In Australia, University of Queensland researchers have stabilized biocatalyst enzymes that used to fall apart outside the body and at high temperatures so that they don’t do that anymore, which can be useful for carrying out chemical transformations under industrial conditions, such as producing biofuels. They made more heat tolerant and stronger versions of two […]
In Alaska, microbes in the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants such as moose help break down recalcitrant plant biomass into carbon nutrients, but how do they do this over the course of seasons when the moose diet changes, and what microbes are involved? Now, an international research team has studied microbial communities in the rumen of […]
In the UK, dissolving seaweed sauce sachets and technology inspired by a suckerfish to remove plastics from rivers are among 11 innovative projects to win the backing of a GBP4 million government fund to clean up the environment. To showcase the ground-breaking research being led by UK scientists and innovators during Green GB & NI […]
In California, Greencar Congress reports that researchers from JBEI along with Chinese colleagues have produced three promising aviation jet fuel feedstocks whose results were recently published in open-access journal Biotechnology for Biofuels. Researchers undertook computational analysis looking at three sesquiterpenes—epi-isozizaene, pentalenene and α-isocomene—and found they were comparable to commercial fossil-based jet fuel. They were then […]
In Ireland, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD launched the new EUR22.2 million BEACON Bioeconomy SFI Research Center at the EUR5.75 million National Bioeconomy Campus in Lisheen, Co. Tipperary. The event also saw the launch of the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF), as part of the inaugural Bioeconomy Ireland Day, which aims […]
In Wisconsin, a study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center compared two processes for producing biofuels from corn stover: biological conversion to ethanol (BCE) and catalytic conversion to alkenes (CCA) and found that carbon efficiency isn’t the only factor for determining promising strategies for the production of […]
In China, through careful genetic analysis of a large, diverse panel of sorghum varieties, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered the gene controlling the stem juiciness trait in sorghum, as described in this month’s issue of the Plant Cell. The dry gene product appears to function as a master switch that controls the […]
In Belgium, EU-funded BIOWAYS conducted an EU-wide online survey alongside analysis of relevant studies which helped them to collect qualitative and quantitate data regarding the public perception on bio-based products. The online questionnaire was translated in seven languages and evaluated public perception and engagement with bio-based products, the benefits of utilizing them and reasons that […]
In Texas, a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office to Texas A&M AgriLife Research will help researchers investigate potential discoveries for waste products used in lignocellulosic biofuel production, turning them into valuable agents used in producing commercial products such as biodiesel and asphalt binding agents. Their work will include […]
In Finland, the whole of Europe is feverishly looking for new ways to use farm, forest and fishery resources more responsibly and sustainably and to promote the production of the best possible raw materials in order to increase the availability of food, energy and biomaterials. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, the Finnish Forest […]
