In Canada, researchers have found a way to stem the flow of municipal wastewater: by filtering the waste through the roots of willow trees. Experimenting with a plantation in Quebec, the scientists estimate that over 30 million liters of primary wastewater per hectare can be treated using ‘bio-refinery’ annually. Their results were published June 14 […]
In Delaware, in the quest to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere and curb climate change, University of Delaware researchers are turning to an interesting ally: bacteria that consume biomass sugars and CO2. With a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), researchers developing a system to produce […]
In Washington, cleaner-burning jet fuels made from sustainable sources can produce 50%-70% fewer ice crystal contrails at cruising altitude, reducing aviation’s impact on the environment, according to research conducted by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Ice crystal contrail formations can linger in the upper atmosphere for hours and affect the way Earth is […]
In Washington, D.C., with support from the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office, National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists unveiled a new analytical method to give companies an unprecedented level of ease and precision for measuring the amount of cellulose in their grain, an achievement that could help biorefineries expand production of low-carbon cellulosic ethanol. […]
In Illinois, for corn ethanol, most greenhouse gas emissions can be mapped to the fuel’s production, transportation, and combustion, but a large portion of the greenhouse gas calculation can be traced right back to the farm. Because of privacy concerns, however, scientists can’t access individual farm management decisions such as fertilizer type and rate. Nitrogen […]
In China, researchers at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have recently found that waste paper could be efficiently used for enzyme production by Trichoderma longiflorum. The study was published in Journal of Cleaner Production. Waste paper, a recyclable waste resource, has high potential for industry due to […]
In Canada, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan have demonstrated that biodiesel spills have fewer negative impacts on soil microbiology compared to fossil diesel spills. The study looked at two different kinds of soil that were contaminated with biodiesel or fossil diesel as well as a control area, looking at nitrogen content, total organic carbon […]
In Brazil, the fungus Fusarium verticillioides is one of the causes of red rot, the most serious sugarcane disease. Losses average around $1 billion per harvest in Brazil alone. The traditional approach to the etiology of this disease is that it is triggered by Diatraea saccharalis, a moth usually referred to as the sugarcane borer. […]
In Russia, a winner of the UMNIK competition, student of the SUSU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is working on a fundamentally new catalyst that will help to produce cheap biodiesel fuel from waste food raw materials. This type of fuel can be used for cars and other vehicles with diesel engine. The aim […]
In Tennessee, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered a single gene that simultaneously boosts plant growth and tolerance for stresses such as drought and salt, all while tackling the root cause of climate change by enabling plants to pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As climate change triggers more frequent and longer-lasting […]
