Iowa State Announces ConocoPhillips Partnership

Iowa State University (ISU) and ConocoPhillips have announced an 8-year, $22,500,000 US partnership to establish a renewable fuels research program. ConocoPhillips will provide an initial grant of $1,500,000 US with additional grants of $3,000,000 US per year over the next seven years to support ISU researchers. Although details of specific projects have yet to be determined, studies may address converting biomass to fuel through fast pyrolysis and other thermo chemical technologies. Other funded research will explore and support environmental sustainability and rural economies emphasizing crop improvement and production, the harvesting and transportation of biomass and the impacts of biofuels on economic policy and rural sociology. (Source: Wallaces Farmer, Apr. 10, '07)

Contact: Robert Brown, Director of ISU's Office of Biorenewables Programs, telephone: (515) 294-7934, email: rcbrown@iastate.edu, www.iastate.edu