In South Korea, researchers at UNIST uncovered new ways to make biofuel from carbon dioxide (CO2), the most troublesome greenhouse gas. In their paper published in the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, the team presented direct CO2 conversion to liquid transportation fuels by reacting with renewable hydrogen (H2) generated by solar water splitting. The currently […]
In Illinois, new research at the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory (IBRL) on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus could significantly change ethanol production by lowering operating costs and simplifying the dry grind process. “There are currently more than 200 dry grind plants that are processing corn to produce ethanol,” says Vijay Singh, director of IBRL […]
In Iowa, new bioplastic materials may enable gardeners to tend their plants more sustainably and could even help plants “self-fertilize” and grow healthier roots, according to research conducted by Iowa State University horticulturists. A five-year study looked at numerous options for bioplastic derived from sources such as polylactic acid and the more biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates. They […]
In Illinois, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory have conducted a detailed study of the reflectivity effects of converting land to grow biofuel crops. Their study is part of an overall analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from land use change: instances where land that was previously forests, grasslands or pastureland […]
In the EU, Open-Bio has launched a database that provides relevant information about bio-based end products to assist public buyers in making purchasing decisions. The main goal? To simplify the lives of procurement officials that want to pay more attention to bio-based products but don’t know where to start. The database presents various bio-based products which […]
In Austria, researchers led by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna are coordinating the EU-funded project GREENLAND that in part aims to use trees such as poplars and willow to clean up superfund sites. Not only do the trees’ roots suck up polluted water but bacteria can also be added to […]
In Botswana, the University of Botswana took its research program to loftier heights when it launched an experimental vehicle that uses biodiesel fuel on November 14, 2016. The vehicle uses blended fuel (B10) which is 90 per cent petroleum diesel (50PPM) and 10 per cent biodiesel produced by University of Botswana researchers. The launch was […]
In Germany, researchers have developed a hybrid of a fuel cell and capacitor on a biocatalytic basis. With the aid of enzymatic processes, what’s known as a biosupercapacitor efficiently generates and stores energy. The trick: the enzymes are embedded in a stable polymer gel, which can store a large amount of energy. The scientists at […]
In Japan, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have developed a technology to produce improved surgical sealants using gelatin of cold-water fish in particular (e.g. cod, hake, Alaska pollock and salmon) because the biomaterial basically makes the sealants waterproof. Tests performed on mice and pig tissue performed well, with the material biodegrading in eight weeks […]
In California, Stanford University reports that an interdisciplinary team at Stanford has made significant strides toward solving the solar energy storage issue, demonstrating the most efficient means yet of storing electricity captured from sunlight in the form of chemical bonds. As Stanford observed in a release, “that stored energy can be recovered later in different […]
