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When supply concerns recently pushed gasoline prices toward the $4 per gallon mark, Americans everywhere called for a cheaper alternative - one that also would be better for both the environment and national security. Unfortunately, the corn- and soy-based solutions that had been identified years earlier robbed the food supply and only seemed to exacerbate the situation.

But the scenario shone the light even brighter on the possibility of ethanol made from cellulose, which comes from materials that are not prevalently used in other ways. The holdup is the cost. Currently, producing cellulosic ethanol costs around $2 to $3 a gallon, experts say, too expensive for widespread commercial use. The U.S. Department of Energy wants the price to be about $1.10 a gallon - near the cost of producing ethanol from corn starch - and hitting that level is about two or three years away, according to experts.

With the hopes of making cellulose an economically feasible option, the Department of Energy is supporting 12 cellulosic biorefinery projects, all of which are in various stages of planning and con-struction, according to Chris Kielich, a DOE spokesman. "This supports the department's goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012," Kielich said.

Enter Arkansas
To manufacture cellulosic ethanol, bio-refineries would need feedstock, which can come from a variety of sources including grasses, trees and sawdust. And that's good news for Arkansas. Arkansas has the potential to use more than 2 million acres of farmland in the production of energy crops, which would make Arkansas a world leader in renewable energy if the country moves toward bioenergy, according to a report called Bioenergy in Arkansas by Winrock International of Little Rock.

Gov. Mike Beebe has said more than once that Arkansas has the potential to be the Silicon Valley of alternative fuels, and the experts agree.

"The second generation of biofuels will be not just ethanol," said Jim Wimberly, president of BioEnergy Systems LLC of Fayetteville. "There will be a number of other products...that will be made from cellulosic feedstocks. And that's where Arkansas has a huge advantage."

Elizabeth Hood, a distinguished profes-sor of agriculture at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, is on the front line of researchers working to usher in the sec-ond generation of biofuels. After years of trying to secure funding to study biofuels, Hood finally got her wish in 2008 when the U.S. Department of Energy awarded her program a $1.5 million grant. To assist with the matching funds, the Wal-Mart Foundation announced in September 2008 that it would kick in $369,000 to move the project forward.

"Our study will help to stimulate the development of the industry," Hood said. "I don't think that we single-handedly will be able to do that. There're a lot of different technologies that go into this industry, and we only work on one of the several."

It's an opportunity she's passionate about pursuing. "I'm a diehard renewable resources fan," she said. "We're just piling up a lot of junk in the world that is not going to go anywhere. And we're sort of poisoning ourselves."

In 2007, vehicles devoured more than 180 billion gallons of gasoline, which doesn't include the amount for diesel fuel, Hood said in an undated report on her study. Motorists in some states can chip away at that poisonous total by purchasing a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol. Cellulose could flip the blend's makeup around to include 85 percent ethanol and only 15 percent gasoline, Hood said.

The Obstacle
The problem with cellulose is that it's difficult to break down into glucose molecules, which would be used to manufacture fuels. "Because of this complexity, many research and production groups are attempting to develop technologies that are touted to be the ‘best' way to take apart these compounds so the resulting sugars can be fermented into ethanol for transportation fuels," Hood wrote in a study she authored.

Staff members in Hood's lab are working on making the enzymes, which are the proteins, that breakdown the cellulose into sugars. The project, being undertaken in conjunction with Texas A&M University and Applied Biotechnology Institute in San Luis Obispo, Calif., has high expectations.

"The development of these enzymes will significantly reduce the cost of ethanol production, which will lower the cost of the biofuel ultimately benefiting consumers," Rep. Marion Barry, D-Ark., said in news release about the grant. "With the highly respected scientists at ASU and the abundance of agricultural resources available, Arkansas could easily become the leader in the growing biofuels industry."

The Benefits
In November 2007, Range Fuels Inc. of Broomfield, Colo. broke ground on the nation's first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga. The plant will have the capacity to produce more than 100 million gallons of ethanol annually. Production is scheduled to begin in 2010 using wood and wood waste from Georgia's pine forests and mills as a feedstock, and Arkansas' forest products industry will be watching intently.

If the process works, experts say bio-refineries could be constructed alongside Arkansas paper mills to produce eco-friendly fuel for vehicles. "The reason for that is when you grow plants and you burn the ethanol and then you grow plants again, you just recycle the carbon instead of adding more carbon in the atmosphere," Hood said.

And the shift to ethanol would boost farmers' income because they will receive a second income from selling biomass off of their land. Trees that are too old or can't be used for paper will be welcomed to be used as feedstock for the cellulosic ethanol refineries, Wimberly said.

"What we have in Arkansas is lots and lots of biomass resources and the ability to grow specific crops as biomass," Wimberly said. "We have the opportunity to attract project development companies ... to attract them to come to Arkansas to set up these manufacturing facilities. That would be lots of capital infusion, lots of revenue generated [and] lots of employment." O