In California, Berkeley researchers may be able to turn tobacco into a viable biofuel feedstock. The project is looking to develop a strain of the crop which is highly efficient at harvesting sleight and converting carbon dioxide to hydrocarbon molecules. The enzyme involved with the process would be cyanobacteria, already used in many biofuels projects.
In Illinois, University of Illinois researchers have developed a new maize hybrid that they report will produce as much as 15% to 20% more biomass given the same amount of fertilizer as commercial hybrids. The hybrid is a mix of both tropical and temperate maize, with increased drought resistance and sugars in the corn stalk, […]
In Ireland, researchers at the University of Galway are participating in an $18.5 million EU-funded project exploring the cultivation of seaweed as a feedstock for biofuel production. The project includes a 1 hectare “plot” at sea that will test various local seaweed varieties for suitability as feedstocks in Co. Kerry as well as in Northern […]
In the Netherlands, researchers from the University of Utrecht teamed with scientists from Dow Chemical have produced ethylene and propylene using a new kind of iron catalyst made of nanoparticles that they developed. Products will not be biodegradable however, even though they are made from renewable resources.
In Michigan, an economist at Michigan State University found that when ethanol prices rose 10 cents per gallon, demand for ethanol fell only 12 percent to 16 percent on average, meaning that a mandate might not be the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Instead he suggested incentives for driving less or for buying […]
In Scotland, scientists have developed an “electric leaf”, which is capable of producing a liquid hydrocarbon similar to petrol using electricity generated from renewable resources. This discovery could mean significant yield improvement for algae development by eliminating or reducing the inefficiencies of photosynthesis. The research, entering its second phase, will be applied to cyanobacteria to […]
In Massachusetts, Amherst researchers have discovered a small molecule, called α-cyclodextrin, that behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel. Studying this ‘mini-cellulose’ molecule reveals for the first time the chemical reactions that take place in wood and prairie grasses during high-temperature conversion to biofuel. Using the faster computer simulations, they can […]
In Washington, the DOE has halted a research project at Iowa State University funded by ARPA-E to develop biofuel feedstock from an aquatic micro-organism for failing to reach research milestones. About 56% of the $4.4 million grant was used. Politicians against increasing APRA-E funding as proposed by President Obama’s new budget are using it and […]
In India, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has teamed with Purti Power and Sugar Ltd to scale up its algae-biodiesel technology to industrial scale. The scale-up will initially focus on chlorella, which has been successful at lab scale, but could later be mixed with Scenedesmus. The project will use fresh water ponds.
In Georgia, researchers at the University of Georgia have mapped the genomes of two originator cells of Miscanthus x giganteus. Of the 600 pieces of DNA that have been identified, the next step will be to determine which pieces of DNA are diagnostic of genes that can be altered to improve the crop for biofuel […]
