In Washington state, Washington State University research shows that consumers are willing to pay a premium of approximately 11 percent over conventional fuel. “We were surprised the premium was that significant,” said Jill McCluskey, WSU professor in the School of Economic Sciences. “We wanted to study people in different regions of the country, to make […]
In Illinois, new research at the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus could significantly change ethanol production by lowering operating costs and simplifying the dry grind process. “There are currently more than 200 dry grind plants that are processing corn to produce ethanol,” says Vijay Singh, director of IBRL and […]
In Washington state, researchers at Washington State University Tri-Cities have been awarded a National Science Foundation I-Corps grant to explore the market potential of their biojet fuel research. The team has successfully demonstrated a new, water-based process for deconstructing and recovering lignin from biomass and converting it into jet fuel-range hydrocarbons. These could be certified […]
In the UK, students Rachana Halasabele and Alessia Xu from The University of Manchester in the UK recently triumphed with their innovative and practical winning solution to a real-life industry problem set by Cargill’s ethanol experts at their starches and sweeteners plant in Trafford Park, Manchester. The UK-wide competition, open to all Universities, is the […]
In Japan, the country’s first privately owned rocket to potentially reach an altitude of 100km is to be powered by ethanol. Interstellar Technologies, founded by maverick Japanese entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, could launch the rocket in January and will collect atmospheric data during its four-minute flight before falling into the Pacific Ocean. Although ethanol provides less […]
In California, researchers have revealed new atomic-scale details about pesky deposits that can stop or slow chemical reactions vital to fuel production and other processes. This disruption to reactions is known as deactivation or poisoning. The research team employed a combination of measurements, including X-ray experiments at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory […]
In Wisconsin, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin has spun out a company called Lactic Solutions to advance a judo-like remedy for lactic acid production during ethanol fermentation: using genetic engineering to transform enemy into friend. Instead of killing lactic acid bacteria with antibiotics, he’s spliced in genes for ethanol production so these organisms […]
In Minnesota, researchers led by the University of Minnesota found that the negative soil legacy of the maize–soybean rotation for native plant performance in interaction with exotics was greatly diminished in soils conditioned by native or exotic perennial species, irrespective of nitrogen addition. This highlights the potential value of perennial species in conversion from row-crop […]
In Washington, a July 2016 EPA report has brought corrosion into the spotlight. What was not mentioned in the EPA report is that there is a simple preventative maintenance item that prevents corrosion, filtering biodiesel blends with filters tested against SAE J1488_201010. Fuel experts have documented severe and rapid corrosion in our existing diesel infrastructure, […]
In South Korea, researchers at UNIST uncovered new ways to make biofuel from carbon dioxide (CO2), the most troublesome greenhouse gas. In their paper published in the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, the team presented direct CO2 conversion to liquid transportation fuels by reacting with renewable hydrogen (H2) generated by solar water splitting. The currently […]
