In Washington state, while popular catalysts called zeolites could help turn paper manufacturing waste and other biomass into fuel, the catalyst crumbles after just two days in hot water. And that’s a problem because hot water is nearly ubiquitous in biofuel production. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a team discovered that fixing broken bonds deep […]
In Oklahoma, the popular method of breaking down lignin to convert biomass into valuable biofuels and chemicals is done by using fungi. However, researchers at Oklahoma State University are turning that process on its head. As part of OSU’s BioBased Products and Energy Center, the researchers are helping develop environmentally sound biological pretreatment platforms for cost-effective […]
In Washington, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) No Objection Letter for Cargill’s next-generation sweetener, EverSweet, qualifying it for use in food and beverages. EverSweet was introduced in October 2015 and is made with the same sweetness found in the stevia leaf, Reb M and Reb D. EverSweet provides […]
In New York state, Rochester Institute of Technology and Synergy Biogas are exploring the environmental benefits of microalgae to clean agricultural wastewater and make biofuels. Researchers are running a three-month pilot program at Synergy Biogas, a high-tech anaerobic digester located on Synergy Farms in Covington, N.Y, to grow microalgae on digested biomass. Microalgae will consume […]
In Australia, a weedy plant found on the roadside in northern Australia has stems ripe for biofuel production. Scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls at the University of Adelaide have discovered that a variety of sorghum growing wild in Australia, Arun, has the potential to yield over 10,000 litres of bioethanol […]
In South Korea, a brand new outdoor laboratory has been recently launched at UNIST and this is expected to convert human waste into renewable energy sources, and possible to a monetary value. The major research facilities of this pavillion include “Waterless Energy-producing Toilet System” and “Microbial Energy Production System”. The waterless toilet system, located on the […]
In Sweden, findings from an eight-year long research program financed by SLU, the Swedish Energy Agency and a number of forest companies have been published in a special issue of the journal Forest Ecology and Management. Some conclusions are that biofuel from stumps are considerably better from a climatic point of view than burning of […]
In Sweden, an expert panel convened by Taurus Energy has issued a favorable opinion regarding XyloFerm®as a feed component. It remains for the panel to assess and issue a statement regarding the final feed product. The panel members have, individually and collectively, determined that the genetic modifications made to create XyloFerm strains do not form […]
In Massachusetts, new research from the Stephanopoulos group at MIT reports engineered microorganisms that can generate sustainable biofuel from carbon dioxide emissions. Their research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This conversion process starts with mixtures of carbon dioxide and either carbon monoxide or hydrogen, The gas is bubbled into […]
In Iowa, IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering researchers Chris Jones, Keith Schilling, and Kung-Sik Chan, along with colleagues at the Iowa Soybean Association, evaluated water monitoring results from more than 7,000 water samples collected in the Raccoon River watershed of Central Iowa from 1999-2014. The team also had access to fertilization data for 700 fields in the […]
