<b>By KEVIN WALKER<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b> </p><p>

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University (MSU) and Michigan Technological University are ramping up their biofuels research partnership in an effort to speed up and intensify work on renewable fuels.</p><p>
“Finding alternative sources of energy and fuel is going to be critical for our nation and can mean thousands of jobs for Michigan citizens,” said Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in an announcement last month. “Our state has the assets to be a leader in this sector, and we are looking to our universities to provide the knowledge to get us there. I’m delighted Michigan State and Michigan Tech are going to be working together on research to refine fuel from forest products.”</p><p>
“And agricultural materials,” said Bruce Dale, associate director of the Office of Bio-based Fuels at MSU, in an interview.</p><p>
He’s also a professor of chemical engineering in the department of materials science at MSU. The new partnership is really just an upgrade of a partnership that has existed for some time, Dale said.</p><p>
The partnership arose out of an emerging plan where Mascoma Corp., a company based in Cambridge, Mass., would open the first commercial scale ethanol plant in the country to use a cellulosic rather than corn-based process. The plant will be located in Gaylord, Mich., at a former Georgia Pacific fiberboard plant that closed last year. According to an official in Otsego County, the new plant could bring 300-500 new jobs to the area.</p><p>
The two universities have signed a cooperative agreement on forest biofuel research and outreach collaboration. According to Dale the new partnership will specifically focus on the use of poplar and willow to support biofuels projects.</p><p>
Although the Michigan Economic Development Corporation didn’t provide any funds for this partnership, it was  heavily involved in developing the agreement between MSU and Michigan Tech. on a “macro level,” according to Bridget Beckman, a spokeswoman for the public-private nonprofit group.</p><p>
Dale thoroughly believes in the future of cellulosic processes and ethanol in general. He said that right now six plants across the country are being built that will use a cellulosic process to produce ethanol. It will take five to eight years before all the research into improving cellulosic processes “breaks out.” After that he predicts that this form of ethanol generation will accelerate rapidly.</p><p>
He also talked about the food versus fuel debate. He believes it doesn’t exist except in the minds of people who are looking for a good sound bite.</p><p>
“Farmers only get about 17 cents on the food dollar,” he said. “On corn it would be quite a bit less. The corn part is relatively small. Fuel has about three times as much impact on the cost of living as food prices.”</p><p>
According to Dale ethanol production is driving down the price of energy far more than it’s driving up the cost of food.</p><p>
“I have it on reliable sources that the cost of gas is 20 cents a gallon less in Iowa because of ethanol.”</p><p>