The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative is a program of the UT system coordinated by the UT Institute for Agriculture’s UT Office of Bioenergy Programs. In 2007 the State of Tennessee committed $70 million to the UTBI to lead the effort to transition to an advanced biofuels economy. The immediate goal of the initiative was to demonstrate the feasibility of converting what was envisioned to be thousands of acres of homegrown switchgrass into cellulosic ethanol by building a pilot-scale research and demonstration cellulosic ethanol biorefinery, which would utilize the switchgrass.
UT created a limited-liability company, Genera Energy, to develop and implement testing of switchgrass as a product to be converted into cellulosic fuel—involving both building the pilot refinery and acquiring switchgrass through direct purchase from farmers. In spring 2008 the project enrolled 723 acres on 16 farms located in six East Tennessee counties in the switchgrass farmer incentive program, providing direct payments for switchgrass production, with plans to grow the production acreage to more than six thousand in three years. Switchgrass was chosen as the biomass source for cellulosic fuel because it has base yields of six to eight dry tons per acre, can grow on land that may be unsuitable for other row crops with little need for fertilization, and does not compete directly with food or feed uses. The pilot-scale research and demonstration cellulosic ethanol biorefinery was to be a partnership with Mascoma. But Mascoma withdrew, and Genera instead partnered with Dupont Danisco, which had developed a process for using corn stover as biomass.