In Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory published an article in Scientific Reports on its new method to directly convert biomass-derived ethanol to a hydrocarbon blendstock and is continuing work with Vertimass, LLC. to commercialize it. The Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) provided funding for the Oak Ridge research beginning in 2011. Oak Ridge licensed […]
In Washington, the DOE announced its intent to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) entitled “MEGA-BIO: Bioproducts to Enable Biofuels.” This FOA supports BETO’s goal of meeting its 2022 cost target of $3/gallon gasoline equivalent for the production of hydrocarbon fuels from lignocellulosic biomass. One approach BETO […]
In Missouri, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announced that it will be part of a major collaborative research project to improve sorghum’s productivity under resource-limited conditions. The research should lead to strategies to increase plant biomass as well as more water use- and nutrient-efficient sorghum crop systems. The five- year $13.5M project is funded by […]
In Utah, Utah State University has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract with Salt Lake City based Technology Holding LLC from the U.S. Army to continue research and development of Spider Silk manufacturing. The total contract award is $1 million and is managed through the Army Research Office. Among the goals […]
In Massachusetts, Lux Research is reporting that innovative pricing and service models will be key to the success of sensor applications in agriculture. “With farmers facing price variability and other uncertainties,” said Lux, “ few are able or willing to risk significant capital on sensing technologies, which can help make more efficient use of soil, […]
In India, Chempolis has partnered Avantha Group’s research wing ACRID to produce cellulosic ethanol and other bio-based chemicals from feedstocks such as bagasse, cane trash, rice and wheat straw, corn stems, grasses, bamboo and clean sugar. Chempolis will supply its proprietary technology for the implementation of local projects. An increase of ethanol production is expected to […]
In Canada, researchers from McGill University have devised a strategy where seafood waste is pretreated by enzymatic hydrolysis for subsequent hydrothermal carbonization to produce hydrochar and biocrude liquor. Enzyme hydrolysis conditions including enzyme concentration, incubation time, and enzyme ratios were carefully optimized for maximal hydrolysis of seafood waste. By using an enzyme cocktail of Viscozyme, […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced its intent to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office, a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) entitled “Advancements in Algal Biomass Yield, Phase 2 (ABY2).” This FOA will support projects to develop technologies that are likely to succeed in […]
In Washington state, Washington State University researchers have developed a catalyst that easily converts bio-based ethanol to a widely used industrial chemical, paving the way for more environmentally friendly, bio-based plastics and products. The researchers have published a paper online describing the catalyst in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b07401) and have been […]
BCC Research has released Global Markets and Technologies for Biofuel Enzymes, which forecasts a five-year compound annual growth rate of 10.4% from 2015-2020, leading to a global market size of $1 billion in the end year. The report explores present and future strategies within the biofuel enzymes market, which includes amylase, cellulose, xylanase, lipase and […]
