In California, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved unprecedented success in modifying a microbe to efficiently produce a compound of interest using a computational model and CRISPR-based gene editing. Their approach could dramatically speed up the research and development phase for new biomanufacturing processes, and get cutting-edge bio-based products such as […]
In Kentucky, sulfur found in biofuel feedstock poses serious problems to the industry, because it causes pollution, is toxic to the catalyst and corrosive to biorefinery equipment. A national group of scientists and industry partners led by researchers at the University of Kentucky is studying ways to reduce sulfur levels in pine byproducts used to […]
In Washington, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has helped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center take their algae bloom research a step further by investigating blooms as a viable source of biocrude fuel and fertilizer using hydrothermal liquefaction. The team demonstrated a three-step approach that “cleans” the water, removes the algae and […]
In Brazil, Embrapa Agroenergia, in partnership with the company Haka Bioprocessos, has begun research that may result in a green diesel obtained from the hydrogenation of bio-oil from bone waste from poultry. The unit will characterize the chemical components of the raw material (bio-oil), pre-treatment, hydrogenation and characterize the final product. The Embrapa research says […]
In Colorado, popular wisdom holds that tall, fast-growing trees are best for biomass, but new research by two U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories reveals the size of trees is only part of the equation. Of equal economic importance, according to scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak […]
In Washington state, researchers at Washington State University are taking a closer look at the genetics and physiology of pennycress, as part of a multi-institutional, $12.9 million research project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and led by Illinois State University. Their five-year goal: to help develop a winter cover crop that can thrive […]
In Florida, from southeastern Florida to northern Mississippi to the Midwestern Corn Belt, CABBI scientists have struck sustainable oil with sugarcane. But the crop’s potential value to the renewable energy sector earns this particular variety a more appropriate designation: oilcane. A groundbreaking endeavor uniting CABBI’s Feedstock Production and Conversion themes is coming to fruition with […]
In Germany, an EU-funded research project BIOCARB-4-FOOD with the participation of the University of Hohenheim is looking for more sustainable processes for the extraction of carbohydrates from macroalgae and seaweed. In doing so, they investigate the question of how these substances can be obtained from the raw material, produce new types of extracts that can […]
In Illinois, an international research team has sequenced the full genome of an ornamental variety of miscanthus, a wild perennial grass emerging as a prime candidate for sustainable bioenergy crops. The genome project—led by scientists at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a Department of Energy (DOE) bioenergy research center—provides a road […]
In Russia, a chemist from RUDN University developed a silica-supported heteropolyacid system to produce ethers from waste products of the wood and paper industry and agriculture. Ethers can be used as biofuels, and the new method increases the efficiency of their production 4 to 10 times, thus reducing energy consumption and making the manufacturing of […]
