Researchers consider prairie grass as gas additive

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Could switchgrass be the answer to high gas prices? <br><br>Some Oklahoma researchers hope it could be that and more, as they take on a project aiming to turn prairie grass into

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Could switchgrass be the answer to high gas prices?

Some Oklahoma researchers hope it could be that and more, as they take on a project aiming to turn prairie grass into ethanol.

Scientists at Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma think the project could help the environment, possibly reduce gasoline prices and offer a new bumper crop for state farmers.

"What we're hoping to do is look at the revitalization of rural Oklahoma," said Raymond Huhnke, Oklahoma State professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering.

The Oklahoma research group is converting the switchgrass using microorganisms.

One big bale of switchgrass converts to about 42 gallons of ethanol, Huhnke said.

Ethanol, typically made from corn, is used in some states to fight air pollution. It got a boost last week from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is moving to ban another fuel additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether or MTBE.

A report by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Research Council says that in the next four decades, the United States will get half of its liquid fuel from bio-based sources, becoming less dependent on imported oil.

The public won't likely be able to buy gasoline containing switchgrass-based ethanol for four or five years, said D.C. Coston, associate director of the Oklahoma Agriculture Experiment Station.

He said switchgrass is more efficient than corn-based ethanol because the entire plant is used in the production process.

"Our hope is this system will become so efficient that it would become very cost competitive," Coston said. "It will not replace fossil fuels but will be an additive."