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New green research project powered by sun |
| By
Chris Ankney |
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Dec 19, 2008
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| Dr. Jiquan Chen, left, and Dr. Burkhard Wilske, a postdoctoral researcher in environmental sciences, installed a tower for testing the system to determine if switch grass, corn or native prairie grasses produce the most biofuel energy. |
The spindly rods with bizarre, claw-like protrusions and bright orange buttresses that have taken root on the south lawn of Bowman-Oddy Laboratories on Main Campus look like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
They belong to Dr. Jiquan Chen. The environmental sciences professor is leading a new research project aimed at addressing the energy crisis.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the project will test three different types of naturally occurring biomass — switch grass, corn and native prairie grasses — to see which can be used to produce the most biofuel energy.
“There are many challenges related to creating bioenergy,” Chen said. “First, we need a plant that can grow fast, and we need to find a way to effectively convert [the plant] into biofuel.”
True to the experiment’s green energy focus, Chen’s equipment is powered entirely from solar panels — one for each of the seven towers, including a protocol J-Rover. The panels, in their current south-facing position, can collectively generate up to 2310 watts of electricity (330 watts each) at full capacity — enough to run seven televisions.
Based on the current U.S. national average for electrical costs, the solar panels could save Chen’s experiment about $1,000 a year.
The towers cost about $100,000 apiece; Chen said they can be moved whenever and wherever needed to test the three fiber types in different growing conditions and climates.
“The towers determine how much carbon each fiber-system can produce,” Chen said, adding that the quickly movable project will allow him to see how this amount changes based on various environmental factors.
Chen expects to have some results before the initial DOE funding runs out in two years.
“That’s why we put the towers out now, to get ready for spring,” Chen said. “No results mean no funding.”
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