Dwindling U.S. Tobacco Market May Find New Life with Biofuels

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With the tobacco market dwindling, tobacco farmers may find new life in the biofuels market. The U.S. tobacco market has grown only 1.2% over the past six years, and that's due to international growth. Domestic sales of cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco fell an estimated 2.5% over the past year, as many U.S. smokers are quitting or turning to alternatives like electronic cigarettes.

Scientists at the University of California are working on engineering tobacco plants that produce oils that can be converted into biofuels, much like soybean oil. If successful, the new varieties would allow farmers who have been growing tobacco for generations to continue the tradition for a different purpose.

"There are several reasons we are modifying tobacco to produce biofuel," said Peggy G. Lemaux, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist. "It's a high biomass crop. If you want to extract oil, then the more biomass you have, the more oil you get. And, since tobacco is not a food source, tobacco production for biofuel would not have an impact on global food markets or find its way into the food supply. Finally, tobacco farmers are anxious to produce a product that is more acceptable to the public."

Jay Brunson, Industrial Info's Vice President of Alternative Fuels adds: "Tobacco would have to go through the federal government to count as a conventional biofuel, much like what natural gas-to-ethanol is currently going through. I would not see any reason why tobacco would not be qualified as cellulosic material."

Much more research is required before tobacco plants that produce biofuel at commercial levels will be available to growers. The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency gave the university a three-year, $4.8 million grant to further research. The funds come from a program called Plants Engineered to Replace Oil (PETRO), which funds research projects to find potential alternatives to fossil fuels.

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