July 3, 2007
College of Engineering a Major Player in DOE Bioenergy Grant
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| Bruce Dale |
- Professor of chemical engineering and materials science;
- Office of Biobased Technologies associate director
- Phone: (517) 353-6777
- E-mail: bdale@egr.msu.edu
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The U.S. Department of Energy announced June 26 that it will fund three new bioenergy research centers. MSU will partner with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in establishing the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Based in Madison, this center will be funded with $125 million over five years. MSU will use approximately $50 million of that for basic research aimed at solving some of the most complex problems in converting natural materials to energy.
MSU professors are leading three of the center's five research focus areas. Bruce Dale is the leader of thrust area 2: Improved Biomass Processing. Dale is a nationally known leader in studying alternatives to fossil fuels. He is an expert on making ethanol from cellulose, plant stalks, grass, corn cobs, and other woody plant parts and has developed a patented process called ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX), which makes the breakdown of cellulose more efficient, thus tackling one of the thornier problems of producing ethanol. As associate director of the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies, Dale describes his role as providing "technical reality" stemming from his 30 years of work in biomass technology and taking such technology from the laboratory to the marketplace.
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