In California, researchers report in the journal Science on Feb. 18 that anaerobic gut fungi from goats, sheep and horses perform as well as the best fungi engineered by industry in their ability to convert plant material into sugars that are easily transformed into fuel and other products. “Nature has engineered these fungi to have […]
In Tennessee, researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) created one of the largest biomolecular simulations to date—a 23.7-million atom system representing pretreated biomass (cellulose and lignin) in the presence of enzymes. The size of the simulation required Titan, the flagship supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility […]
In Washington, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released a statement on two recent research reports supported by USDA focused on ethanol and other renewable fuels, one published by USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist and another published by the University of Missouri: “These research reports demonstrate, once again, that America’s renewable energy industry has quickly expanded […]
In Michigan, an assistant research specialist at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has designed a new strain of yeast that could improve the efficiency of making fuel from cellulosic biomass such as switchgrass. Both the yeast strain and the method of its design could help overcome a significant bottleneck in the biofuels pipeline — namely, […]
In California, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed two novel biosynthesis pathways for five-carbon alcohol (isopentenol or 3-methyl-3-buten-1-ol) from mevalonate that reduce the energy demand and cost of earlier applications of the mevalonate pathway by using genetically engineered host cells, whose culturing stage can happen both in anaerobic […]
In Iowa, engineers at Iowa State University have found a way to combine a genetically engineered strain of yeast and an electrocatalyst to efficiently convert sugar into a new type of nylon. Previous attempts to combine biocatalysis and chemical catalysis to produce biorenewable chemicals have resulted in low conversion rates. That’s usually because the biological […]
In Fiji, a biofuel testing laboratory will soon be set up at the University of the South Pacific in partnership with the Department of Energy. The $404,000 facility to be established at the Institute of Applied Science is meant to help biofuel producers in Fiji and around the region have access to accredited fuel testing […]
In Colorado, researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) say better understanding of a bacterium could lead to cheaper production of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels. Their discovery was made during an investigation into the performance of Clostridium thermocellum. The scientists found the microorganism utilizes […]
In Germany, integration of advanced (2nd generation / 2G) biofuel plants with conventional (1st generation / 1G) biofuel plants can lead to significant synergies and cost savings, especially for bioethanol plants. For biodiesel, conversion of fossil refineries to advanced biofuel production is another promising option as well. These are the results of a scoping study […]
In Tennessee, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Colorado State University and Envirofit International report that up to the 4 million premature deaths each year attributed to indoor cookstove smoke might be prevented because cleaner biomass cookstoves. With 3 billion people in developing countries using open fire cookstoves, the need is great for durable, low-cost […]
