Category: Research

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 […]

Deinove validates key milestone 3 of its Deinochem program and receives €0.8 million from ADEME

December 18, 2016 | Jim Lane

In France, ADEME has validated key step 3 of Deinove’s DEINOCHEM program, dedicated to the bio-based production of carotenoids and financed by ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency) under the “Investissements d’Avenir” (Investments for the Future) program. This new key milestone validates the technical progress made in developing the carotenoid production process. The target […]

Boise State researcher looks at bacteria’s impact on cellulosic biofuel production

December 15, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Idaho, a paper co-authored by Lisa Warner, an assistant research professor in the Biomolecular Research Center at Boise State University, looks at how Clostridium thermocellum breaks down and converts cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels, including hydrogen and hydrocarbons, while also surprisingly decreasing the amount of CO2 released as a waste byproduct. “CO2-fixing one-carbon metabolism […]

Research into antennae may help boost biofuel production yields

December 14, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Washington, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science (SC) supports research at the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC), a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center. Researchers at PARC are studying how antenna complexes organize their components and protect themselves from damage. The photosynthetic antenna complex is a collection of pigments and proteins that capture […]

University of Missouri study shows switchgrass can improve soil quality where topsoil has been lost

December 13, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Missouri, loss of fertile topsoil from agricultural fields is an economic problem for modern farmers. When runoff water washes topsoil from agricultural fields in areas with claypan soils under the topsoil, including parts of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas, farmers are often left with an exposed subsoil clay layer that creates difficult […]

Midwest averages an ethanol spill every two days

December 12, 2016 | Meghan Sapp

In Illinois, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found that the Midwest saw 173 ethanol spills in 2015, up from 36 in 1985 but below 2013’s high of 2011, bringing the average to about one spill every second day. Illinois has seen more than 1,100 spills since 1985, the most in the region, coming in […]

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