Alternative Fuels
Preparing the next generation of renewable and low-carbon fuels to meet real-world needs
Low-carbon alternative fuels will facilitate the transition from fossil fuels in more ways than one. Cars and trucks already on the road may soon be able to run on biofuels derived from plants. Biofuels and hydrogen combustion engines can help decarbonize aviation, while hydrogen fuel cells could shape the future for US freight hauling.
Our interdisciplinary research on fuels is creating opportunities to efficiently and economically reduce mobility’s carbon footprint and increase US energy independence.
UT’s Approach
The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to US greenhouse gas emissions. There is immense potential to create positive change by researching alternatives to fossil fuels, including zero-emission electric motors. The shift to electric vehicles will not be immediate, though, and batteries are not the only viable option for every mode of transportation. By researching and developing low-carbon, high-performance alternative fuels, we are building a bridge to a clean, electrified future and creating energy options that will live alongside batteries.
Faculty across engineering disciplines and the UT Institute of Agriculture are building that bridge collaboratively through biofuels research. These fuels are derived from the structural components of wood and fast-growing plants like switchgrass, a species native to Tennessee. Carbon-neutral biofuels enable people to reduce their carbon footprint in their current combustion-engine vehicles.
Our biofuels research is largely directed at exploring fundamental principles behind efficiently converting plant matter into fuel using heat, catalysts, and even bacteria. Many of our researchers focus on how a specific plant component, lignin, can be used to produce high-performance biofuels.
UT faculty are also advancing the fundamental understanding and optimization of materials and processes used inside batteries and fuel cells. Lignin plays a role here, too: some researchers are studying the potential to create high-efficiency nontoxic battery and fuel cell components from this renewable resource.
Other chemical, mechanical and civil engineering faculty are investigating how to increase fuel cell durability for longer life and lower cost of ownership. Hydrogen fuel cells hold great promise for US long-haul trucking; we aim to engineer fuel cells that compete with conventional diesel systems on the market.
Highlights
Trinh’s Research Could Bring Big Changes to Biofuels
Ferguson Faculty Fellow Cong Trinh explores how to use living bacteria to produce chemicals called bioesters—a new source for next-generation biofuels. The bacteria are a vital link in converting renewable, sustainable feedstocks like switchgrass into vehicle and jet fuels.
Zawodzinski to Lead DOE Fuel Cell Project
A team led by UT–ORNL Governor’s Chair for Electrical Energy Conversion and Storage Tom Zawodzinski took a new approach to an old problem: increasing the efficiency of fuel cells by changing one critical chemical reaction. Their method applied a previous discovery made in their lab.
Ragauskas Honored by Royal Society of Chemistry
UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Biorefining Art Ragauskas has helped shape the current understanding of biofuels. The United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry recognized Ragauskas for his pioneering approach to studying how to convert plant lignin into fuel.
Inventor Spotlight
Anirban Roy, a doctoral student, and Doug Aaron, a research associate professor, secured a grant for new technology that makes hydrogen production more efficient and cost effective. The UT Research Foundation enabled Roy to explore this technology’s commercial potential.
Learn more about their efficient, low-cost hydrogen production.
Our Researchers
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Assistant Department Head, Mechanical, Aerospace & Biomedical Engineering
Electrochemical systems (batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers) relevant to vehicle electrification; grid stability; and energy storage
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Professor, School of Natural Resources
Carbon materials, natural fiber composites, composite processing, biopolymers, adhesion, rheology, thermal analysis, kinetic modeling, mechanics
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Professor & Assistant Director, Center for Renewable Carbon
Novel approaches to deconstruct lignocellulosic biomass and fabricate bio-based products, high throughput techniques coupled with multivariate statistical analyses for monitoring biomass quality and performance at various scales
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Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair, Tickle College of Engineering & Chancellor’s Professor
Electrochemical power conversion and storage including polymer electrolyte fuel cells, flow battery systems, and biological energy systems; multi-phase transport visualization and characterization; computational simulation of electrochemical power conversion and storage systems
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Director, East Tennessee Clean Fuels
Alternative fuel vehicle technology adoption, fleet, outreach, education, grant assistance, program management, natural gas, electric, propane, biodiesel, ethanol, electric vehicles
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UT–ORNL Governor’s Chair for Biorefining
Biofuels, bio-derived materials; chemical engineering, forestry sciences, environmental science and management, materials engineering, organic chemistry, food science, macromolecular and materials chemistry
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UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Electrical Energy Conversion & Storage
Electrolytes and composite electrodes for fuel cells, fundamentals of energy storage materials and systems, water management in fuel cells
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Associate Professor, Mechanical, Aerospace & Biomedical Engineering
Battery safety, thermal management, low carbon fuels, advanced combustion strategy, engine-fuel interaction