In Canada, Damien Biot-Pelletier, a Concordia PhD candidate in biology, is building on the findings of a previous Concordia grad student: Dominic Pinel, who produced a strain of yeast that is resistant to sulfite liquor—the toxic byproduct of the pulp and paper industry—and transforms its sugars into ethanol. Biot-Pelletier is now trying to discover what […]
In Colorado, tucked away in darkness and almost dead, algae can emerge from a frigid and foggy environment to live again—and perhaps even become the seeds for a new beginning that can provide biofuel for a clean energy future. At the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and at dozens of other labs nationwide, algae […]
In New York state, patents for biofuels and biomass provided by the US Patent Trade Office reached an all time high 71 during Q2 of 2014, four more than the previous high seen during Q4 in 2013 and nearly 20 more than the previous quarter, according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI), published […]
In Nature Climate Change, a recent study performed at the University of Nebraska that cast doubt on whether biofuels produced from corn residue could meet the federal mandate for cellulosic ethanol has garnered criticism also published in the same journal. The criticism notes that the model ignored some of the carbon benefits associated with cellulosic […]
In North Carolina, researchers are using biotechnology to chip away at barriers to producing biofuels from woody plants and grasses instead of the corn and sugarcane used to make ethanol. NC State’s Forest Biotechnology Group, which has been responsible for several research milestones published this year, summed up biofuel research progress and challenges for a […]
In New Jersey, students at Rutgers-Camden have developed a new software tool called MOST (Metabolic Optimization and Simulation Tool) to create mathematical models of organisms to better predict how they can be engineered to produce desirable products, such as biofuels. The program is similar to other programs but the key difference is that it has […]
In California, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified microbial genes that can improve both the tolerance and the production of biogasoline in engineered strains of Escherichia coli. Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, a chemist who directs the host engineering program for JBEI’s Fuels Synthesis Division, led a study in which […]
In South Dakota, South Dakota State University food science professor Padmanaban Krishnan received a four-year grant geared toward getting corn co-products to the food market. With a $576,000 project budget for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association grant, Krishnan will work with the food and ethanol industries with the goal of bringing food-grade dried distiller’s grain (DDG) […]
According to Lux Research, the bio-based materials and chemicals industry is poised to attract nearly $1 billion in investment this year, led notably by later-stage funding rounds. The estimated $974 million investment represents a 28% increase from 2013, suggesting companies that endured the waves of economic disruption have gained maturity and regained investors’ confidence. Lux […]
In Norway, the sea has long been a source of the country’s riches, whether from cod, farmed salmon or oil. Now one researcher from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) researcher hopes to add seaweed to this list as he refines a way to produce “biocrude” from common kelp. Using small quartz tube […]
