USDA OKs Field Testing of ArborGen Freeze-Tolerant Eucalyptus as Biomass Crop

USDA OKs Field Testing of ArborGen Freeze-Tolerant Eucalyptus as Biomass Crop

By Scott Doggett May 13, 2010

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

SAN FRANCISCO - Some people who were unfamiliar with the concept of due diligence introduced eucalyptus to California during the 1850s with hope that the large Australian trees would provide a renewable source of timber for construction and railroad ties.

To their dismay they discovered years later that the wood was particularly unsuitable for those purposes because boards and ties made from it had a tendency to twist and crack while drying and were so tough it was nearly impossible to hammer nails into them.

So began and abruptly ended the California eucalyptus industry. Which isn't to say the state still isn't littered with the tall trees. They are seemingly everywhere, providing appreciated windbreaks in farm country and focal points for plein air painters - but also out-competing native plant species.

They also burn very well, although often not in a good way. The 1991 firestorm in the Oakland Hills, just across the bay from here, destroyed almost 3,000 homes and killed 25 people, was in large part fueled by the large numbers of eucalyptus trees growing close to the houses.

But a designer eucalyptus - one created in a lab - may soon find use as another type of fuel - for automobiles.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week approved a permit to allow the South Carolina company ArborGen to move forward with the field testing of its freeze-tolerant eucalyptus hybrid in seven southeastern states. The permit was granted following the completion of an environmental assessment that found no significant impact for a controlled release of the hybrid.

The purpose of the release is to allow ArborGen - a self-described company of foresters, scientists and business people who are committed to protecting native habitats in all their diversity and beauty while also meeting the global need for wood, fiber and energy - to continue research "on the efficacy of genetic constructs intended to confer cold tolerance, alter lignin biosynthesis and alter fertility."

In other words, the USDA is giving ArborGen the green light to continue work on their genetically modified eucalyptus to see if it might make a wonderful woody biomass as a source of cellulose for biofuels.

ArborGen says it is is hoping that the fast-growing varietal will provide a sustainable, high-yield hardwood crop in the Southeast to meet growing needs for biomass and spur economic development in rural, timber-dependent communities.

ArborGen is working with the Broomfield, Colorado, company Range Fuels, which is looking at a variety of non-food biomass feedstocks to see which ones might be most efficiently and economically converted to cellulosic biofuels. To that end, Range Fuels is building a commercial cellulosic biofuels plant near Soperton, Georgia.

We wish them much better luck that the folks who, 160 years ago, thought timber from eucalyptus would make fine railroad ties.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.