Category: Research

University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee researchers trying to keep GMO switchgrass out of the market

March 6, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Wisconsin, researchers from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee are tackling the main obstacle of keeping genetically modified switchgrass off the commercial market. It’s the possibility that lab-engineered genes could escape human control by mixing with genes of wild-growing grasses, which might interrupt natural processes in unpredictable ways. Genetically modified tomatoes were first approved for human […]

Experts say lack of R&D investment keeping Malaysian biodiesel behind the West

March 2, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Malaysia, national experts have pointed the finger at the government for failing to invest sufficiently in palm oil R&D for biodiesel during the past 30 years that has left the country and its industry behind others like the US and Brazil who have been innovating extensively to improve biodiesel production. Criticism was also pointed […]

Researcher use semiautonomous robot to assess energy sorghum

March 1, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Illinois, a semiautonomous robot may soon be roaming agricultural fields gathering and transmitting real-time data about the growth and development of crops, information that crop breeders—and eventually farmers—can use to identify the genetic traits in plants likely to produce the greatest yields. A team of scientists from the Carle R. Woese Institute for Genomic […]

Japanese researchers make breakthrough in understanding how microalgae makes oil

February 28, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Japan, scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology lead by Professor Hiroyuki Ohta have made breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms underlying microalgae’s oleaginous trait by investigating lipid metabolism in Nannochloropsis oceanica. TAGs are synthesized in the extraplastidic Kennedy pathway through sequential addition of three fatty acyl moieties to the glycerol backbone. Among the participating enzymes, […]

DOE researchers find brown rot fungi can help with wood biofuel production

February 27, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Minnesota, a team of scientists from the University of Minnesota; the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Republic of Korea; and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found evidence that brown rot fungi separate the oxidants and enzymes in time rather than in space. The team discovered […]

Modular Energy Production Systems in sight at RAPID Manufacturing USA Institute

February 26, 2017 | Jim Lane

In Iowa, Iowa State University is reporting that it will bring its expertise in biorenewable technologies and pilot plant operations to the country’s 10th Manufacturing USA Institute. The recently announced advanced manufacturing institute is dedicated to improving the productivity and efficiency of chemical manufacturing, and could save the chemical industry more than $9 billion annually, […]

Princeton researchers boost bioreactor efficiency with new integrated approach

February 23, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In New Jersey, to improve bioreactor efficiency, researchers at Princeton University will create an integrated approach to monitoring and controlling the organisms’ metabolic activity thanks to support from the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., and his wife, Wendy, created the $25 million endowment […]

BETO launches Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium

February 22, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the launch of its Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium (ChemCatBio), a research and development consortium dedicated to identifying and overcoming catalysis challenges for biomass conversion processes. Made up of seven DOE national laboratories, ChemCatBio will bring new catalytic materials to commercial bioenergy […]

Penn State professor supporting croton data collection in Kenya

February 21, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In Pennsylvania, a Penn State professor was hired by World Agroforestry Centre to help a small company, Eco Fuels Kenya, or EFK, to survey subsistence farmers in five counties and dozens of villages in Kenya about their willingness to grow croton trees. He asked them such things as how many trees they have, whether they […]

IIT-Kharagpur researchers develop methodology for cellulose-hemicellulose dual process

February 20, 2017 | Meghan Sapp

In India, IIT-Kharagpur researchers have developed a process that results in four-fold increase in the yield of fermentable sugars and bioethanol from hemicelluloses, allowing feedstocks like grasses and lake hyacinth to finally become viable feedstocks. Lake hyacinth is 50% hemicellulose, for example, so a kilo of dry feedstock can now produce 0.18-0.29kg of ethanol. Research […]

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