A two-part series in which Digest contributor Tim Sklar looks at where the wood pellet and torrified wood markets are headed. By Tim Sklar Many experts familiar with the WP industry he expect demand for wood pellets in Europe to increase from 10 million metric tons per year today to 5 times that by 2020. […]
In New York, Chemical Compounds, a quarterly analysis of M&A activity in the global chemicals industry by PwC, is reporting that 32 deals took place during the second quarter of 2012, compared to 22 deals in the first quarter of 2012. However, the deal value during the second quarter of 2012 decreased to $11.8 billion […]
In Washington, a new study from the International Food Policy Research Institute says drought in the Midwest is causing undue pressure on food prices that will negatively affect the poor in the developing world. IFPRI is calling for cuts in biofuel mandates in both the US and the EU.
In Iran, researchers at the University of Kurdistan have developed a glassy carbon electrode able to detect minute levels of ethanol in different environments, made possible by modifying the electrode with a nanocomposite comprised of multi-walled carbon nanotubes.
In New York state, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created a new enzyme that effectively “masks” the synthetic precursors of lignin, a plant cell wall component that makes plant biomass particularly difficult to break down. When it was expressed in plants, this enzyme substantially reduced lignin content in […]
In Massachusetts, New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) has issued a report warning that food prices may skyrocket this year because of the drought coupled with ethanol mandates across the globe. The report indicated that food prices may rise to the heights seen in 2008, when food riots broke out across the globe. “Reducing the […]
In New York State, scientists at Cornell University now believe commercialization of shrub willow as a biofuel feedstock could be years closer than they believed. A new $1.37 million grant is set to enable Cornell researchers to take advantage of the newly mapped shrub willow genome to study hybrid vigor and yield. “Determining the precise […]
In Germany, a joint publication of the Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics looks at uncertainties about the GHG Emissions Saving of Rapeseed Biodiesel and tears apart associated assumptions made by the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive.
In California, researchers from Stanford and Pennsylvania State universities say microbes that convert electricity into methane gas could become an important source of renewable energy. Researchers at both campuses are raising colonies of microorganisms, called methanogens, which have the remarkable ability to turn electrical energy into pure methane.
In Wisconsin, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been awarded a $7 million grant along with its partners to ethanol from a manure byproduct at a dairy farm. Maple Leaf Dairy has about 4,000 cows. Manure will be broken down to make bedding, fertilizer pellets and biofuels.
