Over the next 5 years, Chevron Corp. will fund up to $25 million in research at UC-Davis to develop renewable fuels from plant waste.
Chevron Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of Chevron, will support a wide range of projects focusing on converting renewable feedstock's available in California into transportation fuel.
Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC-Davis, said that this will fit into a niche of energy research on biofuels and bioenergy and that they hope to make an impact on generating new sources of biofuels.
Klein expects the research projects to move quickly with a group from UC-Davis and Chevron hashing out details and deciding on specific research proposals. A pilot program should be in the works at the end of the 5 year time frame.
The research will focus on California's agricultural industry as a key source for the raw materials to generate energy. Any carbon based material that can be fermented is a source of fuel. So parts of crops that are typically thrown away, like leftover rice straw, wheat straw, nutshells, grape skins, can all be recycled into energy.
UC-Davis has been a leader in energy and transportation research. In April the school received a $1 million grant from the California Clean Energy Fund and established the Energy Efficiency Center. Since 2005, the campus has received more than $7 million in funding and funding commitments for its UC-Davis Bioenergy Research Group, which includes scientists and administrators in seven major campus units.
Chevron has also displayed heightened interest in bioenergy and has already pledged $12 million over 5 years to the Georgia Institute of Technology focusing on research on cellulosic biofuel and hydrogen.
In May, Chevron formed a biofuels business unit to advance technology and pursue commercialization of the fuel. It also made a small initial investment in a biodiesel production plant in Galveston, Texas.
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