Highlights

The OneGeorgia Authority awarded $195,157 in research grants in support of the Center of Innovation for Agribusiness at their March 7th board meeting. The matching research grants will provide support to six agricultural-based businesses which are clients of the COI for Agribusiness, a division of the Georgia Centers of Innovation program.

The COI for Agribusiness, located in Tifton, provides a vast array of resources to help start-up and existing agribusinesses thrive and remain competitive in today’s global market. The COI matching research grants allow center to help industry partners establish relationships with University research experts to expand and investigate high-tech innovative agricultural-based concepts.

“Our key objective with these grants is to expedite research into commercialization,” said Bill Boone, director of the COI for Agribusiness.

The theme emerging from this grant cycle was bioenergy with five of the six grants focusing on it.

“The bioenergy focus is not surprising,” said Boone. “Georgia is among the leaders in the bioenergy revolution. In order to stay in the forefront, we must continue to expand our bioenergy research, especially in the areas of alternative feedstocks.”

Several grant recipients are focusing their research on experimenting with alternative feedstock options for biofuel production. One of those companies, Alterra Bioenergy, a biodiesel manufacturer headquartered in Macon, is receiving a $7,680 COI grant matched with $7,680 of industry funds, to research the dry land weed, camelina as an alternative biodiesel feedstock.

“Soaring soy oil prices are having a devastating affect on Georgia’s fledging biodiesel industry,” said Boone. “It is imperative we quickly identify an alternative bio oil that can be grown and produced more economically in Georgia.”

Researchers at The University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton campus are already studying the potential of this oilseed crop and will continue to monitor its ability to produce high yields in different Georgia environments.

Also researching an alternative biofuel feedstock is AgStrong, a small, family-owned agricultural engineering firm in Watkinsville. Their COI research grant of $5,000 and matching $5,000 industry funds will help them develop a commercial process to produce ethanol from locally grown sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum is successfully grown in Georgia primarily for the production of sorghum syrup. AgStrong and researchers from UGA will be studying the crop and the most efficient techniques needed to optimize Georgia’s sweet sorghum as a feedstock for ethanol production.

Two of the the COI for Agribusiness’s industry partners US Ethanol and Fram Renewable Fuels are currently using alternative feedstocks to produce bioenergy.

In US Ethanol’s case, the company currently uses the waste sugars from recycled cola products to commercially produce ethanol in its Cordele plant. The company now wants to expand its feedstocks by using waste sugars from Florida and Louisiana sugar plants. US Ethanol and researchers from UGA will use the COI research grant of $23,978 and $23,978 matched from industry to address how to place these new sugars into their existing mixture while continuing to ferment the sugars efficiently to produce ethanol in commercial quantities. The addition of the new feedstock should greatly increase US Ethanol’s ethanol production.

Fram Renewable Fuels, headquartered in Savannah, produces wood pellets from timber waste. These wood pellets are being used in phase I of a federally funded research project by the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) to heat poultry houses. The rising cost of propane is eating away at Georgia poultry producers’ profits. By using the wood pellets to heat the poultry houses, poultry producers will save money and possibly provide a healthier growing environment for the chickens. In addition, Fram will gain a domestic market for its wood pellets that are now being exported to Europe. The matching COI research grant for $66,500 combined with the $77,000 of industry funds will allow the University of Georgia (UGA) to implement a more comprehensive phase II study of the wood pellet furnace system including automating the system, examining the cost effectiveness of the system and monitoring the affects of dryer air on the chickens.

“This is a unique collaboration combining state, federal and private industries that will have a significant impact on two of Georgia’s largest industries – forestry and poultry,” said David Mills, agribusiness project consultant for the COI research grant program.

The last COI research grant focusing on bioenergy will assist Synergy Parametrics, an Athens-based engineering firm, in identifying a more efficient fermentation process for cellulosic ethanol while simultaneously reducing the amount of acetic acid from the process. The current cellulosic ethanol fermentation process is inefficient – it takes multiple stages, doesn’t use all the sugars and produces some acetic acid which reduces the yield of ethanol. Synergy along with UGA researchers will use the $57,999 COI grant and $57,999 in industry funds to test a single-stage fermentation process that produces a higher yield of ethanol.

Although not related to bioenergy, Bake Tech’s COI research grant of $34,000 matched with $34,000 from industry will greatly impact another very important industry in Georgia – bread baking. Bake Tech, a small engineering firm in Tucker, specializes in manufacturing commercial baking systems. Bake Tech and Georgia Tech have partnered to create an innovative digital color thermostat for commercial baking ovens that allows for a more uniform or even based color while baking bread. The COI research grant will help further their research in the commercialization of this oven control mechanism. This revolutionary control system should significantly increase the efficiency and quality of Georgia’s bread baking industry.

“For the COI for Agribusiness, the COI research grants are a culmination of two years worth of work,” said Boone. “Along with their matching industry funds, these six grants represent close to a half-million dollars in research for agribusiness. That is a significant investment in Georgia’s number one industry.”

For more information on the COI for Agribusiness visit agribusiness.georgiainnovation.org.