UC Merced scientist honored for biofuels research

MERCED
February 8, 2010 12:21pm

The mass production of biofuels could be a major step toward eliminating dependence on fossil fuels, but a number of factors have stood in the way, including the argument against using productive agricultural land for fuel instead of food and the cutting of natural forests for the purpose of growing crops to turn into fuel.

Now, Elliott Campbell, a professor in the School of Engineering at the University of California, Merced, hopes to find ways around those problems.

Mr. Campbell has received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award, through which he’ll receive $407,588 over five years to study the capacity of abandoned agricultural lands to generate crops used to produce biofuels.

“Professor Campbell’s research on the possibility of using abandoned agricultural lands for biofuel production will prove invaluable to the cause of sustainability, a core value this university was founded on,” says Samuel Traina, vice chancellor for research.

Mr. Campbell’s project will begin with a study that will calculate the total area of abandoned agricultural lands in the United States and Brazil. He will then use field tests, historical crop figures and remote sensing data to estimate how much biofuel could be produced using these lands. Finally, he will determine the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted during the production and transportation of the biofuels to help determine the environment’s net gain.

“Ambitious goals for bioenergy production have already been established by policy makers,” says Mr. Campbell. “Now it’s up to the science and engineering community to discover how we can meet these goals.”

The study will analyze the potential production of several different biofuel applications — cellulosic ethanol, corn ethanol, sugar cane ethanol, dedicated biomass electricity facilities and biomass co-firing with coal — on the abandoned ag lands while also determining the most effective locations to limit the greenhouse gas emissions created in production.

“Biofuels hold great promise as a new energy source, but they must be produced wisely to avoid impacting our food economy, air quality and water resources,” Mr. Campbell says. “We know how to make biofuels, but we are still unclear on how to make biofuels without hurting our ability to grow food and protect natural resources. This NSF grant will allow us to simulate a wide range of biofuel options so we can determine the best way forward.”

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