A new agricultural industry may emerge in North Carolina from the abandoned office of an old one. A former federal tobacco research station in Oxford reopens today as the new headquarters of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina.

The goal of the nonprofit center, which operates with state funding, is to develop a statewide alternative-fuels industry to reduce dependence on imported oil.

"The question has been what might be an agricultural sector that has a chance of replacing tobacco in economic importance, and maybe over time in cultural importance," said Steven Burke, chairman of the board of the Biofuels Center. "If we develop, pursue and maintain a biofuels endeavor over the next 20 years, we will gain a new sector of our economy."

North Carolinians currently burn about 5.6 billion gallons of gasoline and other petroleum fuels a year, nearly all of which comes from out of state. The aim is produce 10 percent of the state's liquid fuels from fibers, waste or crops other than corn within a decade. The use of corn for ethanol production already has provoked criticism about the allocation of farmland and increases in food prices.

"To have this multiacre campus available over the next 20 years as a site to trigger and develop biofuels is wonderful for North Carolina," Burke said. "There is no other state in the country that has a committed biofuels campus."

The center received $5 million from the legislature last year in startup funding. Burke said the campus eventually may serve as an incubator for fledgling biofuel production facilities. Currently, it just houses the center's staff of 10.

But it has already awarded 15 grants totalling about $2.5 million to universities and businesses for research, development and production of biofuels from crops and fibers grown in the state.

Part of the challenge is identifying which crops or wastes in North Carolina are most suitable for commercial production of biofuels.

Aviation biofuel

Bill Roberts, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at N.C. State University, is working with colleagues on ways to produce aviation fuel from animal fats, algae or crop oils. The researchers received a $200,000 grant to further their efforts.

"We're trying to find or exploit feedstocks that aren't competing directly with the feed supply, so you don't run into corn problems," Roberts said.

The biofuels center would be a tremendous economic engine to develop a viable industry, he said.

"This grant is moving us toward trying to commercialize this process we have," Roberts said. "Right now, we're working at the teaspoon level. This will get us to gallon level."

If the researchers can produce aviation fuel, which is the hardest fuel to make, North Carolina's large military bases could be potential customers.

Piedmont Biofuels, based in Pittsboro, received a $250,000 grant to improve the efficiency of its production process and reduce its waste products. Such refinements to the production process could be shared with other producers.

As a byproduct of the current process, the refinery ends up with crude biodiesel glycerin, a cocktail of chemicals that is pretty much useless and costs money to dispose of. But it could be processed to reclaim the glycerin, which is used in soaps, pharmaceuticals and industrial processes.

"It's a side stream that has a lot of potential," said Evan Ashworth, fuel distribution manager for Piedmont Biofuels.

Ashworth said the Biofuels Center would be a great help to making the biofuels industry's production processes more sustainable.