|  | | | Bioeconomy: Agriculture - Crops | | Research Projects
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Value-added Technologies for Utilization of Crop Byproducts and Residues
Date Approved: 10/13/2003
Amount: $100,000
Lead: Professor Roger Ruan
Contact Person: Roger Ruan
Status: Awarded by the Department of Defense, $525,000 leveraged.
Benefits and Deliverables:
- In Year 1, the researchers will focus on process optimization and product development.
- In Year 2, the researchers will focus on scale-up pilot facility development and testing.
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Development of a Biorefining Model for Corn Processing
Date Approved: 12/05/2003
Amount: $24,920
Lead: Roger Ruan, Co-director of the Center for Biorefining
Contact Person: Roger Ruan
Benefits and Deliverables:
- Make bio-ethanol fuels more competitive with gasoline fuels
- Identify and evaluate technologies suitable for lab scale processes
- Develop and test individual blocks/modules
- Conduct preliminary energy balance and economic analysis
- Recommend R&D tasks for further scale-up testing
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Making Biodiesel from Crop Residues
Date Approved: 2/03/04
Amount: $29,232
Lead: Professor Roger Ruan
Contacts: Professor Roger Ruan and Dave Kittelson, Center for Diesel Research
Benefits and Deliverables:
- Develop processing conditions for production of biopolyols with molecular weights suitable for making biodiesel.
- Develop processing conditions for making biodiesel from biopolyols through trans-esterification reactions.
- Test the basic physical and chemical properties of the biodiesel.
- Adjust and develop new processes according to the test.
- Conduct an Engine test (since engine testing is expensive, additional funding will be sought to conduct engine test).
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Moisture Degradation Kinetics of Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) Products
Date Approved: 2/03/04
Amount: $36,688, leveraged to receive a $1.3 million USDOE Biomass Grant in collaboration with Drexel University (R.A. Cairncross, PI)
Lead: Shri Ramaswamy, Professor and Department Head
Contact Person: Shri Ramaswamy
Benefits and Deliverables:
- Update the literature base on bio-based polymer degradation performance.
- Conduct preliminary experiments to determine the feasibility of using NMR/MRI to characterize moisture penetration in Poly Lactic Acid and degradation kinetics.
- Characterize the self-diffusion coefficient and crystallization kinetics during PLA degradation.
- Submit two competitive grant proposals to agencies such as USDA and USDOE to secure further grant funding to study bio-based polymer performance.
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Developing and Demonstrating a Scalable Renewable Hydrogen-to-Ammonia System
Date Approved: 5/8/06
Amount: $147,961
Leads: Roger Ruan and Paul Chen, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, Greg Cuomo, West Central Research and Outreach Center
Benefits and Deliverables:
The goal of the proposed project is to develop and demonstrate scalable efficient NTP-based systems for synthesis of ammonia from renewable hydrogen such as wind hydrogen. The project will be carried out in two stages: (1) process development using pure hydrogen and nitrogen, and (2) testing and optimization using wind hydrogen. If the project is successful in developing a scalable prototype utilizing pure hydrogen, we will then test hydrogen from biomass sources.
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The University of Minnesota Renewable Energy Research and Demonstration Center at Morris
Date Approved: Elements of this project funded in 2003, 2004 and 2005
Amount: Wind turbine development - $2,000,000
University of Minnesota-Morris Biomass Facility - $1,000,000
Assistantships, Fellowships, and Visiting Scholars - $65,000
Renewable Energy Center pre-design - $60,000
Coordinator - $110,000
Leverage Funds: $1,295,000
Leads: Greg Cuomo, Lowell Rasmussen, Mike Reese
Contacts: Greg Cuomo, Lowell Rasmussen, Mike Reese
Benefits and Deliverables:
The University of Minnesota Renewable Energy Research and Demonstration Center at Morris in partnership with IREE will be a visible example of the benefits the University of Minnesota brings to the citizens of Minnesota. This facility will help establish the University and the State as leaders in the emerging renewable energy industry.
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Increasing Oil (Soydiesel) and Protein Content of Soybeans by Reducing Seed Polysaccharides
Date Approved: 7/26/04
Amount: $41,419 (2005) and $43,153 (2006)
Lead: David A. Somers, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Contact Person: Dave A. Somers, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Benefits and Deliverables:
The researchers aim is to reduce the content of nonuseful cell wall polysaccharides and to divert the carbon into increased soybean oil and protein. The resulting improved soybeans will produce more oil and therefore soydiesel and a higher quality soybean meal for food and feed uses.
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Using Genomics Tools to Manipulate Carbon Partitioning to Increase Crop Yields of Biofuels and Biobased Products
Date Approved: 2/03/04
Amount: $31,660
Leads: Sue Gibson, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology, and David A. Somers, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Contact Person: Sue Gibson, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology
Benefits and Deliverables:
- Identification of genes that help control seed oil and protein production by oilseed plants, such as soybean.
- The information obtained from this project may subsequently be used to improve seed oil production in soybean and other oilseed crops, thereby increasing the economic viability of developing bio-based fuels.
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Exploiting Genetic Variation in Soybean to Increase Oil
Date Approved: 7/8/07
Amount: $221,750
Lead: Jim Orf,
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Contact Person: Jim Orf,
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
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Survey of Genetic Variation for Response to Density Stress
Date Approved: 7/8/07
Amount: $126,444
Leads: Jim Anderson, Rex Bernardo, Gary Muehlbauer, K. Smith, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Contacts: Jim Anderson, Rex Bernardo, Gary Muehlbauer, K. Smith, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
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