In Louisiana, scientists at the University of Bristol in the U.K. reported a discovery that could speed an emerging effort to replace ethanol in gasoline with a substantially better fuel additive called butanol, which some experts regard as “the gasoline of the future.” Their report on this discovery, which holds potential to reduce the costs […]
In California, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory through support from the Energy Biosciences Institute have literally shed new light on cellulase catalysis by using an ultrahigh-precision visible light microscopy technique called PALM – for Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy. Researchers have found a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails that can […]
In Louisiana, enzymes from fungi from the feces and intestinal tracts of horses have been discovered to break down lignin and produce cellulose effectively, and could hold the key to cutting down costs on cellulosic processes. The University of California Santa Barbara team of researchers is trying to identify the most active enzyme and working […]
In Germany, INOCAS launched “Insights into Jatropha Projects Worldwide” based on a global survey of 111 managers of Jatropha cultivation projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The survey showed low profits as the main problem of many Jatropha projects, caused by insufficient seed yields. More than half (58 %) of all projects work exclusively or partly […]
In California, taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists at the University of California, Davis, have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae. They screened 83 compounds for their effects on growth and oil production in four strains of microalgae. They identified several that […]
In Virginia, researchers at Virginia Tech have made a major breakthrough by using xylose to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was only theoretically possible. The method can be applied to any kind of biomass to produce hydrogen, a process which could find its way to the market in as quick as three […]
In Brazil, researchers at the University of Sao Paulo and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation have found that the efficient use of nitrogen fertilizers can have a major impact on the GHG emissions of biofuel feedstocks. Research saw different impacts on nitrous oxide emissions depending on whether urea or ammonium nitrate was used, while emissions […]
In Louisiana, Dr. R. Malcom Brown, Jr. presented on nanocellulose’s applications in the world of biofuels at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. Brown’s research team has already genetically engineered cyanobacteria to produce one form of nanocellulose, which can become the raw material for biofuels. Despite advances in the industry, […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy today announced it would fund its three Bioenergy Research Centers for an additional five-year period, subject to continued congressional appropriations. The three Centers —including the BioEnergy Research Center (BESC) led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison […]
In Spain, researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), have discovered dinoflagellate microalgae could be a good feedstock for biofuel production. The four-year study shows that biodiesel production from the marine microalgae from the Mediterranean could be cost competitive even in uncontrolled environments.
