NET-funded project aims to reduce water, energy use in ethanol production

A team of Nebraska Engineering researchers, led by Bruce Dvorak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, are studying how to make ethanol production more environmentally sensitive by reducing the amount of water and energy required to produce it and cutting the air emissions that result.

“We’ve come to a sense of how water and energy are used in ethanol facilities,” said Dvorak, principal investigator for the grant. “We’ve learned about where greenhouse gases and carbon intensity are being produced in the ethanol cycle. There are ways we can optimize the system.”

The Nebraska Environmental Trust is helping fund this project — $155,663 this year and $44,232 in a second year. NET is funding eight grants totaling more than $526,000 to University of Nebraska–Lincoln projects, and Dvorak's is the only new project receiving NET funding.