In Illinois, to help stakeholders in government and business make smart decisions about the best types of land and local climates for planting bioenergy crops, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory are using computational modeling to predict which counties could see increases in soil organic carbon from cultivation of crops […]
In Texas, a researcher from Texas A&M has received a USDA grant to bridge small businesses with agricultural producers across the northeastern part of the state to produce biodiesel while also helping to support those seeking renewable energy system grants. The plan is to help integrate biodiesel as well as other renewables for agricultural use […]
In Washington, the 2016 Billion-Ton Report, jointly released by the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, concludes that the United States has the potential to sustainably produce at least 1 billion dry tons of nonfood biomass resources annually by 2040. These renewable resources include agricultural, forestry and algal biomass, as well as […]
In Singapore, researchers from the National University of Singapore have developed a genetically modified a type of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast that can produce butanol from fats in food waste, as much as half the weight of the original feedstock. Ten genes are added to the original yeast to produce the butanol, a process that also […]
In Washington, researchers found that C. thermocellum uses a previously unknown mechanism to degrade cellulose, in addition to other known degradation mechanisms. This discovery helps explain C. thermocellum’s superior ability to digest biomass and demonstrates the highly diverse strategies evolved in nature for biomass conversion. Researchers are using the study’s findings to develop optimal systems […]
In Malaysia, researchers from the Universiti Putra Malaysia have developed a methodology to produce biodiesel from algae using nanocatalysts and synthesized through a calcination–hydration–dehydration technique. The nano-CaO catalysis impact was investigated in a two-step transesterification of triglycerides from crude Jatropha oil as a biodiesel along with other reaction parameters such as catalyst ratio, reaction time, […]
In Massachusetts, a new report from Lux Research concluded that “Robotics can be competitive with human labor in some cases already, and falling costs over the next decade will open up more applications.” Lux Research analysts studied automation in agriculture and the developers of robots. Among their findings: • Robots near parity with labor in corn […]
In Australia, a new research partnership between Queensland University of Technology and a US National Laboratory aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop new ways of creating bio-energy from plant material. The biotechnology research partnership will bring together leading US and Australian researchers and was formalized when Australia’s QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and […]
In Georgia, researchers within the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center engineered the heat-loving microorganisms to produce not only ethanol, but also a range of other alcohols. The ability to produce bioalcohols at temperatures above 70°C (158°F) has advantages over lower temperature processes, including lower risk of microbial contamination, higher diffusion rates, and lower […]
In Washington, the USDA’s Economic Research Service released a new report “Brazil’s Agricultural Land Use and Trade: Effects of Changes in Oil Prices and Ethanol Demand.” In a high-price scenario, the oil price rises 45 percent by 2024. With increasing oil prices, sugarcane area increases by 946,000 hectares during the forecast period, or about 11 […]
