In the UK, Robert Gordon University and University of St Andrews have been awarded $1.88 million for a four-year project seeking a way to make biofuels from waste using solar energy economically viable. Straw and recycled paper waste will be the main feedstock for the research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
In California, researchers from Bio Architecture Lab published in the journal Nature an alginate monomer transporter they discovered that will help to significantly boost the efficiency of cellulosic ethanol production from brown macroalgaes. Using fermentation, the researchers were able to achieve 83% theoretical yield from the sugars.
In Brazil, Petrobras has signed a $2.33 million research deal with EMBRAPA to develop better cane varieties for Rio Grande do Sul state and develop efficient production systems to allow the region to participate in ethanol production. The agreement includes technical support from ANP’s research arm Cenpes and will be funded by Petrobras.
In Texas, a new biopower report is available via RnRMarketResearch.com that analyzes the market scenario in the US, UK, and China through 2025. The report details the global biomass power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by region in 2012, installed capacity split by major biomass power countries in 2012, investment […]
In Washington, the market for fuel ethanol in the United States is unconcentrated, with 156 firms nationwide either producing ethanol or likely to begin producing ethanol in the next 12 to 18 months, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2013 Report on the State of U.S. Ethanol Production. The lack of market concentration in this […]
In Iowa, a 17-year old high school junior has won the national FFA’s science fair award for his research into cellulosic ethanol, comparing wheat straw, prairie cordgrass and switchgrass as feedstocks. He secured his wheat straw from his cousin in South Dakota because in Iowa it’s not economically viable to grow wheat due to the […]
In Illinois, kitty litter that’s nearly 100 percent biodegradable can be made by processing spent grains left over from corn ethanol production. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant physiologist Steven F. Vaughn and his colleagues have shown that litter made with these grains as the starting material may prove to be more environmentally friendly than […]
In Tennessee, Genera Energy’s partnership with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture for bulk-handling and processing of switchgrass has come to a close after $5m in funding since 2009. The partnership was able to develop systems based on material characteristics such as weight, particle size, bulk density, moisture content, among other factors. The team […]
In California, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have developed a method for greatly enhancing biofuel production in tiny marine algae. As reported in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps graduate student Emily Trentacoste led the development of a method to genetically engineer a […]
In California, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories will use their expertise in protein expression, enzyme engineering and high-throughput assays as part of a multiproject, $34 million effort by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) aimed at developing advanced biocatalyst technologies that can convert natural gas to liquid fuel for transportation. The ARPA-E program is Reducing […]
