The fluidized bed gasification system was developed in the 1980s when a patent was issued to (left) Drs. Calvin B. Parnell, Jr. and (far right) W.A. Lepori, part of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (now Texas A&M AgriLife Research). Cotton gin trash and other biomass feedstocks have been used as fuel to generate heat energy for power production. The technology has been a focal point for (center)Dr. Sergio Capareda, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research agricultural engineer in the department of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M, who researched the technology while working on his graduate degree during the late 1980s. Parnell and LePori were Capareda’s graduate advisors. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Blair Fannin)