Marquette Univ. in Milwaukee receives state grant for biofuel

Daily Reporter (Milwaukee), Jul 30, 2007 by Joe Grundle

Could agricultural and paper waste be the new corn?

A Marquette University research team led by Dan Zitomer received a $39,000 grant Friday from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to develop preservation methods for microorganisms that increase methane production in anaerobic digesters, a renewable energy source.

"The research our group performs involves microorganisms that convert waste and other materials to biogas, which contains methane that can be burned and used to make renewable energy," said Zitomer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Marquette. "So our work overlaps the fields of waste treatment and renewable energy production."

Using a $250,000 grant from We Energies, Zitomer's team was able to determine the identity of various microorganisms in manure, dairy, meat, poultry and paper waste products. By identifying the organisms, the team determined which ones led to optimum methane production and higher rates of renewable energy.

"We found some cultures in our lab that can increase methane production by as much as 30 percent, which is significant," Zitomer said. "With this (state) money, we are going to look specifically at preservation techniques. How can we take the best organisms and preserve them - by freeze-drying or other methods - so they can be transported, stored and added to existing anaerobic digesters?"

Department of Commerce Secretary Mary Burke delivered the award to Marquette, where she stressed Wisconsin's role in the emerging biofuel industry, noting the state's strong agricultural, forest- product, food-processing and paper industry sectors that produce waste streams that can be turned into energy.

"When you combine all of those factors, we are positioned as well if not better than any state in the country to be a leader in terms of renewable energy," Burke said. "The big issue we face now is - funding."

Burke said renewable sources could some day account for 20 percent of the trillion dollar a year U.S. energy industry, or $200 billion a year.

"If Wisconsin can capture just 5 percent of that, that's a $10 billion a year new industry for our state," she said. "This is what can create tens of thousands of jobs, and this is where our future lies, I believe, as a state."

However, due to stiff competition from Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, all of which are putting millions into renewable energy research, Burke called the $30 million Gov. Jim Doyle put in his budget for bio-industry development "absolutely necessary."

"We're in competition with lots of other states," Burke said. "While people are thinking of renewable energy is terms of corn ethanol right now, that's not where it's going to be in the future."