Category: Research

DOE awards universities funding to boost biofuel performance in engines

December 29, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Washington, the DOE announced up to $7 million for eight universities to accelerate the introduction of affordable, scalable, and sustainable high-performance fuels for use in high-efficiency, low-emission engines. Under the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) initiative, DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Vehicle Technologies Office are collaborating to maximize energy savings and on-road vehicle performance, while dramatically reducing […]

OSU researchers say rural development from forest waste biomass faces economic hurdles

December 28, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Oregon, use of residual forest biomass for rural development faces significant economic hurdles that make it unlikely to be a source of jobs in the near future, according to an analysis by economists at Oregon State University. In a model of the forest industry, researchers in the College of Forestry combined an evaluation of […]

Cornell researchers say marine microalgae key to future food and fuel

December 27, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In New York state, researchers at Cornell University say large-scale industrial cultivation of marine microalgae, or ICMM, could help produce fuel for aviation and shipping along with animal feed. Previous Cornell research shows that chickens eating algae-based feed produce eggs with three times the amount of omega-3s. Researchers say to produce the amount of liquid […]

Masdar researchers find ISEAS jet fuel reduces GHG emissions by up to 68%

December 26, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In the UAE, researchers at Masdar Institute and Qatar University found the Integrated Seawater Energy Agriculture System can produce aviation biofuels, electricity, and food while afforesting coastal desert land, acting as a long-term sink for carbon, minimizing freshwater consumption, and having beneficial land use impacts when compared to fossil jet fuel production. Based on a […]

Iowa State to manage biorefinery projects for new Manufacturing USA Institute

December 23, 2016 | Jim Lane

In Iowa, Iowa State University will bring its expertise in biorenewable technologies and pilot plant operations to the country’s tenth Manufacturing USA Institute. The recently announced advanced manufacturing institute is dedicated to improving the productivity and efficiency of chemical manufacturing. Those improvements could include combining processes such as mixing, reacting and separating into single steps. […]

JBEI releases 4 new biobased technologies for licensing

December 23, 2016 | Jim Lane

In California, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed four new technologies available for license: Streamlined Saccharification from Lignocellulosic Biomass, 2015-143 Translation Control Tool for Plans, 2013-166 Determining Ligninases Activities through Nanostructure Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS), 2016-109 Lanthanide-Chelator Barcode for Combinatorial Screening Applications, 2016-121 Berkeley Lab […]

University of California, Irvine researchers convert CO2 to CO for biofuel production

December 22, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In California, using a novel approach involving a key enzyme that helps regulate global nitrogen, University of California, Irvine molecular biologists have discovered an effective way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide that can be adapted for commercial applications like biofuel synthesis. The researchers found that they could successfully express the reductase component of […]

Michigan State researchers engineer “molecular Velcro” into cyanobacteria

December 21, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Michigan, Michigan State University scientists have engineered “molecular Velcro” into cyanobacteria, boosting this microalgae’s biofuel viability as well as its potential for other research. The findings, featured in the current issue of ACS Synthetic Biology, show how MSU researchers have designed a surface display system to attach cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, to […]

Cornell and JGI team on how bacteria interact with fungi for biodiesel production

December 20, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In New York state, to answer the challenge of producing renewable, sustainable alternative fuels, researchers aren’t just looking at developing candidate bioenergy crops but are also reviewing other natural sources of energy-dense oils such as fungi. To learn more about how bacteria interact with fungi in a symbiotic relationship to support the biochemistries that could […]

BETO looks to potentially fund applied research to boost algae biofuel production methods

December 19, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Washington, the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy arm of the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) made a Funding Opportunity Announcement that will support an applied research focus on biological variables which contribute most greatly to the modeled minimum fuel selling price of algal biofuels. These biological variables include: biomass productivity; biomass composition […]

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