In Germany, a group of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has discovered that the multicellular species Phormidium lacuna can be genetically modified by natural transformation and could thus produce substances such as ethanol or hydrogen. The technique established by the researchers to modify multicellular cyanobacteria by introducing genetic information opens up a […]
In Ohio, in a process supported by the University of Dayton Research Institute, ASTM International has approved the use of a synthetic oil derived from municipal waste in the manufacture of jet fuel at petroleum refineries. The co-processing of “syncrude” with petroleum at the refinery level is the second new specification for jet fuel approved […]
In Illinois, in a recent study published in Frontiers in Plant Science, where researchers from the University of Illinois and the University of Oxford worked with maize and the bioenergy crop Miscanthus to find that the decline in the efficiency of leaves at the bottom of the canopy was not due to their age but […]
In Australia, chemical engineers from UNSW Sydney have developed new technology that helps convert harmful carbon dioxide emissions into chemical building blocks to make useful industrial products like fuel and plastics. And if adopted on a large scale, the process could give the world breathing space as it transitions towards a green economy. The researchers, […]
In Colorado, an analysis from NREL researchers suggests hydrogen has the greatest potential among technologies for seasonal energy storage in the future. They developed a multi-model approach that considers both the estimated cost and value of storage technologies in determining cost-competitiveness. They analyzed 80 scenarios involving hydrogen, pumped hydro, and compressed air in making their […]
In Poland, scientists working at the Department for Functional Nanomaterials at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences designed and synthesized a functional ternary Pt/Re/SnO2/C catalyst as an anode material in a direct ethanol fuel cell. It was possible by synthesizing platinum, rhenium and tin oxide nanoparticles of a spherical shape […]
In New York state, Cornell-led collaboration is turning DNA from organic matter—such as onions, fish and algae—into biodegradable gels and plastics. The resulting materials could be used to create everyday plastic objects, unusually strong adhesives, multifunctional composites and more effective methods for drug delivery, without harming the environment the way petrochemical-based materials do. The team’s […]
In Japan, in a new study published in Energy & Fuels, researchers led by the Tokyo University of Science developed a novel technique for cellulose degradation. This technique was based on a type of laser called the infrared-free electron laser (IR-FEL), whose wavelength is tunable in the range of 3 to 20 μm. This new […]
In Illinois, Northwestern University synthetic biologists have developed a new rapid-prototyping system to accelerate the design of biological systems, reducing the time to produce sustainable biomanufacturing products from months to weeks. The new platform, called in vitro Prototyping and Rapid Optimization of Biosynthetic Enzymes (iPROBE), provides a quick and powerful design-build-test framework to discover optimal […]
In California, three new projects by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Joint BioEnergy Institute, could make agriculture both more sustainable and more profitable by aiming to quantify and reduce the carbon intensity of agriculture, including the farming of biofuel feedstocks such as corn, soy, and sorghum, while also increasing yield. Crop-based biofuels […]
