In Japan, researchers at the at the Green Science Alliance found a solution for breaking down cellulose into glucose in an efficient way. Using this technology, they will produce bioethanol at an industrial level. They will also attempt to create a wood-alcohol-based drink. This will be the first instance of wood alcohol production at an […]
In the Netherlands, University of Groningen scientists think they have figured out why some yeast cells produce ethanol: yeast cells produce ethanol as a ‘safety valve’ to prevent overload when their metabolic operation reaches a critical level. The new theory, which was published in Nature Metabolism on 7 January, could have far-reaching implications, as it […]
In Washington, scientists are more rapidly designing peptides for industrial and medical applications, such as catalysts for biofuels, through a complex computational model and real-time testing with the award-winning SLIM ion analysis technology. What used to be a slow process has been sped up thanks to a team of scientists who blended complex calculations with […]
In China, research team led by the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has discovered two novel diacylglyceryl transferases (DGAT2s) that preferentially attach linoleic acid (LA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), respectively, to the glycerol backbone to form triacylglycerol from algae. By modulating the ratio of these specialist enzymes […]
In the UK, the new Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology, launched in December, marks a significant expansion in the College’s activities. The first Synthetic Biology Research Centre opened at Imperial in 2009, funded by the EPSRC. Synthetic biology will be a really important area both for Imperial, the country and for broader society in […]
In Tennessee, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a recipe for a renewable 3D printing feedstock that could spur a profitable new use for an intractable biorefinery byproduct: lignin. The discovery, detailed in Science Advances, expands ORNL’s achievements in lowering the cost of bioproducts by creating novel uses for lignin—the […]
In Mexico, researchers from the Autonomous University of Baja California have developed biosensors they say will help improve the efficiency of biodiesel production. The nanostructured sensors can quickly determine the catalytic activity of lipases, a technology that can be applied to other uses of the enzyme such as detergents. The researchers said that the sensors […]
In New York, scientists at the DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Akron are searching for more affordable catalysts that provide the same efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells as pure platinum. “Like a battery, hydrogen fuel cells convert stored chemical energy into electricity. The difference is that you’re using a replenishable fuel so, […]
In Turkey, a European Patent application was made for biofuel cell developed by a joint study in the scientific cooperation of Üsküdar University, Sabancı University and Yıldız Technical University academicians that uses human stem cells. Designed from the neural cell lines used as a model in scientific studies, the biofuel cell produced high electrical energy […]
In Tennessee, a team from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has made several fundamental discoveries related to the challenges associated with breaking down biomass using supercomputers. In a recent paper published in Nature Reviews Chemistry, ORNL researchers summarize key concepts derived from a decade of molecular-level simulations of biomass […]
