BCRL Grad student, Leonardo Sousa received the outstanding student presentation in fundamental research (Characterization of AFEX degradation products as a function of pretreatment severity) during the recent 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals.

Bruce Dale, University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science and associate director of the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies, is internationally known for his biofuel research. Now the world is looking to him to learn how biofuels will affect agricultural production, climate change and trade policies.

Dr. Dale speaks on the "Food vs. Fuel" dilemma in the Winter 2010 issue of MSU Today.

“We have got to solve our fuel problem,” Dale says. “We have to find a way to provide energy that won’t pollute and is sustainable.”

The article also describes Dr. Dale's role as associate director of MSU’s Office of Biobased Technologies and the $125 million, five-year U.S. Department of Energy-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

The State News recently featured the BCRL and its current work in creating alternative energy sources.  In the article, Dr. Dale discusses the benefits of cellulosic ethanol compared to ethanol produced from corn, and its predicted costs of production.

“The payoff from (cellulosic ethanol) is that there is a hundred more times of it than starch,” Dale said. “Another advantage is that it does not compete with food sources.”

State News reports on two studies completed last month by Bruce Dale that could foster positive attitudes about alternative fuels and decrease the cost of creating them. Dale’s first study presented evidence against the notion that benefits of biofuels are offset by the land required to produce the corn for ethanol and the gas emissions of the vehicles using the fuel.

"It doesn't take a genius to create alternative energy solutions.  It takes a whole team of them." See the BCRL's role in that team of talented engineers working together to develop viable renewable alternative energy solutions.