On Jan. 22, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced 12 recipients of $25 million in grants as part of the “Farm to Fuel” program. The program is part of the 25x’25 initiative spearheaded by Agricultural Commissioner Charles Bronson. It is designed to spur the state’s agricultural industry to produce 25 percent of Florida’s energy needs by 2025. “We believe that awards such as these are critical in triggering the development of a renewable energy industry in Florida,” Bronson said.
Grant recipients included Liberty Industries, an affiliate of Liberty Chips Corp., which plans to construct a $38 million ethanol plant in Liberty County, just west of Tallahassee. The plant will produce ethanol and electricity by using forest waste products as feedstocks. The plant site has yet to be finalized, but Liberty Industries President Sam Hatcher said his company will be able to draw on the heavily wooded areas surrounding Liberty County as long-term feedstocks. The company was awarded $4 million in grant money, which Hatcher said will be used for equipment and the construction of the plant. He said the company is in the pre-permitting process with plans to begin construction in 2009.
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The University of Florida received $500,000 toward the research and development of a catalytic chemical reactor system to convert woody biomass to biodiesel. Other research and development grants went to Sigarca Inc., the University of Central Florida, the Florida Institute of Technology and Neptune Industries. Sigarca was given almost $500,000 to aid in the construction of a demonstration plant that will process horse waste into renewable energy. The $1.5 million plant will be located on the grounds of the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala.
The University of Central Florida received a $498,000 grant that will partially fund a research project designed to demonstrate technology it developed that uses an advanced thermocatalytic process to convert farm and animal waste into renewable energy.
Neptune Industries and the Institute of Technology will be using grant money for further research on algae as a fuel source. The technology institute will be researching various strains of microalgae capable of producing biodiesel with its $415,000 grant. Neptune, which received $158,000, will be developing a floating algae production system in quarry lakes in south Florida.
Southeast Biofuels LLC, a subsidiary of Xethanol Corp., received $500,000 for its pilot plant that will convert citrus peels to ethanol.
Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Jay Levenstein said the department is pleased with the results of the grant disbursement this year. He said Florida, like many states, is experiencing budget shortfalls, but he hopes that they will be able to continue the program next year as long as funding is available.
Companies that received grant money are required to match the contribution with their own money or otherwise raised funds. Entities chosen for the grants are contributing more than $150 million of their own resources to these projects. “We’re not looking to build our own state-funded ethanol plants or biodiesel plants, or completely fund other projects," Levenstein said. "We like to be in a position where we can help out, but they’ve also got to be able to come to the table with some of their own assets. I know from talking to some of these companies that funding like this really puts them over the top of the hill as far as being able to complete their project.”
There were 76 grant submissions received by the agriculture department. Proposals were evaluated on set criteria, including the use of Florida-grown crops or biomass to produce energy, the company’s potential to expand agribusiness in Florida, preliminary market research, and the efficiency of their use of energy and other material resources.