NATCHEZ — Alcorn State University has conducted research into the possibility of using bamboo for biofuels production.

Alcorn got into the biofuels research business in February thanks to the Mississippi Development Authority legislation that provided funding for the state’s portion of the KiOR project, Alcorn’s Dean of Agriculture Barry Bequette said Tuesday during a meeting Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) at the Alcorn Natchez Campus. The MDA package included funding for Alcorn and Mississippi State University.

Harper was on campus to tour the facilities, learn about Alcorn’s ongoing projects and discuss appropriation requests.

“Our focus will be on agronomic practices and logistics,” Bequette said. “How do you grow some of the biofuels crops, and how do you move those products to market in an efficient way?”

Because Alcorn already has some scientists on staff with some expertise in bamboo cultivars, Bequette said the school is looking into ways to see if some of the highest yielding bamboo can be used for biomass production.

One of the varieties, Miscanthus gigantus, has been sent to KiOR for evaluation of its suitability to be used in KiOR’s process, Bequette said.

Alcorn will also work to determine the economic break-even point for the Miscanthus plant when grown in southwestern Mississippi.

And there are other concerns that need to be considered as well.

“We are also looking for cultivars that will not hinder our services in southern Mississippi like kudzu,” Bequette said.

Alcorn has two off-campus research stations that will be used for growing sites, and the school has established an internship at KiOR’s research and development site. The school is also advertising for a chief scientist for biofuels research.

“We don’t have a biofuels curriculum, but we intend to develop that once the chief scientist comes on board,” Bequette said.

Former Congressman Chip Pickering, who was at the meeting as a lobbyist for the school, said the University would focus on appropriations requests that work in conjunction with new biofuels pushes nationally.

And Pickering said arrangements like Alcorn has with KiOR are good for future funding requests.

“Any time you have a private and a state partner, it helps justify the federal leverage in funding,” he said.

Alcorn’s Executive Vice President and Provost Samuel White said partnering with KiOR and other companies is part of the school’s operational practice.

“We are looking to partner with our state and local industries and corporations to make things happen for our students and our faculty,” White said.