In Illinois, fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute that examines the use of a processing catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria. Published in the journal Fuel, their findings point to a cheaper, more environmentally […]
In California, photosynthesis provides energy for the vast majority of life on Earth. But chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to harvest sunlight, is relatively inefficient. To enable humans to capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to […]
In South Carolina, Clemson University received a $147,744, two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to analyze how switchgrass fields and loblolly pine forests affect local temperatures through the exchange of water, energy, radiation and carbon with the atmosphere. The purpose of the project and grant is […]
In India, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee have determined that toxic algal blooms can be a cheap, abundant nutrient source for cultivating Chlorella pyrenoidosa, a freshwater algae that can be used as a biodiesel feedstock. Pre-treatments such as acid/alkali and autoclave/microwave were tested while the acid autoclave hydrolysis method was found to […]
In the UK, landfill sites should be considered one of the great untapped resources in the search for new enzymes for biotechnology, and could fuel more efficient biofuel production. A new research paper in mSphere by biologists at Bangor and Liverpool universities has for the first time identified the enzymes which degrade natural materials such […]
In California, a team of engineers has developed stretchable fuel cells that extract energy from sweat and are capable of powering electronics, such as LEDs and Bluetooth radios. The biofuel cells generate 10 times more power per surface area than any existing wearable biofuel cells. The devices could be used to power a range of […]
In California, a Bay Area company has patented a group of three single-celled, algae-like organisms that, when grown together, can produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels. Sandia National Laboratories is helping HelioBioSys Inc. learn whether farming them on a large scale would be successful. HelioBioSys founders say they chose to grow […]
In Pennsylvania, researchers from Penn State found a more efficient and less expensive way to convert potato waste into ethanol, which is good news for the more than 20 potato chip manufacturing companies located in the region. By adding a bioreactor of mold and yeast while breaking down potato peels and residuals from complex carbohydrates […]
In Illinois, the Illinois Department of Transportation has approved implementation of a renewable energy demonstration project using grasses collected from mowing highway rights-of-way (ROW). The work will implement the findings of a three-year study by a multi-disciplinary team including the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the Prairie Research Institute of the University of Illinois. The […]
In Canada, new research from a professor of engineering at UBC’s Okanagan Campus might hold the key to biofuels that are cheaper, safer and much faster to produce. Starting with materials commonly found in agricultural or forestry waste—including wheat straw, corn husks and Douglas fir bark—she compared traditional fermentation processes with their new technique and […]
