Newswise — Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources is seeking input from those interested in energy development and advances in related technologies.
OSU graduate students under the tutelage of Mark Wilkins, an assistant professor in the department of biosystems and agricultural engineering, are looking at the viability of using wind energy and carbon dioxide to produce ethanol.
“The BioWinol Technologies process uses sequestered carbon dioxide plus wind energy to generate hydrogen and then converts these gases into ethanol and other industrial products,” said Ray Huhnke, director of the division’s Biobased Products and Energy Center.
Videographer Craig Woods of OSU Agricultural Communications Services worked with Huhnke and the graduate students to create a video outlining the process, which was then placed on the Planet Forward website at http://goo.gl/Ek1A0 as a way to garner input.
“Essentially, people submit videos on different ideas and then the community can vote on whether the idea is viable,” Woods said.
Of course, any new biofuel production technology needs to be able to compete with the cost of gasoline and have a minimal impact on the environment. BioWinol 100-percent green technology can be cost competitive because of the abundance of carbon dioxide and largely positive environmental stewardship inherent with wind energy.
“The process will reduce greenhouse gases and produce a much-needed transportation fuel in ethanol,” Huhnke said. “This will not only reduce American dependence on foreign oil, it will also help create a decentralized energy production system, improve rural economies and achieve the level of energy independence our country has been seeking for decades.”
The BioWinol project is an outgrowth of the multidisciplinary, multi-institutional OSU Biofuels Team’s syngas fermentation research program, which has received national and international recognition, including having been featured at energy related congressional activities in Washington, D.C.
“A great many people are interested in advances that can potentially diversify America’s energy portfolio and the benefits diversification will provide across the nation,” Huhnke said. “Providing feedback on this and similar projects on the Planet Forward website is easy and takes very little time. Please take an interest and vote.”
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