{"id":9969,"date":"2011-02-08T05:42:45","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T10:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=9969"},"modified":"2011-02-07T15:53:50","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T20:53:50","slug":"ut-suganit-receive-2-million-from-state-to-scale-up-biofuel-research-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/02_08_2011\/ut-suganit-receive-2-million-from-state-to-scale-up-biofuel-research-production","title":{"rendered":"UT, SuGanit receive $2 million from state to scale up biofuel research, production"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2006, Praveen Paripati started collaboration with researchers at The University of Toledo who were investigating a unique pretreatment to help convert the sugars in cellulosic biomass \u2014 forest residues, switchgrass, corn stalks, etc. \u2014 into ethanol. <\/p>\n

\"UT<\/a>

UT engineering graduate and MBA student Marcus Stacy, an intern at SuGanit Systems Inc., seated, studied lab results with SuGanit President Praveen Paripati as Dr. Ananthram Dadi, UT graduate and SuGanit employee, worked in the background.<\/p><\/div>Initially working at the milligram level, researchers also tried to convert one of glucose\u2019s trickier cousins, xylose, into ethanol. Over the next four years, efforts were made to scale up the process to larger input levels. It seems to be working.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Ohio Third Frontier granted UT and Paripati\u2019s Reston, Va.-based SuGanit Systems Inc. $2 million to implement the process using inputs of one ton of biomass waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grant will enable us to scale up the process and operate a pilot facility while we plan for a larger production line,\u201d said Paripati, whose labs with UT researchers soon will be occupying space in the University\u2019s new Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex. His production line also will be built in Toledo.<\/p>\n

Working with researchers in UT\u2019s colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the seven-person company hopes to nearly double the number of its workers over the next year as its new process creates between 60 to 90 gallons of ethanol per ton of biomass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to get to a point where we\u2019re processing 40 to 50 tons of biomass per day,\u201d Paripati said, highlighting that he chose Toledo despite his Virginia home address due to regional logistic assistance and the efforts of economic development partners in northwest Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what successful economic development looks like,\u201d said Megan Reichert, director of UT incubation. \u201cWhether the Port Authority or the city or the Regional Growth Partnership, each partner offers something different to help entrepreneurs and small business succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

SuGanit and UT researchers Dr. Sasidhar Varanasi and Dr. Patricia Relue have developed a catalyst that enables yeast to convert glucose and xylose into ethanol.<\/p>\n

Reichert said northwest Ohio\u2019s agricultural infrastructure offers, literally, tons of biomass, which would otherwise be thrown away or left to rot, that can be converted.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only will this result in growth for SuGanit, but also the opportunity for jobs across the supply chain,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Even better, according to Paripati, is that the process leaves no waste. Lactic acid, another product of the process, can be used to create plastics and environmentally friendly cleaning solvents, he said. The rest of the material not converted to ethanol can be changed to other products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flexibility of our process allows us not to depend on a single type of biomass, which means we\u2019re impacted less by the seasonal variations of when particular types of biomass waste are available,\u201d Paripati said.<\/p>\n

Since 2006, Reichert and Paripati said UT and SuGanit have received more than $4 million in state and federal grants to support biofuel research activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University and SuGanit Systems Inc. have received $2 million from Ohio Third Frontier to continue work on converting biomass into ethanol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}