In Missouri, the director of the University of Missouri’s Center for Agroforestry says that by planting biomass crops in the flood plains of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers rather than corn and soybeans that are currently planted there but are subject to failure, farmers won’t have to replant crops while biomass production would make the […]
In California, the U.S. Geological Survey reduced its estimate of “technically recoverable natural gas” from the Marcellus Shale formation, by 75 percent, to 84 trillion cubic feet, from a figure of 410 trillion cubic feet previously estimated by the Energy Information Administration. The Post Carbon Institute writes “our detailed new energy report, “Will Natural Gas […]
In Louisiana, Tulane University researchers have discovered a new bacterial strain that turns newspapers into butanol. The researchers are currently using old editions from “The Times-Picayune” as a feedstock for their bacterial strain named “TU-103” to produce the ethanol. Harshad Velenkar, a post doctoral researcher states, “In the United States alone, at least 323 million […]
In California, Codexis VP of Biochemistry and Engineering R&D James Lalonde said that in its program to develop customized carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes that could catalyze carbon capture under industrial conditions, CA performance has been improved by about two million fold over natural forms of the enzyme. Evolved CA enzymes are functional and stable, he […]
In Spain, a Chilean researcher at the Institute of Ocean Sciences at CSIC in Barcelona has narrowed down three species of marine algae that are common in most parts of the world as ideal for biofuel feedstock. Using existing production methods for algae however is unviable because compared to fossil diesel, the biomass production requires […]
In New York, researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a mathematical model to analyze the metabolic processes of canola, especially in relation to how it produces oil in its seeds. The model was developed to help researchers optimize the production of plant oils and can model the potential effects of genetic modification.
In Washington, the USDA Agricultural Research Service has developed an inexpensive way to grade the ethanol potential of perennial grasses at the biorefinery’s loading dock. Researchers developed the first use of near-infrared sensing (NIRS) to measure 20 components in switchgrass biomass that determine its potential value to biorefiners. These components include cell wall sugars, soluble […]
In Washington, RFA Vice President Geoff Cooper took issue with the contention that US corn yields are rising because of, simply, increased fertilizer use. “Data from USDA show that 2010 application rates of the three common macronutrient fertilizers (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate) were the same–or below—the application rates seen in the early 1980s. Thus, nitrogen application […]
In Virginia, a new study from the University of Virginia casts doubt over the environmental credentials of algae as feedstock for biofuel. Though less transportation energy is used when algae is a feedstock versus when switchgrass or other farmed biomass is a feedstock, algae requires much more energy and water for processing than other biomass. […]
In South Dakota, the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center is recommending four projects to the DOE to approve funding. The projects will involve using perennial grasses and woody perennials for the production of biofuel. One project in particular will examine the use of winter rye, which would be planted after the corn harvest and […]
