Scientists work to hike ethanol efficiency

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. nanofabrication researchers are focusing on increasing the efficiency of alternative fuels such as ethanol.

Louisiana State University Professor James Spivey and Challa Kumar of the school's Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices are working with researchers at Clemson University and the Oak Ridge National Laboratories on the $2.9 million federally funded project.

"We’re working … to produce ethanol from a coal-derived syngas, a mixture of primarily carbon monoxide and hydrogen," said Spivey. "The United States has tremendous reserves of coal, but converting it to affordable, clean fuels is a challenge -- one that we are addressing in this ... project."

Clemson researchers James Goodwin and Associate Professor David Bruce, along with LSU doctoral students Femi Egbebi and Nachal Subramanian, said they are using advanced computational methods to identify new catalysts and test them with techniques such as isotopic labeling.

Oak Ridge scientists Steve Overbury and Viviane Schwarz will test the catalysts with specialized equipment, while Joe Allison and Vis Viswanathan at Conoco-Phillips -- the third-largest integrated U.S. energy company -- will analyze the costs and commercial potential of the overall process.