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Sun April 20, 2008

OSU setting program records

Related Information
GM partners with company using OSU technology
One of the projects could become OSU's biggest royalty earner.

Renewable energy company Coskata Inc. and automaker General Motors plan to reduce fossil fuel consumption with a process based on research and technology developed by the Oklahoma State University Biofuels Team and licensed exclusively to Coskata.

Potentially the most significant instance of OSU technology transfer since Oklahoma City resident Carl C. Magee enlisted Oklahoma A&M College faculty in 1933 to prototype his idea for the parking meter, the Detroit Auto Show announcement follows a historic year in which OSU established new benchmarks in research expenditures, as well as external research funding won by faculty.

Some questions and answers about Coskata
What raw materials can Coskata's process use?

Coskata's process can utilize virtually any carbon-containing feedstock. This includes cellulose-based energy crops such as switchgrass, wood chips, agricultural residues (bagasse, corn stover, etc.) as well as waste streams such as old tires and municipal solid waste. Feedstock flexibility allows the Coskata process to utilize nonfood, locally abundant raw materials.

Can your garbage be used in the process?

Garbage and many other waste streams can be used in our process. Our process works best with materials that have low moisture and low amounts of noncombustibles like glass and metals.

How is it different from corn ethanol?

There are several fundamental differences between Coskata's process and typical corn ethanol production:

•Process technology: Corn ethanol is produced via the fermentation of sugars. Corn kernels are broken down into sugars through milling and other operations. Coskata's ethanol is produced via the fermentation of synthetic gas, or "syngas” mainly made up of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

•Feedstock flexible: The process can use a variety of raw materials to produce ethanol, which the company says brings two distinct advantages: Nonfood resources can be used, mitigating many of the food versus fuel concerns that have arisen. Also, Ethanol production can take place in geographical areas where corn is not available.

•Efficiency: The process is designed to capture efficiencies wherever possible, requiring comparatively little fossil energy input. Water usage for the process is forecasted to be as low as 1 gallon or less per gallon of ethanol produced versus 3-to-6 for the corn process.

Source for questions and answers: Coskata.com

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Oklahoma State University is setting records in research.



Of a record $245 million in sponsored program expenditures for fiscal year 2007, $128 million was research expenditures, or funds spent in support of research, including equipment purchases, research salaries, construction and renovation and supplies. At the same time, $122 million in external awards for sponsored programs including research, outreach and extension was a record high for the university.

Awards included the latest installment to William Barrow at OSU's Center for Veterinary Health Sciences on a renewable contract valued at $40 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and $1.5 million in National Science Foundation grants to OSU faculty members who went three for three in its Major Research Instrumentation competition.

‘Banner year' continues
"It has been a banner year for OSU in sponsored programs and research,” said OSU Research and Technology Transfer Vice President Stephen McKeever. "The totals for sponsored program awards for fiscal year 2007 are the highest in OSU history. It's difficult to identify any one particular initiative that produced this result, but we can certainly attribute much of it to our extremely talented faculty and hard-working staff, and efforts by the university to not only encourage faculty to conduct research, but also make it easier for them to do so.”

OSU research expenditures per faculty member have been on the rise for the past decade, peaking in 2007.

And last year for the first time, OSU achieved new records in technology transfer, including exceeding, for the first time, the Association of University Technology Managers' national average for dollars spent versus inventions/intellectual property disclosure.

"The national average, according to AUTM statistics, is that for every $2.4 million a university spends on research, there should be one invention,” McKeever said. "OSU had never reached the national average until this year when we achieved a disclosure for every $2.3 million spent, which is actually a little better than the national average.”

OSU had 30 licenses yielding income in 2007 and, for the second consecutive year, received more than $1 million in license income.

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