Category: Research

Aston University’s portable baby-wipes-to-biofuels system embarks on summer tour

Aston University’s portable baby-wipes-to-biofuels system embarks on summer tour

July 28, 2015 |

In the UK, Aston University researchers are taking their prototype, portable Pyrofab technology on a summer tour to evaluate sustainable sources of bioenergy from waste across north-west Europe. The Pyrofab is based on Pyroformer technology, developed in the UK by the European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University. The Pyrofab converts carbon from organic […]

Read More

Electrochemical CO2 Conversion, Powered by Renewable Energy, gets closer

Electrochemical CO2 Conversion, Powered by Renewable Energy, gets closer

July 27, 2015 |

In Colorado, a team of resaerchers led by Douglas R. Kauffman and including Jay Thakkar, Rajan Siva, Christopher Matranga, Paul Ohodnicki, Chenjie Zeng, and Rongchao Jin, writing in ACS, focused in on the production of industrially-relevant chemicals from CO2, using renewable energy inputs. “We utilize Au25 nanoclusters as renewably powered CO2 conversion electrocatalysts with CO2 […]

Read More

BIC Project aims at Commercialization of Cellulosic Sugar Production in Ontario, Canada

BIC Project aims at Commercialization of Cellulosic Sugar Production in Ontario, Canada

July 26, 2015 |

In Ontario, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada has completed phase 1 of a project to assess the economic viability of the agricultural biomass to cellulosic sugar value chain in Canada. The Cellulosic Sugar Production Project is designed to evaluate, develop and physically validate agricultural biomass to sugars and co-products conversion technologies for commercial scale-up application.  Currently in […]

Read More

UC Santa Cruz students look to crowdfunding to boost biofuels from MSW

UC Santa Cruz students look to crowdfunding to boost biofuels from MSW

July 23, 2015 |

In California, students at the University of California Santa Cruz are crowdfunding their summer research project that is looking to boost biofuel yields through manipulation and use of organisms to break down cellulose from MSW in hopes of making production more economically viable. Funds will also go towards sharing the results at an international synthetic […]

Read More

Argonne lab finds growing bioenergy crops with corn can boost production

Argonne lab finds growing bioenergy crops with corn can boost production

July 22, 2015 |

In Illinois, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are designing ways to improve—and hopefully optimize—land use. In collaboration with the farming community of the Indian Creek Watershed in central Illinois, these researchers are finding ways to simultaneously meet three objectives: maximize a farmer’s production, grow feedstock for bioenergy and protect the […]

Read More

DEINOVE completes proof of concept on production of muconic acid from bacteria

DEINOVE completes proof of concept on production of muconic acid from bacteria

July 21, 2015 |

In France, DEINOVE announced that it has completed conclusive proof of concept for the production of muconic acid by a Deinococcus bacterium and has decided to launch a new R&D platform in this field. Using their proprietary metabolic engineering tools, DEINOVE R&D has successfully designed a Deinococcus bacterium capable of producing renewable muconic acid, a […]

Read More

Virginia Tech scientists demonstrate bacteria controlling behavior of robots

Virginia Tech scientists demonstrate bacteria controlling behavior of robots

July 20, 2015 |

In Virginia, in a paper published in Scientific Reports, which is part of the Nature Publishing Group, a Virginia Tech scientist used a mathematical model to demonstrate that bacteria can control the behavior of an inanimate device like a robot. “Basically we were trying to find out from the mathematical model if we could build a […]

Read More

New clean energy investment decreases 2% to $74.9 billion in Q2 15

New clean energy investment decreases 2% to $74.9 billion in Q2 15

July 19, 2015 |

In New York, Clean Energy Pipeline reported that new investment in the global clean energy sector totaled $74.9 billion in Q2 15, a 2% decrease on Q2 14 ($76.5 billion). Despite the annual decrease, investment was still 11% above the average quarterly volume of investment during the past three years ($67.2 billion). New investment was […]

Read More

PNNL leads team on convincing bacterium to produce more lauric acid

PNNL leads team on convincing bacterium to produce more lauric acid

July 16, 2015 |

In Washington state, scientists have directed a common bacterium to produce more of a valuable fatty acid, lauric acid, than it typically does. The achievement is noteworthy not simply because of the increased production of fatty acid, which can be a useful component of biofuels. The work opens the door for scientists to manipulate such […]

Read More

PNNL to receive $2.7 million under DOE Small Business Vouchers Pilot

PNNL to receive $2.7 million under DOE Small Business Vouchers Pilot

July 15, 2015 |

In Washington state, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been tapped as one of five national laboratories to lead the U.S. DOE’s new Small Business Vouchers Pilot. SBV will help small clean energy firms get technology assistance from world class scientists, engineers and facilities within the DOE national laboratory system. PNNL was selected to support small […]

Read More