DOVER – Local scientists are growing new innovations in the energy and agriculture industries with patents that could improve the efficiency and cost of biofuels for the future.
Dr. Bertrand Hankoua, an assistant professor in Delaware State University’s (DSU) Department of Human Ecology, teamed up with University of North Carolina at Greensboro Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Plant and Pollinator Center Dr. Ayalew Osena, a former DSU postdoctoral researcher, to develop a new propagation method that would support the growth of a sterile plant known as miscanthus x giganteus.
Also known as giant miscanthus, the plant can be used in the production of animal bedding, soil mulching and building materials, but it is mainly used as raw materials for biofuels much like corn is used to produce ethanol.
The issue Hankoua and Osena sought to solve was its growth pattern – giant miscanthus is known as a sterile plant as it does not produce seeds. While others have learned how to propagate the plant in the past, the pair wanted to find a more efficient and cost-effective way to handle the process for mass production of the plant. Patenting their new process was one way to help protect their innovative processes.
“It’s not easy and this plant has been very difficult to grow and propagate,” Hankoua laughed with the Delaware Business Times about the patent process. “As a scientist, to be able to say you had this innovation, it’s powerful. . . Delaware, as a state, it’s not a very large state, of course, but to be able to grow Gigantus here – a contribution is a contribution. This one is really so important and we’re glad to share it with Delaware.”
All told, Hankoua and Osena received research funding through a USDA grant in 2014 and were recently awarded three separate patents for the three unique and complex processes developed to promote mass production of the plant, titled “System for Rapid, Robust, and Efficient in vitro Mass Propagation of MISCANTHUS x GIGANTEUS.”
“In short, we started with split immature tillers which produced in vitro shoots on a culture media. From these shoots, we were able to produce hundreds and thousands of Giant Miscanthus seedlings,” Osena said in a press release from DSU. “We then acclimatized these seedlings and planted them at the University’s Research Farm in Smyrna, Del.”
They planted a total of 50 plants at The Farm in 2016 – all of which continue to grow into a “very dense strand that now looks like a jungle,” he added.
“Now that this technology is patented, the next step will be to license it to local, regional, national, and International perennial grass growers, especially those who massively produce and commercialize Miscanthus X Giganteus seedlings for various applications such as biofuels, pellets for heat generation, biobased chemicals, fibers, bioelectricity, biochar, and animal bedding, etc,” Dr. Hankoua said in the press release.
