Category: Research

Switchgrass advance: JBEI’s ionic liquid pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis scales effectively

December 16, 2013 | Jim Lane

In California, researchers from the DOE-Office of Science funded Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), in conjunction with staff from the DOE-Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy funded Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, published the paper, “Scale-Up and Evaluation of High Solid Ionic Liquid Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Switchgrass,” in […]

Novo Synthetix expects protype castor oil plant for US in 2014

December 16, 2013 | Isabel Lane

In North Carolina, Novo Synthetix is working on bringing a ricin-free castor plant back to the US fields, an endeavor which won them North Carolina’s Biotech Center’s Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase earlier this year. A prototype plant is expected to be ready within six months to one year. The project will work with Precision Bioscience to […]

Oil prices drive grain prices, says new UN study

December 16, 2013 | Isabel Lane

In Italy, oil prices, not ethanol, were the main drivers of grain prices in a new study from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). While ethanol moves in line with oil in the long term, the relationship between ethanol and oil prices between 1980 and 2012 has been nonlinear in the short term. The […]

Brazil’s FAPESP teams with Peugeot Citroën on biofuel engine research

December 12, 2013 | Meghan Sapp

In Brazil, the Sao Paolo Research Foundation FAPESP and Peugeot Citroën approved a proposal for the creation of a Research and Engineering Center focused on the development of biofuel-powered combustion engines.The center will bring together researchers at the Mechanical Engineering School of the University of Campinas (Unicamp), the Polytechnic School of the University of São […]

Siemens gets bio-based water treatment patent

December 11, 2013 | Meghan Sapp

In Georgia, the U.S. Patent Office has awarded Siemens Water Technologies a patent for a system and method to control biofouling of filters used as a first stage of treating ballast water in its SeaCURE(TM) Ballast Water Management System. The patent, entitled “Method and System for Biofouling Control of Shipboard Components” (U.S. patent no. 8,591,740 B2), […]

German standards group finds additives help in long-term biodiesel storage

December 10, 2013 | Meghan Sapp

In Germany, successful trials using additives to help biodiesel survive long-term storage, even during cold months, have been completed by the national biodiesel standards body AGQM. Testing took place under ideal conditions as well as real conditions, monitoring oxidation stability, acid and peroxide numbers, as well as water content in monthly intervals. Using additives appears […]

Best of the Journals: Highly efficient methane biocatalysis revealed in a methanotrophic bacterium

December 10, 2013 | Jim Lane

Authors: M. G. Kalyuzhnaya, S. Yang, O. N. Rozova, N. E. Smalley, J. Clubb, A. Lamb, G. A. Nagana Gowda, D. Raftery, Y. Fu, F. Bringel, S. Vuilleumier, D. A. C. Beck, Y. A. Trotsenko, V. N. Khmelenina & M. E. Lidstrom Abstract: Methane is an essential component of the global carbon cycle and one […]

Indonesian-Swedish Initiative for Sustainable Energy Solutions launched

December 9, 2013 | Meghan Sapp

In Indonesia, the Indonesian-Swedish Initiative for Sustainable Energy Solutions has been launched at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, the result of an MOU between Indonesia’s National Energy Council (DEN) and the Energy Agency of Sweden (SEA). The focus of the institute will be on the development of sustainable biodiesel that will reduce negative impacts […]

Oregon State unlocks master regulator gene in fungus

December 9, 2013 | Isabel Lane

In Oregon, researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a master regulator gene in a common fungus, which expands access to new compounds that could have use in industrial biofuels. Scientists succeeded in flipping a genetic switc, activating more then 2000 genes in the fungus. “Our studies will open the door to future precise ‘epigenetic […]

Long-term miscanthus study shows better results than from switchgrass

December 5, 2013 | Meghan Sapp

In Illinois, researchers from the University of Illinois show that in the country’s first long-term studies into miscanthus that even though production slips after five years, biomass production is still double that of switchgrass. The results in the US are even more promising than those from studies done in Europe. Miscanthus was grown in seven […]

Free Subscription

The Biofuels Digest newsletter

The most widely-read biofuels daily — 20,000+ organizations subscribe — why not you too?