, which avoids the corn problem by making fuel from straw and other inedible agricultural leftovers. Cellulose is the woody material in branches and stems that makes plants hard.

Breaking cellulose into sugar to spin straw into ethanol has been studied for at least 50 years. But the technological hurdles and costs — specifically the expense genetically engineering exotic microbes to produce enzymes — have been so daunting that most ethanol producers instead relied on heavy government subsidies to squeeze fuel from corn.

That's now changing. Enzyme costs have fallen from about $5 a gallon to less than 20 cents a gallon. Analysts said once enzyme prices gets below a dime, cellulosic ethanol will become affordable.

"There really has to be an incredible improvement in the enzyme cost," said Kevin Baum, an executive vice president at Diversa Corp. "This can't be underestimated."

Louise