In India, researchers at Kochi-based SCMS Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research and Development and the SCMS School of Engineering and Technology have filed for a US patent for coconut-based biodiesel. The technology can produce 760 liters of biodiesel from 10,000 coconuts’ worth of oil, along with five other co-products.
In Israel, Evogene announced it has signed a Letter of Intent with plans to establish a research and development facility in the Bio-Research and Development Growth (BRDG) Park, developed by Wexford Science & Technology, a BioMed Realty Company, on the campus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The establishment of […]
In Colorado, researchers led by Agricultural Research Service recently found a new way to exploit sorghum’s potential. They found that by using certain cropping strategies, growers can produce sorghum in parts of northeastern Colorado where the growing season was previously considered too short. Meanwhile, another team of ARS scientists working in Texas has developed a […]
In Israel, the Ministry of Science, Technology & Space and KerenHayesod-UIA, together with the Prime Minister’s Office, has announced a new annual award, “The Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation.” Accompanying the award will be a prize of USD $1 million.The prize will be awarded for global […]
In Louisiana, researchers at the LSU AgCenter are pleased with the results from energy cane varieties under trial, saying that many of the 300 they are testing survived the unusually cold winter of 2013 without impacting yields. Extending cane’s resistance to cold is key to growing the crop outside the traditional cane-growing belt.
In Israel, Evogen announced that its recently developed comprehensive gene optimization program is being incorporated into its multi-year collaboration with Monsanto Company. The addition of these new capabilities, which have been designed to optimize desired trait efficacy and potentially accelerate product development, follows the successful identification and validation by Evogene of more than one thousand […]
In Indiana, Indiana University biologists believe they have found a faster, cheaper and cleaner way to increase bioethanol production by using nitrogen gas, the most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, in place of more costly industrial fertilizers. The discovery could save the industry millions of dollars and make cellulosic ethanol – made from wood, grasses and […]
In Japan, researchers from the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences have determined a way to make second generation ethanol production economically viable on-farm. The process, known as ‘solid-state fermentation’, involves packing harvested whole rice plants with yeast and enzymes into a round bale wrapped in impermeable film. During incubation, sugars and starch in the rice […]
In Canada, a new report from World Resources Institute is under fire from the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance. GRFA is accusing the report of using false data on the environmental and land use impacts of biofuels. According to GRFA, the report claims that “biofuels have increased competition for land and food but fails to show […]
In Massachusetts, a common algae commercially grown to make fish food holds promise as a source for both biodiesel and jet fuel, according to a new study published in the journal Energy & Fuels. The researchers, led by Greg O’Neil of Western Washington University and Chris Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, exploited an unusual […]
