DDPSC Investigators awarded $15M from DOE to establish Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems (CABS) (co-PI: Leslie M. Hicks)
DANFORTH PLANT SCIENCE CENTER AWARDED $15 MILLION FROM US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TO ESTABLISH ENERGY FRONTIER RESEARCH CENTER
ST. LOUIS, MO April 27, 2009—The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will be home to one of 46 new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) announced yesterday by the White House in conjunction with a speech delivered by President Barack Obama at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. The EFRCs, which will pursue advanced scientific research on energy, are being established by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation.
As an EFRC the Danforth Plant Science Center will receive $15 million over a five year period to establish a Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems (CABS) which will be led by Richard Sayre, PhD who will serve as Director. Sayre is also the director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Danforth Center. The team of principal investigators from the Danforth Center include Drs. Jan Jaworski, Sam Wang, Toni Kutchan, Oliver Yu, Leslie Hicks, as well as Ed Cahoon of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, David Gang of the University of Arizona and Yair Shachar-Hill of Michigan State University.
The objective of the Center for Advanced Biofuel Systems is to increase the thermodynamic and kinetic efficiency for select plant and algal based fuel production systems. A unique feature of the Danforth Center’s approach is the integration of all aspects of plant metabolism from photosynthesis to the synthesis and accumulation of oils and novel biofuels products. This “systems” approach will bring new and emerging technologies to bear on complex problems and will improve biofuel production and product development.
“The EFRC award will allow us to transition basic research on algal and plant-based biofuel systems into sustainable energy production systems for the future,” said Sayre.
“As global energy demand grows over this century, there is an urgent need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “Meeting this challenge will require significant scientific advances. These Centers will mobilize the enormous talents and skills of our nation’s scientific workforce in pursuit of the breakthroughs that are essential to make alternative and renewable energy truly viable as large-scale replacements for fossil fuels.”
The 46 EFRCs, to be funded at $2-5 million per year each for a planned initial five-year period, were selected from a pool of some 260 applications received in response to a solicitation issued by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science in 2008. Selection was based on a rigorous merit review process utilizing outside panels composed of scientific experts.
EFRC researchers will take advantage of new capabilities in nanotechnology, high-intensity light sources, neutron scattering sources, supercomputing, and other advanced instrumentation, much of it developed with DOE Office of Science support over the past decade, in an effort to lay the scientific groundwork for fundamental advances in solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy.
Of the 46 EFRCs selected, 31 are led by universities, 12 by DOE National Laboratories, two by nonprofit organizations including the Danforth Center, and one by a corporate research laboratory. The criterion for providing an EFRC with Recovery Act funding was job creation. The EFRCs chosen for funding under the Recovery Act provide the most employment for postdoctoral associates, graduate students, undergraduates, and technical staff, in keeping with the Recovery Act’s objective to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery.
About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a global vision to improve the human condition. Research at the Danforth Center will enhance the nutritional content of plants to improve human health, increase agricultural production to create a sustainable food supply, and build scientific capacity to generate economic growth in the St. Louis region and throughout Missouri. For more information please visit www.danforthcenter.org.
