Search
The need for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, exhaustion of fossil fuel resources and the desire for energy independence have encouraged worldwide interest infuels and chemicals derived from renewable resources, especially those that do not compete with food crops.
Forestry and poultry, the top two income-producing agricultural commodities in Louisiana generate significant quantities of waste that can be used for producing energy pellets or other value-added products such as soil amendments.
There is an opportunity to extract fermentable sugars from energycane and use the fiber byproduct, or bagasse, as lignocellulosic biomass for release of additional fermentable sugars or for conversion into electricity.
Poster showing work being done to determine the impact of a native Louisiana co-culture of microalgae and cyanobacteria (Chlorella vulgaris/Leptolyngbya sp.) on wash water and evaporator effluents from a Louisiana sugar mill. Authors: J. Foy, R. Malone, K.A. Rusch and M.T. Gutierrez-Wing.
Case study on sugar mill effluents from the Alma Plantation Sugar Mill by Jacob Foy, student in the LSU College of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Articles on this page are related to environmental issues associaed with growing and/or processing crops for use in the biofuel industry.
Information about production of gasoline, isoprene and chemicals as related to the SUBI project.
This task covers feedstock pre-processing upon arrival at the LSU AgCenter's Louisiana Institute for Biofuels and Bioprocessing Pilot Plant to the production of biofuels and biochemicals, expansion of the processing facility, processing of selected feedstocks, lignocellulosic pretreatment, production of butanol, gasoline and other chemicals, material and energy balances to determine power needs, and environmental assessments.
Biomass is currently the only renewable source for production of liquid substitutes of petroleum-based fuels for transportation. However, first experiences with biomass conversion to liquid fuels have not resulted in cost-effective solutions. Alternative products, such as biobased chemicals and power generation, must be considered.
Fluidized bed superheated steam drying has the technological advantages of energy efficiency and safety (inert environment) required for use in drying bagasse
Fluidized bed superheated steam drying is one of the technologies successfully applied to drying pulp in the sugar beet industry.
Tasks and the collaborators involved with Task 4 of the $17.2 million USDA grant received by the LSU AgCenter's Sustainable Bioproducts Initiative (SUBI).
Conversion technologies information about the $17.2 million USDA grant received by the LSU AgCenter's Sustainable Bioproducts Initiative (SUBI).
Lignocellulosic biomass – which includes agricultural residues such as corn stover and sugarcane bagasse, herbaceous crops such as switchgrass, and both hard and soft woods – is an important source of fermentable sugars and other valuable components.
Crop biomass can be co-fired with coal to produce energy.Co-firing has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fueled plants. Research has demonstrated that when co-firing is conducted with relatively low ratios of biomass to coal, there are significant reductions in both solid waste generation and emissions.
Biofuel production is an extensive process that involves developing a biological feedstock, processing and treating the feedstock, and producing and refining fuels and chemicals from the feedstock.
