In Colorado, for the past four years, researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have collaborated with other top U.S. scientists, engineers, and analysts on the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative. A new report summarizes findings from this first phase of the initiative, which has focused primarily on turbocharged (or “boosted”) spark-ignition […]
In the UK, Mazda is currently involved in joint research projects and studies as part of an ongoing industry-academia-government collaboration to promote the wide-spread adoption of biofuels from microalgae growth. As part of its ‘Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030’ long-term technology development program, the company is committed to reducing its average ‘Well-to-Wheel’ CO2 emissions to 50% of […]
In Washington, D.C., the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative released a report summarizing findings from the first phase of the Co-Optima research. The first three years of Co-Optima research focused on improved fuel/engine solutions by identifying fuel property impacts on engine efficiency, fuel blendstocks that are capable of providing those properties, and solutions […]
In New York state, scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a catalyst composed of very low concentrations of platinum (single atoms and clusters smaller than billionths of a meter) on the surface of titanium dioxide. They demonstrated how this catalyst significantly enhances the rate of breaking a particular carbon-oxygen bond for the conversion of […]
In Italy, the European Commission’s Joint Research Center has published a new report that looks at the database it is developing to track the different facilities producing bioproducts across Europe. The bio-products being tracked using product category, feedstock origin, TRL and country are: bio-based chemicals liquid biofuels bio-based composites and fibers pulp and paper biomethane […]
In Wisconsin, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently developed a pathway with the potential to convert biomass, like wood chips or grasses, into a widely used industrial solvent and aim to expand this work to produce an array of sustainable chemicals. The researchers developed chemical processes that convert lignocellulosic biomass, essentially dried plant matter, […]
In Denmark, a new research project at Aarhus University will exploit millions of years of evolution to develop sustainable biofuels. Among other things, the solution lies in the digestive system of pandas. By imitating natural biological degradation processes, a team of researchers from the Department of Engineering and the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University […]
In South Korea, a research team at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, or UNIST, has presented a new biofuel system that uses lignin found in biomass for the production of hydrogen. The system decomposes lignin with a molybdenum (Mo) catalyst to produce high value-added compounds, and the electrons extracted in the process effectively […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $25 million in funding for plastics recycling research and development (R&D). The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is part of the Department’s Plastics Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive program to accelerate innovations in plastics recycling technologies. The Advanced Manufacturing Office and Bioenergy Technologies Office within the […]
In Washington, the Department of Energy (DOE) is encouraging the public to consider scientific questions that underpin COVID-19 response and that the research community may answer using DOE user facilities, computational resources, and enabling infrastructure. Please send research questions that the scientific community may address with DOE resources by email to [email protected]. More information can […]
