The development of sustainable bioenergy and biomaterials have great potential for decreasing our nation’s reliance on imported oil and net emissions of greenhouse gases, to create economic development opportunities in rural communities, and improve forest health. However, the development of sustainable bioenergy and biomaterials will require additional technical innovations to reduce costs, and careful implementation to ensure that forest biomass is produced in sustainable manner.

The College of Natural Resources is leading the development of sustainable bioenergy and biomaterials technology from forest resources. This effort includes fundamental science, applied technology, engineering and process development, and education and training programs. The growth and formation of woody biomass is a historic strength at NCSU, and recently these skills and insights have been focused on the interactions between wood formation and growth, and wood disassembly and conversion to fuels and chemicals. Similarly, the chemical analysis of wood and intermediate products is a strength at NCSU, and these analytical skills have been applied to understanding the chemical and enzymatic conversion of biomass. Process modeling and integration, and economic analysis are also a strength that has been applied to the production of biofuels, chemicals and materials. Finally, the College has developed a number of educational initiatives for training of both undergraduate and graduate students, and in creating opportunities for undergraduate research.

These biomass, biofuels and biomaterials efforts have been supported by a number of federal and state agencies, including the US Department of Energy, US Department Agriculture, National Science Foundation, US Department of Transportation, US DOE National Laboratories, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the Golden Leaf Foundation. The work has also been sponsored by a number of companies directly and through multimember consortium.

A summary of projects is shown below:

Woody Feedstock Development:

1. Genomic Knowledgebase for Facilitating the Use of Woody Biomass for Fuel Ethanol Production
2. Glucomannan Synthase Gene of Radiata Pine - FORBIRC Enhancement Projec
3. Genetically Engineer Switchgrass to Improve Quality and Yield For Bioethanol Production, Phase II
4. Genetic Engineering of Lignin Content and Structure in Eucalyptus and Cloning of cDNAs and Prooters of Cellulose Synthase Genes for Eucalyptus
5. Beyond the Barrier: Ethanol from Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Metabolic Engineering
6. The Formation of Dihydroconiferyl Alcohol (DHCA) Subunits in Lignin in a Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase (CAD) Deficient Mutant of Loblolly Pine
7. Integrated Biotechnological and Genetic Systems for Enhanced Forest Productivity and Health
8. Bioenergy Plantations: Technical/Economic Study to Establish Feasibility of Affordable, Abundant, Renewable Biomass
9. The Impact of Improved Loblolly Pine Varieties and Forestland Ownership Shifts in Sawtimber and Pulpwood Markets in Southern U.S.

Technology Development: Biomaterials

10. Cellulose-Based Biocomposites via Surface Grafting
11. Sugar Surfactants as High Value Biobased Products
12. Development Of Cellulosic Scaffolds For Stem Cell Adhesion
13. Natural Surfactants in Paper Recycling
14. Biodegradable Cellulose Acetates Fibers
15. High-Performance Coating Via Polyelectrolyte Multilayers
16. Intelligent Cellulose Fibers
17. Lignocellulosics as Precursors of High Performance Biopolymer Structures

Bioenergy

18. Advanced Technology for Low Cost Ethanol from Engineered Cellulosic Biomass
19. Producing Ethanol From Biomass By Extracting Value Prior to Combustion
20. Optimization of Process to Produce Ethanol For a Repurposed Kraft Mill
21. Wood to Ethanol Research Consortium
22. Development of Process Models for the Forest Biorefinery
23. Optimization of Pretreatments for the Production of Ethanol from Genetically Modified Hardwoods with High Cellulose and Low Lignin Content
24. Value Prior to Pulping - Bioethanol from Wood Hemicelluloses
25. Advanced Technology for Low Cost Ethanol from Engineered Cellulosic Biomass
26. Conversion of Coastal Bermuda Grass into Bioethanol
27. Use of Complex Fluids for Enhanced Cellulosic Pretreatment
28. Electrokinetic Behavior and Passage of Polyelectrolytes and Surfactants Throughout Tortuous Micro/Nanopore Media
29. Evaluation of Hemicellulose Extraction for the Production of Ethanol and Power
30. Integration of Black Liquor Gasification and Mini-Sulfide Sulfite Pulping
31. Highly Energy Efficient D-Glu (Directed Green Liquor Utilization) Pulping
32. Correlation Between Hardwood Lignin Structure and Pulping Performance

Novel Biomass Analysis Methods

33. Characterization of Woody Biomass
34. Development of a Transmittance Near Infrared System for Ring-by-Ring Measurements of Chemical Composition of an Increment Core
35. Novel Methods to Quantify Enzyme Activity in Lignocellulosic Substrates

Educational Support:

36. Wood and Fiber Engineering Fellows Program to Train Doctoral Students BIOSUCCEED - BIOproducts Sustainability, a University Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education
37. Process Modeling for Integration of Biofuels Production in Existing Pulping Facilities
38. Bioenergy Graduate Student Support
39. Monograph on Products from Biomass

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