In Illinois, a computer-based model developed by researchers at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland in Australia is now able to predict the optimal conditions for acetogenic carbon fixation, specifically for the species Clostridium autoethanogenum (C. auto), used by gas fermentation company LanzaTech. The results were released in […]
In Texas, researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife Research are interested in how seasons affect how well cattle can digest a type of Bermuda grass, Tifton 85. In a recent study, they found that as seasons progress, the grass becomes harder to digest. However, by supplementing with the dried distillers’ grains, this effect can be minimized. […]
In California, in findings published in the journal Nature Microbiology, researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara and more than 20 co-investigators describe a new complex of enzymes discovered in herbivore gut fungi that may have applications in sustainable fuels and chemicals. The paper is titled “A Parts List for Fungal Cellulosomes Revealed by […]
In Brazil, the International Centre for Renewable Energy (CIBiogas) has inaugurated its multi-feedstock biogas plant that will use 10 tons of food waste, 30 tons of pruned grass and 300,000 liters of sewage per month to produce 4,000 cubic meters of ethanol on a monthly basis. The $661,000 project will run for 20 months to […]
In Washington, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announced that up to $9 million in funding will be made available through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) to increase the nation’s energy independence by supporting the development of bioenergy feedstocks, biofuels, and biobased products. The […]
In France, Deinove commenced the second phase of its animal nutrition R&D project initiated with Flint Hills Resources in November 2015. The project, initiated in 2015 and financed by Flint Hills Resources, aims to develop a nutritional supplement for animal feed. This first phase successfully selected several bacterial strains from Deinove’s library producing the targeted compounds. On the basis of efficacy tests, […]
In India, researchers at the P.K. Sinha Centre for Bioenergy at IIT— Kharagpur have developed a patent-pending “soil-to-soil” manufacturing technology for cellulosic biofuel production that is meant to be faster and reduce costs by using enzymes instead of chemical pre-treatment processes. Researchers say the process is pollution-free with only organic fertilizer from residual biomass as […]
In California, bioenergy researchers are looking to nature and the estimated 1.5 million species of fungi that, collectively, can break down almost any substance on earth, including plant biomass. As reported May 26, 2017 in Nature Microbiology, a team led by researchers at the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara has found for the first […]
In Minnesota, a PhD student researcher from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has won a Fulbright grant to study pennycress at the Plant Reproduction and Development laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France. The plant is seen as a good potential feedstock for biofuel but its nectar is also attractive to pollinators […]
In Wisconsin, by developing a new process for obtaining not one, but three high-value products from biomass in one fell swoop, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers and their collaborators have now made that leap towards economic viability. The researchers, led by James Dumesic, professor of chemical and biological engineering, published their results May 19 in the […]
