In Washington state, a researcher at Washington State University has received a three-year $450,000 federal grant to develop computer models for using iron to more efficiently refine bio-oils and make better biofuels. Jean-Sabin McEwen, assistant professor in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, will collaborate on the U.S. Department of Energy Office of […]
In California, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Sierra Energy a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant $100,000 grant to further explore the production of hydrogen fuel from waste. Sierra Energy’s patented FastOx gasifier converts waste into an energy-dense gas with high hydrogen content. The system’s operational efficiency will be able to produce hydrogen at a […]
In Iowa, researchers at the University of Iowa found that co-firing oat hulls from nearby Quaker Oats with coal in the university’s boilers reduces CO2 emissions by 40%. Particulate matter, hazardous substances and heavy metals emissions were also significantly reduced. At a 50/50 blend, particulate emissions reduced by 90%. The study analyzed straight coal, 50/50 […]
In California, nitrogen and phosphate nutrients are among the biggest costs in cultivating algae for biofuels. Sandia molecular biologists Todd Lane and Ryan Davis have shown they can recycle about two-thirds of those critical nutrients, and aim to raise the recycling rate to close to 100 percent. Recycling nitrogen and phosphate has benefits that go […]
In Australia, the desert plant, best known for producing tequila in Mexico, shows promise as a source of biofuel and other biochemical products, according to University of Adelaide research. The researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls showed the agave plant could produce up to 15,000 liters per hectare a […]
In Arizona, Arizona State University is seeking permission from the Yuma County Board of Supervisors to expand its biofuels research onto other land outside its agricultural center in the city. The county’s planning commission approved the rezoning of rural land to allow biofuel production processing facilities in a 5-1 vote. The city’s planner argues that […]
In India, researchers at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding are looking at the Punnai tree, a native tree to the coastal and river areas in many parts of the southern region of the country, as a potential crop for biodiesel production thanks to the high oil content of its seeds. A five-year […]
In Germany, Clariant opened its new Group Biotechnology Research Center in Planegg near Munich today. In a ceremony attended by Ilse Aigner, the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology, the key to the facility was symbolically handed over to CEO Hariolf Kottmann and the Head of Clariant’s Group Biotechnology André Koltermann. The […]
In Michigan, a new $1 million relationship between Michigan State University and ExxonMobil will expand research designed to progress the fundamental science required to advance algae-based fuels. David Kramer, MSU’s John Hannah Distinguished Professor in Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics at the MSU-DOE Plant and Research Laboratory, says that the overall goal of the partnership is to […]
In Nebraska, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $13.5 million, multi-institutional research effort to improve sorghum as a sustainable source for biofuel production. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, this five-year grant takes a comprehensive approach to better understand how plants and microbes interact, and to learn which sorghum germplasm grows better with less […]
