While some people enjoyed a little downtime this summer, there was no rest for the TechnoFiles crew. Soaring gas prices, coupled with concerns about foreign oil, provided an interesting backdrop for a three-part series that focused on how UMR researchers have joined the worldwide rush to develop the next generation of alternative sources of fuel. Their efforts to diversify the nation's fuel supply may help save everything from the environment to our pocketbooks.
The series began in July, as David Summers, Curators' Professor of mining engineering at UMR, and Dev Niyogi, assistant professor of biological sciences at UMR, discussed their attempts to create crude oil easily and inexpensively in just a few hours by extracting the oil from algae grown in an underground mine. Typical algae are about 25 percent oil, which makes their capacity to yield transportation fuel greater than corn or soybeans. Now all the pair has to do is figure out the most efficient method to extract the oil.
In August, TechnoFiles explored the future of making an ethanol, an alternate fuel derived from corn. Current ethanol production methods yield just a little more fuel than it takes to produce it. To meet the increased demand, ethanol plants must increase those yields. UMR civil engineers Joel Burken and Mark Fitch and biologist Melanie Mormile discussed their plans to improve the efficiency of ethanol production by using the left-over biomass that now goes to waste.
The three-part series wrapped up this month, as Yangchuan Xing, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, talked about how polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells could one day power cars and trucks. The only byproduct of these fuel cells is clean water, which goes a long way twoward reducing air pollution.
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