Iowa State Biobased Industry Center studies carbon emissions, other industry issues

16-Dec-2008 - USA

Iowa State University's new Biobased Industry Center is sponsoring four research projects designed to answer questions important to the biofuels industry. "The purpose of the center is to study parts of the biofuels industry that have received less attention," said Ron Cox, an interim co-director of the center and the director of Iowa State's Center for Industrial Research and Service. "That's the business and economic side of the industry as opposed to the technical side of biofuel production."

The center is part of Iowa State's Bioeconomy Institute and has been in the works for several years. It was approved by the Iowa Board of Regents in late October. It is designed to support interdisciplinary research of the biorenewables industry and its economic, policy, business, social and workforce issues. The center's research agenda is set with the help of an advisory board made up of representatives from industry partners. The partners' fees – $50,000 per year for companies with more than 500 employees and $15,000 per year for companies with fewer than 500 employees – help support the center's research projects.

The center's first grants range from $40,000 to $50,000 and will support researchers as they:

- Develop an economic model to evaluate costs for reducing carbon emissions and analyzing different biofuel processing technologies. The study will be led by John Miranowski, an Iowa State professor who's director of the university's Institute of Science and Society and an interim co-director of the Biobased Industry Center; Douglas Karlen, a professor of soil and crop management; and Stuart Birrell, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

- Build a carbon model to estimate the greenhouse gas emission of biofuels and estimate changes under different policy scenarios. The study will be led by Dermot Hayes, professor and Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness; and Bruce Babcock, director of Iowa State's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development and professor of economics.

- Develop an economic framework for assessing how land-use changes impact biofuels' greenhouse gas emissions. The study will be led by Babcock.

- Do a techno-economic analysis of corn stover production, harvest, storage and transport. The study will be led by Robert Anex, associate director for research programs of the Bioeconomy Institute and associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering; Birrell; and Matthew Darr, an assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

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