Biofuels role in the state of Iowa

The Iowa State Research Farm boasts two experimental plants, producing oil from biomass such as corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus, wood chips and algae. Biocrude is produced by one plant through a form of incineration called pyrolysis, which heats biomass to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in an oxygen-free environment and then decomposes the biomass to vaports and aerosols. Rapid cooling then turns the vapors into bio-oil and later fuel.

The second prototype is a gasification plant, a process by which heat of up to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit breaks down the biomass to its most basic elements to produce a synthetic gas. A steam process turns the biomass into a synthetic gas. An interesting byproduct is the carbon waste, or "biochar" that drops out of the gasification process.
The $23 million project was introduced by a grand in 2007 from ConocoPhilips and assisted with funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Energy as well as Dupont (owner of Pioneer Hi-Bred) and Danisco.
The facility is one of a kind due to the variety of biomass products. The centre isn't limited to a single biomass, but can take all biomass products for conversion to fuels. With current oil prices nearing $100, prospects for alternative fuel has increased the goals to produce usable biofuel by 2022.
Director Robert Brown of the Iowa State University Bioeconomy Institute says that the public has been given a somewhat misleading picture of biofuels by the explosive growth of traditional ethanol. It grew from less than 1 billion gallons of annual production in the middle of the last decade to almost 14 billion gallons this year, or 10 % of U.S. annual gasoline consumption.