In Japan, researchers at Kobe University have found a potential biofuel feedstock in a very unlikely place—crab shells—and they believe it can be done for the same price as producing ethanol from corn. Chitin, found in exoskeletons and considered to be the second most widely available natural polymer in the world after plant cellulose, can […]
In Washington, the DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office has released its multi-year plan of work for the next five years with a focus on terrestrial feedstocks, algal feedstocks, conversion technologies, and demonstration while looking at crosscutting issues such as sustainability, strategic analysis and strategic communications. Detailed life-cycle analysis of environmental, economic, and social impacts will continue […]
In Denmark, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a natural process they describe as reverse photosynthesis. In the process, the energy in solar rays breaks down, rather than builds plant material, as is the case with photosynthesis. The sunlight is collected by chlorophyll, the same molecule as used in photosynthesis. Combined with a […]
In Illinois, most prime agricultural land is used to produce food crops, leaving biofuel producers to establish crops on marginal land. The soil on marginal land is often salty, making crop production difficult. But University of Illinois researchers have found several varieties of perennial grasses that can withstand high salt concentrations. The researchers subjected six […]
In Finland, a study has found that willow is suitable as a source of sugar to produce ethanol, and the lignin fraction formed as a by-product of the process is suitable for the manufacture of renewable chemicals and bio-based materials. Willow’s competitive advantages as a feedstock include its quick growth, low price, and ability to […]
In Missouri, researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis have developed a method to weed out lazy bacteria to ensure that only the most efficient are used in order to boost biofuel production yields. The research found that most of the bacteria created from the same ancestor are lazy, eating up feedstock that more […]
In Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Aalto University investigated how willow biomass can be utilized more efficiently. When processed correctly, willow is eminently suitable as a source of sugar in the production of ethanol. The lignin fraction formed as a by-product of the ethanol process and the fibres and compounds of willow […]
In California, researchers at UCLA are manipulating the cellular metabolism of bacteria to produce isobutanol from cellulosic feedstock. Following nine years of research, the team of 25 researchers can now produce 5g of isobutanol in three days at lab level. The bacteria researched can withstand very high levels of pH, an added benefit to reducing […]
In Canada, Cellulosic Sugar Producers Cooperative, an Ontario-based farmer’s cooperative, confirms that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Comet Biorefining to collaborate on the development of a sustainable agricultural biomass supply chain in southwestern Ontario. Comet Biorefining recently announced Sarnia, Ontario as the location of its commercial-scale biomass-derived sugar facility. The plant […]
In Tennessee, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have made “a better thermoplastic” by replacing styrene with lignin, a brittle, rigid polymer that, with cellulose, forms the woody cell walls of plants. In doing so, they have invented a solvent-free production process that interconnects equal parts of nanoscale lignin dispersed in […]
