Forest Bioproducts Research Institute

The University of Maine is part of a recently announced collaboration with New Hampshire-based Itaconix LLC, which has received a $1.8 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Joint Biomass Research and Development Initiative.The award, announced at UNH, will fund efforts by Itaconix, in partnership with […]

ORONO, Maine – Reducing the country’s dependence on petroleum-based products has become a priority and it’s something that University of Maine analytical chemist Martin Lawoko works toward achieving every day as part of UMaine’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. Recently, he published a 68-page book about his research entitled “Lignin Carbohydrate Complexes in Softwood and Chemical […]

The “Forest Bioproducts Research Institute,” funded by the National Science Foundation, has a goal to “provide strategic programs and opportunities that will solidify and strengthen Maine’s R&D capacity and competitiveness in the area of forest bioproducts research.” For more information on the EPSCoR awards process go tohttp://umaine.edu/epscor/ 2007 EPSCoR Grant Partners Maine Center for Toxicology […]

With a three-year, $712,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy, University of Maine chemical engineers Peter van Walsum and Clay Wheeler are conducting research to convert pulp mill and marine algae processing plant by-products into high-quality biofuel. Hardwood extract from the kraft pulping process and seaweed by-products from the extraction of carrageenan, a natural […]

Governor John E. Baldacci and Maine Technology Institute (MTI) President Betsy Biemann today announced that the MTI Board of Directors has approved a total of $30 million in awards to 14 applicants across Maine. Legislators, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner John Richardson, and a number of representatives from the organizations receiving the […]

ORONO — Incorporating biorefineries into suitable pulp mills in Maine could help to wean the state from its crippling dependence on imported fossil fuels while also allowing it to maintain its traditional manufacturing base, according to a study released recently by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. In the “Maine Bioproducts Business […]

The grant, announced last week, is one of the largest in Maine’s history, and will support a cutting edge research and development program based in Maine. The university will partner with Red Shield Environmental in Old Town, and American Process Incorporated, to develop a method of making ethanol from forest-based materials. The method will be […]

A innovative partnership involving University of Maine (UMaine), Red Shield Environmental (RSE) and American Process Incorporated (API) has been awarded a grant of up to $30 million from the US Department of Energy to design, build and operate a small scale commercial biorefinery. This biorefinery will produce ethanol, acetic acid and other by- products along […]

US Dept. of Energy awards RSE Pulp & Chemical a $30M grant to take UMaine’s FBRI research out of the lab and apply it to biofuels development…

In an innovative process that literally involves “cooking,” the University of Maine has become a kitchen where research and business ingredients are creating a biorefinery model to add value to Maine’s pulp and paper mills while also creating biofuels and bioproducts. Maine’s abundant forest resources, landowners seeking markets for low grade wood, mill communities in […]