Urban Forestry Scientist Awarded Half A Million Dollars for Bioenergy Research

Baton Rouge, LA - Dr. Kamran Abdollahi, professor, urban forestry, recently received nearly half a million dollars from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to develop biofuels for bioenergy from sustainable alternative non-food feedstocks in Louisiana. Urban Forestry scientists Drs. Zhu Hua Ning, Andra Johnson, and Yemane Ghebreiyessus are co-investigators. Dr. Dorin Boldor of LSU AgCenter is the main collaborating scientist serving as co-investigator.


The Urban Forestry scientists at Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center in collaboration with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Research and Extension Center and the USDA Forest Service developed this joint, multidisciplinary project. The goal is to address the critical needs to develop scalable, cost-saving biofuels and associated processing technologies from sustainable, alternative, non-food feedstocks (urban wood-waste and energy cane biomass).

The importance of this project stems from several factors: 1. utilization of wood-waste and non-food feedstocks for biofuel and bioenergy production; 2. utilization of low-cost processing methods which will effectively increase biofuel’s competitiveness; 3. environmental and economic impact of non-food plants.

The successful project outcomes will: (a) benefit the agricultural community by encouraging sustainable diversification of agricultural production in LA and Southern USA; (b) help develop rural and urban areas by promoting economic diversification and growth emphasizing biobased energy and products technologies; (c) develop and strengthen R&D programs via enhanced collaboration and coordination of bio-energy research efforts; (d) develop cost saving, scalable, technologies for biofuel feedstock processing; (e) accelerate the technology transfer process from research to commercialization using existing agreements with industry partners; and (f) benefit the people of the US through development, distribution, and implementation of biobased energy technologies, therefore promoting energy independence. The partner institutions are ideally positioned to take advantage of the current bio-energy research thrust in Louisiana.

For more information, please contact Dr. Abdollahi at: 225-324-8206

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