In Iran, researchers at the Islamic Azad University have successfully produced 2 liters of biodiesel using flixweed as a feedstock. A member of the mustard family, the plant produces oil seeds and can grow in areas with poor soil conditions. Currently tests are underway to try the fuel in engine and field tests. The non-edible oil […]
In Washington state, Forest Concepts has been awarded an SBIR research contract from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The two-year, $499,997 contract will support development of advanced model-predictive control systems for biomass dryers used in the biofuel and bioproducts supply chain. Innovations and technologies resulting from this project can […]
In California, Ice Energy is opening a 22,000 sq. ft. research and development center for its Riverside Public Utilities and Southern California Edison projects to provide thermal energy storage technology in the form of ice and develop new innovative storage solutions for a smarter electric grid. The company recently was awarded a five-year contract from […]
In Washington state, with the addition of a single gene, rice can be cultivated to emit virtually no methane from its paddies during growth. It also packs much more of the plant’s desired properties, such as starch for a richer food source and biomass for energy production, according to a study in Nature. The results, which […]
In Israel, a novel approach to cellulose hydrolysis using a consortium of motile bacteria moving on solid surfaces and carrying microbial lug-gage – another bacteria that can efficiently hydrolyze cellulose, was demonstrated by the group of Professor Eshel Ben- Jacob (R.I.P) from Tel Aviv University. The innovation of the approach is the use of the recombinant […]
In Colorado, here’s the future of ethylene production as Dr. Jianping Yu sees it. “We envision some farms in the field that cover many acres. We will have cyanobacteria harvesting sunlight and C02 and then produce ethylene or ethylene derivatives,” said Yu, a research scientist in the Photobiology Group at the Energy Department’s National Renewable […]
In Tennessee, biorefineries could benefit from a new process developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that produces hydrogen from plant sources such as switchgrass. The method converts biomass waste streams into hydrogen through heating and processing in microbe-based electrochemical cells. This approach reduces the use of natural gas during biofuel production, which could help biorefineries […]
The global economic engine known as China will creak to a halt, tossing a big question mark into global economic growth, without energy diversification away from fossil energy, especially coal, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The study, published in the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change, looks at the […]
In Germany, researchers reported on the deeply sequenced metagenome and metatranscriptome of a complex biogas-producing microbial community from an agricultural production-scale biogas plant located in North Rhine Westphalia. “We assembled the metagenome and, as an example application, show that we reconstructed most genes involved in the methane metabolism, a key pathway involving methanogenesis performed by […]
In Washington state, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found that with the addition of a single gene, rice can be cultivated to emit virtually no methane from its paddies during growth. With the change, it also packs much more of the plant’s desired properties, such as starch for a richer food source […]
