BIOMASS: green voltage

Biomass electricity generation is a simple idea: instead of burning fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, use renewable sources like switchgrass or sugar cane.

The beauty of biomass is that it is carbon neutral: it releases carbon when it’s incinerated, but green biomass captures carbon as it grows. What’s needed for the idea to work on a large scale is a biomass plant specimen that grows fast with little maintenance.

Carolina biology professor Laszlo Marton thinks he has found a great candidate. The Hungarian-born molecular biologist has been experimenting with the giant reed (Arundo donax), a fast-growing, bamboo-like plant that is a “plant scientist’s dream when it comes to its potential for biomass,” he said.

“Arundo has the same heat value as hardwood and is better than switch grass or sugar cane as a biofuel,” Marton said. “Arundo is full of alkaloids so insects hate it, and other plants can’t compete with it, so herbicides and pesticides aren’t necessary to grow it. It grows 10 meters tall in a year with little nitrogen, produces 40 tons of biomass per acre, and it doesn’t have to be replanted—you harvest it with standard equipment, and it grows back from the roots.”

Marton has patented a procedure for propagating Arundo from single plant cells—similar to research with mammalian stem cells. His research has attracted interest from several companies, and he hopes to establish a consortium to further the research while commercial applications begin. One company wants to capitalize on Marton’s work by planting 20,000 acres of Arundo in the southern United States or the Caribbean, which would demonstrate Arundo’s large-scale potential and generate licensing revenues and royalties for the University.

What’s best is that Arundo is not a food crop and can grow on marginal land; food crops wouldn’t be sacrificed to make room for it.

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