In Brazil, Boeing, Embraer and the Sao Paulo State Research Foundation announced plans to collaborate on long-term aviation biofuels-related research and development. Azul, GOL, TAM and Trip airlines will be strategic advisors in the program. This collaboration is leading the development of a detailed report outlining the opportunities and challenges of creating a cost-effective, bio-derived, […]
In Indiana, researchers at Purdue University have discovered that not all corn waste is the same and that more efficient cellulosic ethanol production could result from treating the different types of cellulose—the rind, the leaves and the pith—differently. The pith and leaves of stover are fairly easy to break down while the rind, which only […]
In Indiana, researchers at Purdue University have begun a five-year research project that will explore the use of poplar trees as feedstock for cellulosic ethanol, including 69 varieties of the tree, which will be studied for appropriateness as a feedstock. Between their very fast growth rate and the fact that they’re vegetatively propagated, meaning that […]
The Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) is seeking industry partners interested in licensing its technologies. Alternative Diesel Fuel from Biosynthetic Bisabolene JBEI researchers have produced a chemical precursor that readily converts to bisabolane, a plant-derived hydrocarbon chemically related to turpentine that can deliver comparable performance to standard D2 diesel fuel. Biosynthetic bisabolane could become a renewable […]
In Georgia, New Energy Farms announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Global Green Engineered Fuels, a renewable energy project development company based in Savannah. The Green Energy Farms Alliance will focus on the creation of a diverse solid biofuel product portfolio, driven by high energy values; competitive and stable fuel pricing; optimum sustainability […]
In New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory researched have genetically engineered “magnetic” algae to investigate alternative, more efficient harvesting and lipid extraction methods for biofuels. Researchers took a gene that is known to form magnetic nanoparticles in magnetotactic bacteria and expressed it in green algae, where a permanent magnet can be used to separate the […]
In Italy, the UN Committee on World Food Security which falls under the FAO has issued a new report which says that biofuel policies in the US, EU and Brazil have significantly contributed to food price rises. The report is calling for the scrapping of these biofuel policies entirely as it claims that the mandates […]
In Maryland, a researcher at the University of Maryland has developed a system of algae ponds that is cleaning up agricultural chemical runoff in Chesapeake Bay. The experiment is now operating on a small-scale in two sites in the state but the hope is that it expands into hundreds or thousands of acres. The algal […]
In Massachusetts, researchers at Harvard Medical School are working to use a deepwater bacteria to create octanol, which can be refined into a number of transportation fuels. The bacteria, Shewanella oneidensis, which produces electricity when feeding on carbon poor foods. The researchers hope to reengineer the bacteria so that with electricity and carbon dioxide, the […]
In the UK, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and York have found that the enzyme TaGH61 found in fungi can overcome the chemical intractability of cellulose allowing for the better conversion into ethanol. The work was also done by scientists at Novozymes laboratories in California, and Bagsvaerd in Denmark and researchers from the University […]
