• Conversion of energy crops to bioethanol

• Conversion of energy canes to bioethanol

Studies are currently underway for determination of optimal pretreatment and hydrolysis conditions to generate fermentable sugars from Miscanthus varieties.

• Switchgrass varieties as feedstocks for bioethanol production (NCARS)

The potential of a variety of hay and straw based feedstocks such as wheat, barley, pearl millet and triticale for bioethanol production is being explored.
 

• Fermentation of sugarbeet juice to high value chemicals (Independent studies)

Potential of fermenting sugarbeet juice to poly-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable plastic, is being investigated. 

• Fermentation of sweetpotatoes to high value chemicals (Independent studies)

Potential of fermenting sweetpotatoes to high value polymers such as glutamic acid, lactic acid and poly-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is being investigated. It is expected that results of these studies can be applied to waste potato streams and other sugar platforms.

• Microbial pretreatment of cotton stalk for conversion to bioethanol (Independent Study).

Bioconversion of cotton stalks to fuel ethanol can benefit both the environment and economics of North Carolina.
Microbial pretreatment, utilizing Phanerochaete chrysosporium, has advantages such as energy-saving,
environmental friendliness, simple processes and equipment, and low cost. In this study treatment parameters
will be optimized and growth kinetics modeled for scale up. Lastly, microbial pretreatment will be compared with
other pretreatment methods.

• Subcritical water pretreatment of cotton stalks for bioethanol production (Independent Study)

Subcritical water can be used to pretreat lignocellulosic biomass to enhance ethanol yields. It is an environment friendly approach since it does not leave behind chemical residues and eliminates the need for sugar separation from treatment solution. This study is investigating the effect of time, temperature and particle size on pretreatment effeciency.

• Comparison of chemical and oxidative  methods for pretreatment of cotton stalk for conversion to bioethanol  (Independent study) .

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol involves pretreatment to remove lignin and hemicellulose, reduce cellulose crystallinity, and increase porosity of the material; hydrolysis, acid or enzymatic, to convert cellulose to reducing sugars such as glucose and fermentation of the reducing sugars to ethanol by yeast or bacteria. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, and ozone pretreatments on the delignification and enzymatic digestibility of cotton stalks which are abundant in North Carolina.

• Selective Membranes for the Separation of Bioethanol from Plant Biomass (FRPD Interdisciplinary Grants Program, NCSU).

This project seeks to validate the hypothesis that inert porous substrates coated with multiple nanolayers of polyelectrolytes
can be used as selective membranes for the pervaporation of bioethanol produced from cotton stalk. Current processes used
for separation of ethanol from fermentation medium involve energy intensive methods such as distillation, evaporation, and
ultrafiltration and are also limited in their specificity for product and by-product removal.  Some of these separation methods
operate at elevated temperatures that kill microorganisms limiting their reuse in the fermentation processes.  Membrane based
separation systems are an attractive alternative to these traditional techniques as they are less costly and can operate at lower
temperatures.

• Solvent extraction of capsaicin from different parts of habanero peppers (Capsicum chinense) (NC Speciality Crops Program).
  

• Plant Based Bioprocessing to Produce New Value-Added Agricultural Products in Rural North Carolina Communities (Golden Leaf Foundation).

The project aims at extracting high value compounds like anthocyanin from purple sweet potatoes and secondary metabolites from tobacco using the environmentally benign supercritical CO2 technology.