In Switzerland, researchers from ETH Zurich say they’ve developed a cheaper and cleaner way to produce PLA using glycerol. This waste substance is becoming more and more abundant, with 3 megatons in 2014 expected to increase to over 4 megatons by 2020. Because of its impurity, glycerol is not suitable for the chemical or pharmaceutical […]
In Spain, researchers from the University of Granada teamed with the University of Campinas in Brazil to determine the ideal blend of fish oil and cooking oil to produce a new kind of biodiesel. The project looked at 13 different blends of oils in the biodiesel as well as biodiesel produced from pure oils as […]
In the Netherlands, corn, wheat and rapeseed can be used to produce biofuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel. According to recent findings by environmental scientists at Radboud University, the location of the agricultural lands used to grow these biofuel crops has a major impact on the greenhouse gas emission they ultimately produce. The study that […]
In Washington, the Dept. of Energy announced an open meeting on May 20-22 of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee under Section 9008(d) of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 amended by the Agricultural Act of 2014. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that agencies […]
In California, an analysis by Lux Research has concluded that “California isn’t running out of water. It’s running out of cheap water.” The drought damage is estimated as $2.2 billion, which is significant, but hardly the “end of growth” for California’s $2.2 trillion economy. The problem for businesses, however, is that cheap water jeopardizes their […]
In Brazil, the Sugarcane Center of IAC (Agronomical Institute of Campinas) expects super cane to reach the market in the next three years, following six years of development and trials. The crop’s optimum may be two harvests ever 15 months rather than once every 12 months as sugarcane. Developing machinery to harvest the new crop […]
In Washington state, Washington State University researchers have found a way to make jet fuel from a common black fungus found in decaying leaves, soil and rotting fruit. The researchers hope the process leads to economically viable production of aviation biofuels in the next five years. The researchers used Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010 to create hydrocarbons, […]
In France, Global Bioenergies announced having converted renewable resources into gaseous isobutene, and secondarily into liquid fuels similar to those extracted from oil. This mix of fuels can be compared to light oil, and thus be considered as « renewable oil ». For the first time, a batch of isobutene produced and purified on ARD’s Pomacle-Bazancourt site, located close to Reims in […]
In Illinois, researchers realize that biomass feedstocks will need to come from many different sources, including crop residues, forest residues, and municipal waste, for example, said Marty Williams, a University of Illinois crop scientist and ecologist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service. The use of double-cropping systems—a winter annual biomass crop is grown then harvested in […]
In Europe, E4tech has just completed a new study, ‘From the Sugar Platform to biofuels and biochemicals’ for the European Commission (DG ENER), a comprehensive evidence base for policymakers and industry. The report found that the global market value of the sugar platform is today of the order of $65 billion, with bioethanol (from sugar […]
