In Texas, Pipeline Research Council International, a consortium of pipeline companies, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration funded intense research to find the cause of cracking of steel in ethanol from 2005 through 2012. The fundamental mechanism of how oxygen causes cracking of steel is described in a paper […]
In Illinois, scientists report in Nature Communications that they have engineered yeast to consume acetic acid, a previously unwanted byproduct of the process of converting plant leaves, stems and other tissues into biofuels. The innovation increases ethanol yield from lignocellulosic sources by about 10 percent.
In California, Edeniq announced that the company has received notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, protecting three targeted process applications. The new patent, entitled “Materials and Methods for Converting Biomass to Biofuel,” was approved on September 4, 2013. The patent covers certain core equipment and process technology used in Edeniq’s […]
In California, a synthetic metabolic pathway for breaking down glucose could lead to a 50% increase in the production of biofuels, according to research performed at the University of California, Los Angeles. The process converts all six glucose carbon atoms into three acetyl-CoA molecules, without losing two of those atoms as carbon dioxide. The pathway […]
In Germany, researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines of the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Steinbeis-Transfer Center for Biofuels and Environmental Measuring, Coburg, and the Technology Center Automotive of the University of Applied Sciences in Coburg have changed biodiesel molecules through metathesis with the aim of changing how the […]
In Vermont, the USDA has awarded the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association a $51,000 grant to study growing algae for biodiesel on a dairy farm in the state. Waste streams from the Fiddlehead Brewery will be added to the phosphorous and nitrogen produced from the dairy’s existing anaerobic digester to provide the new home for algae.
In Illinois, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory found that only 2.4 liters of blue water—water for processing or irrigation—is consumed per liter of wood waste-based ethanol. Its gray water usage is also low, at only 25 liters, but its green water (rainfall, fresh water) usage is high at up to 443 liters. Water footprints for […]
In California, Greenbelt Resources Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary Diversified Ethanol Corporation announced their investment in a research effort with California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo focused on fermentation testing related to various ethanol production-related feedstocks. The focus of the study is on the efficacy of food waste and sweet potato fermentation for […]
In the United Kingdom, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has launched a new £6 million grant funding program has been launched to help Local Authorities in England and Wales to develop new heating and cooling networks, and expand existing networks. Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “Thanks to the Coalition Government’s […]
In Michigan, a researcher from the University of Michigan has published a study in the open journal Climate Change debunking the idea that biofuels are carbon neutral. He says that although biofuels can play a mitigation role when certain conditions are met, deemphasizing biofuel production in favor of terrestrial carbon management may offer more immediate […]
