UCR Researchers Awarded $1.3 million from USDA Biomass Research and Development Initiative for Green Energy Research
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — Charles Wyman, Distinguished Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering and holder of the Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering at the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), and Charles Cai, Research Engineer at CE-CERT and Adjunct Assistant Professor, both at the University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering, have received a $1,297,725 award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will fund research on developing commercially-viable processes to create biofuels and chemicals from waste plant materials.
The award will support a project that aims to convert poplar wood into ethanol and polyurethanes based on novel platforms for pretreatment and lignin polymer synthesis. The patented method used by the Wyman/Cai team, called Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF), was developed as a versatile and efficient way to convert raw agricultural and forestry residues and other plant matter into both biofuels and chemicals.
To see more about this grant, read more about it on the web here
