Agricultural News
OSU Researcher Looking for Ethanol From Eastern Redcedar Trees
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:50:26 CDT
The nuisance of Eastern redcedar trees has been well documented in Oklahoma and surrounding states during the past several years. They are a fire danger, an over-powering competitor for water among surrounding plants and are incredibly invasive.
However, researchers at Oklahoma State University are looking for a way to use this tree, which caused an estimated economic loss of $447 million to Oklahoma landowners nearly 10 years ago, as a natural resource. This pesky species has done nothing but grow and expand its coverage of land over that time, so losses are much higher now.
One of those researchers is Mark Wilkins, assistant professor in the department of biosystems and agricultural engineering, who is working on a project to make ethanol from the cedar trees.
"We are testing various processes to make it easier to use enzymes to convert parts of the redcedar wood into sugars that can be fermented to ethanol by yeast," Wilkins said. "We also are looking at methods to extract the oil from the cedar wood since the oil is harmful to the yeast used to make ethanol."
This research is funded through a grant from the South Central Sun Grant Initiative and could result in some strong implications for the state, region and country.
"Right now, most people want to cut the cedars, pile them up, and burn them, but you obviously are risking spreading embers and causing a wild fire doing this as well as releasing lots of smoke," Wilkins said. "Also, there's a cost to doing this."
Oil and natural gas have provided for our energy needs for many years, but these resources will not last forever.
"My team is trying to reduce or eliminate the costs of disposing of redcedars by converting them into a valuable product, fuel ethanol, which has a large market," he said. "At the same time, we are producing a domestic fuel with a reduced carbon footprint compared to gasoline that should benefit the Oklahoma economy."
Much of our oil comes from other nations, including several that face political instability. While oil production here in Oklahoma and the rest of the country provides jobs and improves our economy, oil production in other countries does not provide the same benefits.
"My research is seeking to develop ways to make renewable transportation fuels that can replace the oil we currently buy from other countries while creating jobs here in Oklahoma and the rest of the U.S.," Wilkins said. "A domestic renewable energy sector will keep more of our money here and strengthen our economy, and our economy definitely needs that."
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