California Energy Commission awards $1 million for wastewater biofuels demonstration is a post from: Biofuels Digest

The group sequenced a variety of corn known as B73, developed at Iowa State decades ago. It is known for its high grain yields and has been used extensively in both commercial corn breeding and in research laboratories. The corn genome data is freely available to the public at maizesequence.org

Research team publishes the completed corn genome; genome data available is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Algenol makes low-cost ethanol directly from CO2 and seawater using hybrid algae in sealed, clear plastic photobioreactors, producing 6,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year, an energy balance of more than five to one and an 80 percent lifecycle carbon reduction compared to petroleum.

Algenol, Linde Group partner to optimize CO2, oxygen in algal fuel production is a post from: Biofuels Digest

The “Biodiesel and Feedstock Characteristics Report” showcases benchmarks for traditional and unique oils and fats as well as resulting biodiesel characteristics for 36 feedstock including jatropha, hemp, coffee bean oil, rendered fats, Distiller’s corn oil, and two different strains of Solazyme’s algae oil.

The report, available here.  showcases benchmarks for traditional and unique oils and fats and resulting ASTM D6751 biodiesel characteristics, and aids in answering commercialization and market viability questions for the biodiesel industry.

REG releases 36-feedstock biodiesel characteristic study – largest feedstock set yet analyzed is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Balloting will be open to the registered subscribers of the Biofuels Digest, Geothermal Digest and Biomass Digest e-newsletters, through Monday November 23rd at 5pm EST.

All subscribers to Biofuels Digest, Biomass Digest and Geothernmal Digest e-newsletters are eligible to vote. (Subscriptions are free – to sign-up, visit this link).

Digest subscribers will also this week receive a link and password to the free “Selectors Data Book for Digest Subscribers” – including 230 pages of company profiles, surveys and industry data.

“Early precincts” are reporting – 15 percent of  invited selectors have already cast their votes. Though it it far too early to “call” the results, early leaders are:

1. UOP (last year #10)
2. Amyris Biotechnologies (last year #7)
3. Coskata (last year #1)
4. LS9 (last year #25)
5. BP Biofuels (last year – unranked)
6. POET (last year #4)
7. Gevo (last year #26)
8. ZeaChem (last year #11)
9. Solazyme (last year #6)
10. Verenium (last year #36)

In all, more than 140 companies have received votes in this year’s ballot, to date. In all, 20 companies are currently in the “early results” top 50 that were unranked last year — including BP Biofuels, Enerkem, Codexis, Joule Biotechnologies, TMO Renewables, LanzaTech, and more. The big trend this year so far — biobutanol and drop-in, renewable fuels are generally advancing, with companies such as UOP, BP Biofuels, Gevo, Amyris and LS9 moving up.

More on the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy
Here is the full list of “early results” from the invited selectors.

Is your favorite bioenergy company missing – or ranked too low? Be sure to cast your ballot in their support!

Subscriber voting opens in 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy; UOP, Amyris, Coskata lead in early-stage balloting is a post from: Biofuels Digest

U of Illinois team finds that wet fractionation leads to highest ethanol, co-product yields is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Projects announced today will contribute a minimum of 20 percent of matching funds for research and development projects and 50 percent of matching funds for demonstration projects. Funding is provided through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and DOE’s Biomass Program.

Awardees include: GE, Gevo, Itaconix, Yenkin-Majestic Paint, Velocys, Execlus, Purdue, the University of Minnesota, Agrivida, Oklahoma State, the University of Tennessee, and the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials.

Award details:

·  GE Global Research (Irvine, CA) up to $1,597,544: to develop detailed and simplified kinetic models of biomass gasification.  A fundamental modeling capability will enable the widespread design of feedstock-flexible biomass gasifiers that are cost-effective and scaled to match the regional distribution of biomass feedstocks.

·  Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, CO) up to $1,780,862: to develop a yeast fermentation organism that can cost-effectively convert cellulosic-derived sugars into isobutanol, a second generation biofuel/biobased product.  As an advanced biofuel, isobutanol strikes a unique balance between high octane content and low vapor pressure, it can be converted into hydrocarbons, and as a biobased product it can be used as a chemical precursor for numerous high-value products such as isobutylene and PET plastic products.

·  Itaconix ( Hampton Falls, NH) up to $1,861,488: to develop production of polyitaconic acid from northeast hardwood biomass, using an integrated extraction-fermentation-polymerization process.  Polyitaconic acid is a water soluable polymer with a 2 million metric ton per year market potential as a replacement for petrochemical dispersants, detergents, and super-absorbents.

·  Yenkin-Majestic Paint Corporation (Columbus, OH) up to $1,800,000: to demonstrate, at scale, the operation of a dry fermentation system that uses pre- and post-consumer food wastes from supermarkets and restaurants, waste sawdust, grass, leaves, stumps and other forms of wood waste to produce biogas, heat, and electrical power.  Yenkin-Majestic will use these products to demonstrate a distributed stand-alone system for the operation of a large industrial facility.

· Velocys, Inc. (Plain City, OH) up to $2,651,612: to improve biorefinery economics through microchannel hydroprocessing.  This project will explore the unique capabilities of heat and mass transfer inherent in microchannel reactor technology with advanced catalysts to intensify chemical processes, resulting in more efficient conversion of cellulosic residues to liquid transportation fuels.

· Exelus, Inc. (Livingston, NJ) up to $1,200,000: to develop a Biomass-to-Gasoline (BTG) technology that represents a fundamental shift in process chemistry and overall approach to creating biofuels. The technology uses unique, engineered catalysts that facilitate new reaction pathways to liquid motor fuels from biomass. The BTG process replaces conventional high-temperature processes like gasification and pyrolysis with a series of mild, low-temperature reactions. The self-contained process uses minimal water and no acids or chemical additives.

Biofuels Development Analysis:

· Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) up to $933,883: to develop an analysis of the global impacts of second generation biofuels in the context of other energy technologies and alternative economic and climate change policy options.  This project will modify, extend and link established modeling frameworks to capture the strengths of each framework in a hybrid, multidisciplinary system.

· University of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) up to, $2,715,007: to assess the environmental sustainability and capacity of forest-based biofuel feedstocks within the Lake States region.  This project will address key uncertainties about expanding feedstock harvests in the northern Lake States, including environmental impacts, economic feasibility and avoided fossil-fuel CO2 emissions.

· Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (Washington, Idaho, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee) up to $1,430,535: to compare the life cycle environmental and economic impacts for collecting forest residuals, short rotation crops, mixed waste,  and biomass from fire risk reduction activities on federal lands for conversion to fuels via biochemical, pyrolysis and gasification systems. National estimates of biofuel production will be based on stratified biomass collection and processing implementation scenarios that can be evaluated against the Renewable Fuel Standard greenhouse gas emission objectives.

Feedstock Development:

· Agrivida (Medford, MA) up to  $1,953,128: to develop new crop traits that eliminate the need for both expensive pretreatment equipment and enzymes.  Transgenic switchgrass will be engineered with cell wall-degrading proenzymes that are dormant when the plant is in the field, but activated after harvest, under processing conditions with specific temperature and pH.

·  Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK) up to $4,212,845: to develop best practices and technologies necessary to ensure efficient, sustainable and profitable production of cellulosic ethanol feedstocks.  Utilizing large-scale feedstock production research, the economic and environmental sustainability of switchgrass, mixed-species perennial grasses and annual biomass cropping systems will be evaluated, and the synergy between bioenergy and livestock production will be explored.

· The University of Tennessee (Knoxville,TN) up to $2,345,290: to compare three varieties of switchgrass using various management practices, harvesting equipment and harvesting timelines in Eastern Tennessee. This 2,000-acre demonstration-scale project will use field plots ranging in size from 10 – 50 acres that incorporate different varieties of switchgrass seed: the current Alamo variety, the Ceres EG 1101 improved Alamo variety, and the Ceres EG 1102 Kanlow variety.

USDA, DOE announce $24 million in bioenergy, bio-based products R&D grants: Gevo, Velocys, GE, Agrivida among awardees for ethanol, biobutanol, drop-in fuels is a post from: Biofuels Digest

The team, led by Barry Bruce, a professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology at UT Knoxville, found that the inner machinery of photosynthesis can be isolated from certain blue-green algae and, when coupled with a platinum catalyst, is able to produce a steady supply of hydrogen when exposed to light.

The findings are outlined in a recent issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Bruce and his colleagues found that by starting with a thermophilic blue-green algae, which favors warmer temperatures, they could sustain the reaction at temperatures as high as 55 degrees C, or 131 degrees F. That is roughly the temperature in arid deserts with high solar irradiation, where the process would be most productive. They also found the process was more than 10 times more efficient as the temperature increased.

Research team produces steady supply of hydrogen from algae coupled with platinum catalyst is a post from: Biofuels Digest

“Energy needs to be used more efficiently and the carbon content of the energy we consume must be reduced, by switching to low- or zero-carbon sources,” according to the IEA. Assuming no new government policies are put in place, according to the IEA, oil demand will rise by 1 per cent per year on average from 85 million barrels per day in 2008 to 88 mb/d in 2015 & 105 mb/d in 2030. Approximately 97 per cent of the projected increase in oil demand will come from the transportation sector.

The Outlook has gained a reputation as the most authoritative source for energy analysis and projections, and provides an outlook for energy supply and demand in the medium term (2010-2015) and longer-term (2015-2030). The report is available here:

IEA releases annual World Energy Outlook; download available on new forecasts through 2030; low-carbon fuel development a must, agency says is a post from: Biofuels Digest

The Biomass Digest "Dashboard" feature appears in the newsletter version of the publication.

In Florida, Biomass Digest — a new newsletter and website dedicated to condensing and covering news about power, feed and food from biomass — launches today at BiomassDigest.net.

Today’s lead article: Biomass at the Crossroads: as Copenhagen looms – can biomass keep up with demand?”.

Unique and new features in the Biomass Digest newsletter — which debuts as a weekly — include a “Dashboard” feature, which will include short, easy to use data including recent polls, surveys, rankings and maps.

Biomass Digest, which launches with 4,500 subscribers, is a sister publication of Biofuels Digest and will be edited by Jim Lane.

BIomass Digest launches today with 4,500 registered subscribers – focus on power, feed and food from biomass is a post from: Biofuels Digest