Biofuels research advanced by WSU

Washington State University has taken another step to help place its Tri-Cities-based Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy on the world stage.

Months after hiring Denmark native Birgitte Ahring to head the Tri-Cities center, WSU agreed to work with Aalborg University in Denmark to develop biofuels and bioproducts to reduce the world's dependence on oil.

The agreement will pave the way for academic and scientific collaboration, student exchange and product-development projects, said Vicky Carwein, WSU Tri-Cities chancellor.

"We'll be able to leverage expertise and assets," she said, adding it will be a three-way collaboration among WSU, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Aalborg University.

WSU and the national laboratory have already set up a $24.8 million Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory in the Tri-Cities to help researchers find ways to recycle dairy waste, wheat straw, forestry byproducts and municipal waste into fuel and other usable products.

Experts from WSU and Aalborg will identify potential areas of research and develop joint projects, Carwein said. The work will bring benefits to the community and the world at large, she said.

The agreement is effective for five years and can be extended.

Carwein said the idea of collaborating with the Danish researchers developed while WSU was hiring Ahring. The Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy could benefit from using the expertise of researchers Ahring had worked with, she said.

Ahring said, "In Denmark, we have some unique skills in the production of bioethanol and bioenergy in general, while WSU is conducting exciting bioproducts research. Together we can develop concepts to be used in the future of 'biorefineries' to enter a new era of bioenergy."

In particular, the cooperation will offer opportunities to develop new processes for biorefineries, going beyond the production of biofuels to produce industrial products and raw materials for the transportation, food and pharmaceutical industries, said Ahring, who starts work at WSU in mid-August.