UMaine Awarded More Than $1.5 Million for Wood Bioproduct Research
Contact: Sandra Neily (207) 581-2831; David Munson (207) 581-3777
ORONO, Maine — The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded more than$1.5 million in federal funding to the University of Maine to advancethe university’s ongoing efforts to develop methods for convertingbiomass from Maine’s forests into fuels and valuable chemicals. Thestate will contribute 50 percent in matching funds to the multi-facetedproject through the Maine Economic Improvement Fund.
The money, which was awarded through the DOE’s Experimental Programs toStimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), will be added to the $6.9million the Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative (FBRI) received aspart of the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR award in 2006.
The UMaine initiative is a truly collaborative, multidisciplinaryeffort that brings together scientists from educational institutionsand businesses across the state to develop effective and efficientmethods for transforming waste products from paper processing and otherwood-based enterprises into fuels, plastics, and other materials.
“This project adds the thermal conversion pathway to our earlierbiochemical conversion focus for the utilization of woody biomass toproduce biofuels and other co-products,” says Hemant Pendse, chair ofUMaine’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. “Togetherthese projects put UMaine in the position of strength to deal with theentire spectrum of technical issues involved in biomass conversion.”
Supporting 12 researchers from across the state, the new researchcluster will allow UMaine to expand its efforts to overcome thetechnological barriers faced by Maine companies currently working todevelop effective techniques for producing wood-based fuels andchemicals within the wood products industry’s existing infrastructure.
“Forest biomass, including logging residue, pulp mill residue and spentliquors from pulp mills, hogfuel and sawdust, represents a significantrenewable resource in Maine. Efficient use of this resource using ourexisting forest products industry manufacturing assets will help ussave Maine jobs and build new businesses,” said Pendse. “Newtechnologies coming out of university laboratories will help us toadvance forest biorefinery deployment in Maine.”
By using the funding to create a highly integrated and focusedinfrastructure for research, the project promises rapid advances in thearea of bioproducts for Maine businesses and will help to establishMaine as a leader in bioproduct research and production.
This year, the Department of Energy awarded grants totaling $7.5million to universities in Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware and Kentuckyfor research ranging from biofuels to nanomaterials, with statesmatching at least 50 percent of the awarded funds. The grants are partof an experimental program to improve the capability of universities toconduct nationally competitive, energy-related research in states thathave historically received less federal research and developmentfunding.