Achievement

Drs. Ken Reardon and Catherine Keske are part of the Western Colorado Carbon Neutral Bioenergy Consortium, a partnership between Colorado State University, Colorado Mountain College, The City of Rifle, and Flux Farm Foundation, which was formed to determine the ability of the region to produce and process biomass for biofuels and carbon sequestration. This interdisciplinary project collects data on the costs and benefits of land transition, agronomic analysis of high-biomass producing perennial crops, field analysis of carbon sequestration potential, laboratory and pilot-scale analysis of the conversion of biomass to biofuels such as ethanol, butanol, and synthesis gas, and uses this information for an economic analysis of the feasibility of western Colorado growers to produce and market carbon neutral biofuels. With Rifle, CO as a test case, the project's goal is to grow feedstocks on marginal land for butanol, build a local biorefinery, and model refinery costs.