In Illinois, a research team with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a product to accurately measure gross primary production (GPP), which quantifies the rate of CO2 fixation in plants through photosynthesis: the SatelLite Only Photosynthesis Estimation Gross Primary Production (SLOPE […]
In France, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have found that microbes from the guts of certain termite species can help break down lignin, a particularly tough polymer in straw. In previous research, they showed that gut microbes from four termite species could degrade lignin in anaerobic bioreactors. Now they wanted to take […]
In Ireland, a consortium led by researchers based in the School of Biotechnology at Dublin City University continues to redefine the methodology employed in the distilling industry, towards improving sustainability in the workflows which are commonplace in distilleries the world over. Researchers have recently published several works in this area in which they have developed […]
In Canada, a recent discovery by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) could help hasten use of cheap and plentiful agricultural waste as the go-to material for producing this environmentally friendly energy source. Canada currently exports up to 4 million biopellets to Europe each year, the majority of which are manufactured using forestry byproducts. […]
In Washington, D.C., the Renewable Fuels Association reports that a new analysis from a renowned carbon accounting firm finds that the greenhouse gas emission reductions achieved under the Renewable Fuel Standard far exceed the reductions originally projected by EPA. Between 2008 and 2020, the use of biofuels under the RFS has resulted in cumulative savings […]
In India, the Tribune newspaper reports the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is working to expand distributed energy access through the development of a 50kW prototype solar-biodiesel hybrid mini-grid system. Most power is provided by coal-fired power plants that require extensive investment in power transmission infrastructure, making the mini-grid system an attractive alternative for […]
In New York state, hundreds of naturally occurring specialty fatty acids (building blocks of oils) have potential for use as raw materials for making lubricants, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and more–if they could be produced at large scale by crop plants. But attempts to put genes for making these specialty building blocks into crops have had the […]
In Finland, an e-fuel research project related to Neste’s Veturi program was launched in January 2021. Headed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the project brings together 15 partners to engage in R&D cooperation with the goal of large-scale production and commercialization of e-fuels. The two-year, over six-million-euro project will develop the production of […]
In Germany, a German-Chinese research team has found a new synthetic route to produce biofuel from biomass. The chemists converted the substance 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) produced from biomass into 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), which could be suitable as a biofuel. Compared to previous methods, they achieved a higher yield and selectivity under milder reaction conditions. DMF production requires […]
In Colorado, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to address a significant challenge facing the ethanol industry – how to precisely and accurately quantify the amount of starch-derived versus cellulose-derived glucose used in ethanol production. A new method […]
