In California, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power your car and other sustainably developed bio-products. They […]
In California, a consortium of nine national laboratories is holding the Agile Biomanufacturing Industry Listening Workshop on March 15, 2016 in Berkeley, California, to increase understanding of industry needs for synthetic biology technologies to make renewable fuels and chemicals. Register at this link*. DOE National laboratories have developed deep and unique capabilities to build powerful […]
In Mexico, researchers from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa developed a mathematical model to determine the optimal design of an algae-based biorefinery where flue gases from different industrial facilities are used as raw materials. The team developed a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model and applied it to a case study in Mexico. Their model […]
In Illinois, scientists are exploring how grasses, and switchgrass in particular, can enrich the nation’s biofuel supply, which is currently dominated by corn, a crop relatively easy to convert to biofuel but also in demand for food, livestock feed and industrial products. A team of national laboratory and university researchers led by the U.S. Department […]
In Illinois, new research has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing effects on water quantity and quality. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used detailed models to examine impacts on water quantity and quality in soils that would occur if existing vegetation was replaced by […]
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In Mississippi, an associate professor at Mississippi State University believes that if half of the sludge produced at the country’s wastewater treatment facilities was used as feedstock for biodiesel, about 2 billion gallons could be produced annually. It’s only 0.5% of domestic diesel demand but it is something from currently nothing. With a pilot plant […]
In Washington state, Matrix Genetics and Proterro will jointly produce high-value nutritional products in Spirulina. Matrix will develop the Spirulina strains and Proterro will grow these strains on their proprietary production system. Matrix was the first company to offer rapid and efficient genetic methods for modifying Spirulina, which unlocks this organism’s high protein content, rich […]
In California, researchers report in the journal Science on Feb. 18 that anaerobic gut fungi from goats, sheep and horses perform as well as the best fungi engineered by industry in their ability to convert plant material into sugars that are easily transformed into fuel and other products. “Nature has engineered these fungi to have […]
In Tennessee, researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) created one of the largest biomolecular simulations to date—a 23.7-million atom system representing pretreated biomass (cellulose and lignin) in the presence of enzymes. The size of the simulation required Titan, the flagship supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility […]
