Category: Research

Oklahoma State University receives patent for biofuel co-fermentation process

February 24, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University was recently issued a patent that could significantly increase biofuel and chemical yields while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering created a new co-fermentation method that turns sugars into alcohols, organic acids and ketones without the environmental impact. This co-fermentation process adds naturally occurring microorganisms […]

IIT Madras uses machine learning to study how biomass behaves during gasification

February 23, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In India, Outlook India reports that researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have used a machine learning method called Recurrent Neural Networks to study how biomass behaves in a gasification reactor to become syngas. The study predicts the composition of the syngas based on the time the feedstock spends inside the reactor, a […]

LanzaTech, Northwestern and ORNL researchers develop tech producing chemicals from carbon emissions

February 22, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Tennessee, a team of scientists from LanzaTech, Northwestern University and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed carbon capture technology that harnesses emissions from industrial processes to produce acetone and isopropanol, known as IPA. These widely used chemicals serve as the basis of thousands of products, from fuels and solvents to […]

University of Delaware lead research on adding value to lignin

February 21, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Delaware, a team of University of Delaware researchers and collaborators from CanmetENERGY are looking for economically viable ways to upcycle biomass into new products. Take lignin, for example. Lignin is a component of plants and trees that provides strength and stiffness to help the flora stand up to what Mother Nature throws its way. […]

New project is looking at carbon capture to make the cement industry climate-neutral

February 20, 2022 | admin

In Germany, researchers in the newly launched joint project “CO 2 -Syn” are looking for ways to capture and convert the greenhouse gas CO2 into starting materials, for example to produce basic chemicals such as olefins and higher alcohols, for the cement industry where carbon dioxide is an unavoidable by-product: It is produced when calcium […]

EPFL researchers develop new biomass photo-pyrolysis process

February 17, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Switzerland, a main candidate is hydrogen produced from organic waste, or “biomass”, of plants and animals. Biomass also absorbs, removes, and stores CO2 from the atmosphere, while biomass decomposition can also bring us ways to negative emissions or greenhouse gases removal. But even though biomass heralds a way forward, there is still the question […]

University of Warwick scientists use enzymes to create new biochemicals

February 16, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In the UK, a method of producing vital chemical building blocks for use in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries that mimics how plants manufacture them has been developed by University of Warwick scientists. Using enzymes in the same way that plants do, the scientists have created bacteria that ‘digest’ molecules to synthesize new compounds in […]

University of Delaware engineers captures 99% of CO emission using hydrogen-power system

February 15, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Delaware, University of Delaware engineers have demonstrated a way to effectively capture 99% of carbon dioxide from air using a novel electrochemical system powered by hydrogen. It is a significant advance for carbon dioxide capture and could bring more environmentally friendly fuel cells closer to market. The research team reported their method in Nature […]

ARS and OSU researchers develop process for biobutanol from sweet sorghum bagasse

February 14, 2022 | Meghan Sapp

In Ohio, a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Ohio State University (OSU) scientists has devised a procedure for making bio-butanol from sweet sorghum bagasse. Bio-butanol derived from cellulosic sugars in agricultural wastes is appealing because of its potential to lessen the reliance on gasoline and other nonrenewable fuels. Bio-butanol, along with ethanol, is […]

INL researchers change the garbage game with MSW to biofuels success

February 13, 2022 | admin

In Idaho, Idaho National Laboratory researchers are leading new studies to decontaminate municipal solid waste (MSW), such as paper, plastic, food, and clothing waste, to create biofuels. The research characterizes the municipal solid waste fractions of plastic and paper to determine what contaminants might affect biofuel conversion. They then work to decontaminate them and increase […]

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