In Colorado, NREL researchers are leading a project exploring the use of microbes for producing liquid diesel fuel from the methane released during fracking. The flares from fracking wells in North Dakota shine just as bright on nighttime maps as Minneapolis and Chicago. The energy equivalent of 2,000 barrels of oil, but gas, are flared […]
In Germany, global food markets would be affected much more by unmitigated climate change than by an increased bioenergy demand, a study led by scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now finds. Agricultural prices could be about 25 percent higher in 2050 through direct climate impacts on crop yields in comparison […]
In Tennessee, E30 can offer benefits for spark-ignited engines, according to a study recently published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. E30 offers the highest torque capability when at a high compression ratio compared to the other fuels tested. In addition to reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, the data suggests mid-level alcohol blends with engine […]
In Michigan, Michigan State University researchers show that looking at the big picture other than just yield allows other biofuel crops, such as native perennial grasses, to score higher as viable alternatives. The researchers compared three potential biofuel crops: corn, switchgrass, and mixes of native prairie grasses and flowering plants. They measured the diversity of […]
In the UK, Europe has 13.4 million too few honeybee colonies to properly pollinate its crops, according to new research from the University of Reading. The discovery, made by scientists at the University’s Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER), shows that demand for insect pollination is growing five times as fast as the number of honeybee colonies […]
In Massachusetts, Aphios Corp. has announced that it was granted U.S. Patent No. 8,540,847 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Processing Cellulosic Biomass,” for its Aosic enabling technology platform. In the Aosic process, biomass is contacted with SuperFluids such as carbon dioxide with or without small quantities of polar cosolvents such as ethanol, both sourced from […]
In North Carolina, research at North Carolina State University have developed a simple, effective and relatively inexpensive technique for removing lignin from the plant material used to make biofuels, which may drive down the cost of biofuel production. The work was recently published in the journal Green Chemistry. Specifically, the researchers use protic ionic liquids […]
In Kansas, researchers from Kansas State University studied biomass particle size and enzymatic hydrolysis sugar yield in two different sugar yield definitions (cellulose-based and biomass-based) and found they were not consistent depending on how sugar yields were defined.
In Tennessee, researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered that an enzyme from a microorganism first found in the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia in 1990 can digest cellulose almost twice as fast as the current leading component cellulase enzyme on the market. If the enzyme […]
In North Carolina, researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a simple, effective and relatively inexpensive technique for removing lignin from the plant material used to make biofuels, which may drive down the cost of biofuel production. The researchers began by making a number of liquid salts called “protic ionic liquids” or PILs. These […]
