PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2024
The University of Maine’s forest bioproducts and aquaculture research institutes have been awarded $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue studying the effectiveness of turning low-value wood into jet fuel and fish food. It’s the latest effort to find sustainable uses for the state’s abundant forest products. In forestry, the most valuable wood is used for lumber, some is used for pulp and paper manufacturing, but smaller-diameter trees are “often removed in order to enhance growth.” Those trees are typically chipped up for biomass or left on the forest floor. “There are alternative jet fuels, but not necessarily all of them are renewable or sustainable,” said Clayton Wheeler, director of the UMaine forest bioproducts research institute. “(Aviation) is the one transportation sector that cannot be satisfied using renewable electricity.”