Feed&Grain.com |

The Innovation Valley economic development area in and around Knoxville, Tennessee, has its sights set high -- and may have just pulled into the lead -- in the race to develop marketable biofuels from non-food biomass.

The Tennessee Biofuels Initiative led by the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Foundation and bolstered by hefty funding from the State will partner with DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) to construct a pilot-scale biorefinery and state-of-the-art research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol. The facility, to be built in Niles Ferrry Industrial Park 30 miles south of Knoxville in Vonore, Tennessee , will process two non-food feedstocks -- corncobs and switchgrass -- from farms around the Innovation Valley.

The biorefinery is expected to give hard-hit Tennessee farmers additional market opportunities.

Plant capacity will be 250,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually. Site preparations are scheduled to begin this fall, and ethanol should be available from the pilot plant by December 2009 .

Innovation Valley’s economic development community is upbeat about the expanded partnership.

"Obviously, the cost of energy has gone up, and shows little sign of retreating," says Doug Lawyer , the Knoxville Chamber’s director of economic development. "The Innovation Valley is uniquely positioned to lead the way to the commercialization of new technologies. The region’s assets will also help the companies that develop those technologies become successful."

Biofuels research is also a major research area at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is managed by the University of Tennessee in partnership with Battelle. The National Transportation Research Center is also located in the Innovation Valley.