San Francisco, California
February 14, 2007
An oil patch that keeps
growing will be the focus of a
University of Idaho research team's exhibit during Family
Science Days sponsored by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science Feb. 17-18 in San Francisco.
Idaho plant breeder Jack Brown and biodiesel expert Jon Van
Gerpen will explain the role that alternative fuels made from
vegetable oil can play in meeting future liquid fuel needs.
A specialist in developing canola, mustard and rapeseed
varieties adapted for varied environmental conditions, Brown's
research is reaching out worldwide.
Members of the Brassica family, which also includes cabbage,
broccoli and cauliflower, the oilseeds Brown focuses on are
notable for their genetic plasticity, a trait as good as gold in
the world of agriculture. It allows Brown's team to manipulate
the crop to produce different oil products.
Canola and rapeseed shine as a leading world oil crop. Each seed
packs as much as 45 percent oil.
Through a $2 million, five-year research agreement with
Gibraltar-based Eco Energy, Ltd., Brown plans to test cultivars
on five continents, North and South America, Africa, Asia and
Europe, this year. His "oil plants" will grow in Paraguay,
Argentina, Morocco, Spain, Great Britain, Romania and China.
Brown will travel to China in late March to attend the 12th
International Rapeseed Congress. His ultimate goal is to produce
an array of cultivars capable of producing oil with
characteristics ideal for biodiesel fuel production.
"No one else is running a breeding program that focuses on fuel
as the final use for the oil," Brown said.
Jon Van Gerpen leads a national biodiesel education program
based at the University of Idaho and serves as the university's
Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department head, which
is jointly operated by the College of Engineering and the
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
In 1979, University of Idaho engineer Charles Peterson began
studying the use of vegetable oil and biodiesel in diesel
engines, focusing on the renewable fuel's properties and its
effects on engines.
Biodiesel is now available throughout the nation and states have
adopted successful programs to encourage its use, Van Gerpen
noted. Several manufacturers fill new diesel vehicles with
biodiesel as they leave the factory.
Interest in biodiesel worldwide accelerated as oil prices
increased and its properties and applications are better known.
More information is available online at
www.cals.uidaho.edu/biodiesel.
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