Biofuels

South Dakota State University is home to the North Central Sun Grant Center, which is part of a collaborative network of universities and the Department of Energy’s Sun Grant Initiative to pursue biofuel development.  Several ethanol plants are currently operating, under construction, or being planned throughout South Dakota.  VeraSun Energy in Aurora is the closest to SDSU, but many ethanol companies call South Dakota home.

The Physics Department, in collaboration with Microbiology, Plant Science, and Biochemistry, is currently assessing irradiation pretreatments of feedstocks such as switchgrass, DDG, and corn stalks that may be considered as potential sources of ethanol in the future.  The question is whether irradiation (in combination with other pretreatments such as mechanical grinding, hydration, thermal, etc.) will break down lignocellulosic structures to enhance the production of fermentable sugars and higher ethanol yields.  We have irradiated feedstocks at the nuclear test reactor at Kansas State University with neutrons and gammas, and have also subjected feedstocks to gamma irradiation from the Cobalt-60 source at the 3M facility in Brookings, which is used to sterilize medical products. 

Primary Researcher:  Dr. Robert McTaggart
Website:  http://www.engineering.sdstate.edu/~physics/mctaggartr/mctaggartr.html

South Dakota State University College of Engineering
Department of Physics
Box 2219
Brookings, SD 57007
voice:   (605) 688-5428
fax:   (605) 688-5878