In Pennsylvania, researchers at Penn State are investigating the role of giant clams as “solar transformers” because they are capable of absorbing bright sunlight at a very high rate and scattering it over a large surface area. When the light is distributed evenly among the thick layer of algae living inside the clam, the algae […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently announced 17 grants for research on the next generation of agricultural technologies and systems to meet the growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber. The grants are funded through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. […]
In Michigan, Michigan State University scientists are proposing a new way to economically produce biodegradable plastics with sunlight and help from an ancient microorganism. Researchers at the Ducat MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory took cyanobacteria, that use sunlight to naturally produce sugar, and genetically tweaked them to constantly leak that sugar into a surrounding […]
In Sweden, a researcher from Borås University used an edible filamentous fungus, Neurospora intermedia, which is a fungus used for human consumption, for example in Indonesia, that integrates first and the second generation ethanol processes. The fungus has a good ability to produce ethanol and is also a good ingredient in animal feed due to […]
In Germany, the PULP2VALUE project is entering its second stage after successful pilot tests and creating new value chains from sugar beet pulp. The project aims to achieve two main objectives by the end of the project, June 2019. One objective is to scale up, optimize and integrate processes for production of Betafib microcellulose fibres, […]
In Indiana, a new academic paper published in Biotechnology for Biofuels shows biodiesel’s benefits are even better than previous models suggest. More data is available now than ever before, and that data shows farmers are producing more on fewer acres. This means that penalties for indirect land use change by EPA and CARB overestimate emissions […]
In Washington state, researchers from Washington State University, along with those from Oregon State University and the University of Montana, have recently devised refined methods to estimate the amount of forest residue — the leftovers from trees after logging — that is available for wood-based biorefineries to use. The resulting research model could help entrepreneurs […]
In California, Greenbelt Resources Corporation has agreed to perform feedstock testing with Central Coast Wine Services to test various streams of wastes generated in the winemaking process. The wastes will be tested for potential use as feedstock for PRECO, Greenbelt’s “Paso Robles ECOsystem” project, a local waste-to-energy system. Wastes with successful results will be locally […]
In Brazil, vastly expanding sugarcane production in Brazil for conversion to ethanol could reduce current global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 5.6 percent, researchers report in the journal Nature Climate Change. This would be a massive undertaking, involving the conversion of hundreds of thousands of square miles – at its most ambitious, more […]
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