FY2010 - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Seed Money Fund—
Energy and Transportation Science Division
ENERGY AND TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE DIVISION
05867
Identification and Rapid Screening of New and Unique Plant Sources
for Biofuels
Bruce G. Bunting, Sam L. Lewis, Mike Bunce, and Blake L. Joyce
Project Description
In this project we evaluated a number of nontraditional plants for their ability to produce compounds that
could be used as partial substitution for petroleum-derived fuels, in order to expand biofuels beyond
commonly used ethanol and fatty acid methyl esters. This evaluation included plant selection, acquisition
and characterization of the plant extracts, evaluation of fuel properties and specifications of the extracts,
evaluation of emissions and combustion characteristics of the fuel blends, and generalization of our
evaluation procedures into a recommended practice. This ORNL project has a parallel University of
Tennessee–Knoxville (UTK) funded project in the Plant Sciences Department related to selection of the
plants and obtaining samples of the extracts.
Mission Relevance
The plants discovered and techniques developed could potentially expand the range of biofuel source
material available and could also serve as genetic roadmaps for improving plants to product more fueluseful
extracts. DOE programs that could benefit would be the Office of Biomass (increased and more
diverse supply combined with rapid screening techniques) and the Vehicle Technology Program
(improved understanding of fuel chemistry and property effects). The experimental procedures used for
evaluating the fuels can serve as standard procedures for evaluating new and emerging biofuels.
We have not, as yet, procured follow-on funding. However, the techniques of this research have been
used to support three research proposals: (1) partnering with the University of Georgia and others in the
area of fuels from pyrolysis (did not win), (2) partnering with Johns Hopkins and others in the area of
fuels from pyrolysis (awards not announced yet), and (3) an ORNL proposal to the U.S. Marine Corps to
evaluate the local generation of biofuels in areas of military deployment (pending for 2011). Discussions
were also held with ORNL program management related to matching this research into our DOE Office
of Biomass research portfolio or our Department of Agriculture research portfolio, but no match was
found. UTK is also exploring several funding avenues for continuing this research.
Results and Accomplishments
UTK identified six plants as having potential as biofuel sources and obtained samples. Two of the extracts
were obtained in both a raw and partially refined form, resulting in a total of eight plant extracts. The
plants were (1, 2) Copaifera, “diesel tree,” raw and steam distilled; (3) Aleurites moluccana, “kukui” or
“candlenut”; (4, 5) Pittosporum resiniferum, “petroleum nut,” raw and cold stabilized; (6) Cymbopogon
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