SEMINARS FALL 2008
HONR228F An "Inconvenient Necessity": Conversion of
Plant Biomass to Biofuel
Dr. Elena del Campillo, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Cell
Biology and Molecular Genetics
Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of cleaner energy is an urgent need recognized by the government and to some extent by the public. One alternative, proposed by a Presidential Energy Initiative, is the use of biofuels, which foresees converting plant biomass into ethanol. Plant biomass is directly generated from solar radiation and its conversion into ethanol, for use in our cars, is based on known principles of sugar biochemistry, scaled up to mass production by bio-engineers. The success of this alternative depends not only on whether biofuel production is possible and cost competitive but also on human attitudes and new policies to better manage and balance the use of fuels with global warming concerns.
The 2007 Presidential Energy Initiative began in the U.S., focusing first on the production of ethanol from corn grain as a source of biomass. Although this is a good first start, competition between the production of corn for food or for ethanol and the use of fertilizers in agriculture to increase corn production has led to question, "How green are biofuels?" Alternatives to corn grain as biomass, such as ligno-cellulose sources like poplar tree and switchgrass, are now being explored. In this course, we will evaluate a range of topics related to producing ethanol from food and nonfood plant biomass and evaluate the pros and cons in terms of carbon footprint, energy, ecological and human considerations.
The first portion of this course will review the principles of ethanol production, emphasizing the basics of photosynthesis and of the chemistry and biochemistry behind sucrose fermentation into ethanol. This background information will be provided in form of lectures and notes from biology textbooks. Then, students will examine the pros and cons of corn-derived ethanol through oral presentations, debate and a final written mid-term report.
The second portion of the course will evaluate other forms of plant biomass that can be used for ethanol production. We will review the plant cell wall, comparative plant anatomy, ecology and biomes to explain the selection of different plant systems for cellulosic ethanol production across the U.S. This information will also be provided in form of lectures emphasizing the plant cell wall, cellulose synthesis and the search for novel transgenic strategies that could improve yield, extractability and resistance to plant pathogens. Students will then examine the pros and cons of these alternatives through oral presentations, debate and a final written report.
Students' grades will be based on 1) exams covering the background information provided in forms of lectures and notes, 2) oral presentations prior to each debate, 3) participation in class discussions, 4) mid-term and final report detailing the pros and cons of all biofuel alternatives discussed.
Reading assignments will include: Corn Can't Solve Our Problem by David Tilman and Jason Hill, The Washington Post, March 25, 2007; Environmental, Economic and Energetic Costs and Benefits of Biodiesel and Ethanol Biofuels by Jason Hill & David Tilman PNAS July 25, 2006; How Green Are Biofuels? by Jörn P. W. Scharlemann and William F. Laurance, Science 4 January 2008; Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change (www.sciencexpress.org, 7 February 2008); Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt by Joseph Fargione, Jason Hill, David Tilman, Stephen Polasky, and Peter Hawthorne Science. 10.1126/science.1152747; US-DOE 2006, Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda DOE/SC-0095.
CORE: Life Sciences, non-lab [LS]
