Michigan State: $4.3 million U.S. grant tests larger-scale production of biofuel from farm waste

6/20/2011

EAST LANSING, Mich.  — Michigan State University says the federal government has issued a $4.3 million grant to help implement advanced biofuel technology on a larger scale based on work by a researcher at the school.

Bruce Dale is a professor of chemical engineering and materials science and developed a method to turn agricultural waste and nonfood plants into material easily processed into biofuel and chemicals.

The university says the Michigan Biotechnology Institute will use U.S. Department of Energy funding to step up Dale’s process on a scale 100 times greater than in the laboratory.

Michigan State says that If the process proves viable on a commercial scale, it could add a broad range of affordable, sustainable and local fuel sources to America’s energy supply system.