In Massachusetts, the first higher-value chemical derived from lignin will hit the market in 2021, according to a new Lux Research report. Additionally, thermal routes for converting lignin into smaller chemical constituents appear the best for near-term development; chemical, metallic catalytic, and biological may take longer to come downy the pipeline. Finally, the report also […]
In California, Ceres announced that the company has licensed its Persephone genome visualization application to Bayer CropScience. The multi-year software license and collaboration agreement provides a non-exclusive license to Bayer as well as professional services including support, customizations and maintenance. Originally developed for in-house use by Ceres, Persephone allows researchers to rapidly zoom in and […]
In California, a University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering professor is one of the authors of a paper recently published in Science that outlines ways companies can commercialize and profit from what was thought to a waste product created when producing biofuels. In the paper, the researchers outline the discovery of genetic variants […]
In North Carolina, The N.C. Bioenergy Research Initiative recently awarded $500,000 in grants for six new research projects to boost bioenergy opportunities and production in the state, according to Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “We are excited to have the opportunity to explore bioenergy potential through these grants for North Carolina’s agricultural and forestry industries,” said […]
In the UK, the EnAlgae team has published a paper implying that algae are currently no more productive than palm oil. The authors explain that whilst technologies may be improving, algae physiology remains the limiting factor to achieving higher productivity and that the only way to remedy this is through genetic modification. Authors Phil Kenny […]
In California, researchers from UC Berkeley reviewed a collection of recent literature that mapped bioenergy potential on marginal lands at varying scales, and found that there is no common working definition of marginal land across all of these works. Specifically, they found considerable differences in mapped results that are driven by dissimilarities in definitions, model […]
In Pennsylvania, scientists at Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences have found that glycerol from biodiesel production can act as a potential alternative to the hazardous antifungal agents currently being used to combat one of the most damaging cacao diseases, Phytophthora pod rot (also known as Black Pod), responsible for an estimated 20 […]
Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are using the National Science Foundation-supported Stampede supercomputer to improve biofuel production by determining how certain enzymes break down cellulose (plant cell walls). In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January 2014, they describe a newly-discovered, naturally-occurring enzyme modeled with […]
In Texas, Rice University chemical engineer Michael Wong has spent a decade amassing evidence that palladium-gold nanoparticles are excellent catalysts for cleaning polluted water, but even he was surprised at how well the particles converted biodiesel waste into valuable chemicals. Through dozens of studies, Wong’s team focused on using the tiny metallic specks to break […]
In Canada, Resolute and Mercer are collaborating on developing commercial applications for cellulose filaments. The two members of the Forest Products Association of Canada will be using the filaments to enhance the performance characteristics of a wide variety of products. Cellulose filaments optimize the strength, stability, flexibility and longevity of a variety of materials including […]
