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 […]
In California, researchers at UC Davis have determined that strict controls need to be put in place to avoid massive CO2 emissions resulting from palm oil expansion in Brazil. Unless oil palm development remains on already deforested land, the study says the GHG emissions of the new biofuels could be higher than fossil diesel.
In the UK, researchers from the University of Nottingham and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology will collaborate to engineer enzymes, bacteria and bioconversion processes that will help to produce advanced biofuels from waste rice straw. The project, led by Professor Nigel Minton and Dr Syed Shams Yazdani, will receive $2.25 million from […]
In Missouri, a research effort to increase the amount of oleic acid found in soybean oil is already underway after the FDA announced its conclusion that trans fats are unsafe in food at the University of Missouri. Developing high oleic acid content traits in soybeans would avoid genetically modifying the beans, and could benefit the […]
In Tennessee, researchers studying more effective ways to convert woody plant matter into biofuels at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified fundamental forces that change plant structures during pretreatment processes used in the production of bioenergyThe research team, which published its results in Green Chemistry, set out to decipher the inner […]
