US DoE hands out multi-million grant for bioenergy research

The US Department of Energy has made a five-year $12.1 million (€9.8 million) grant available to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre in St Louis, US for bioenergy research.

Researchers from Danforth will collaborate with other institutions to develop a model species of grass type Setaria Viridis as a sustainable fuel source. Several of the researchers claim that bioenergy grasses can provide a susatainable feedstock that could be grown on marginalised land.

The other institutes involved are Washington State University, University of Illinois, Carnegie Institute for Science, University of Minnesota and Urbana-Champaign.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre currently employs more than 200 people, most of which are based in scientific teams.