In Brazil, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), projected a 2011/2012 sugarcane harvest of 568.50 million tons, up 2.11% from last year. UNICA is projecting that only five new mills will launch activities during the 2011/2012 harvest. That number is significantly lower than in recent years, the result of slower growth in the sugar-energy industry […]
Feedbackstat.com is conducting market research to better understand the current market conditions of the biofuel industry. They write: “Your participation in this survey will help the biofuel industry move forward to reach its goals in the future. We would really appreciate your insight into these topics.The online survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. […]
In California, NASA’s Langley Research Center is working with researchers at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center near Edwards Air Force Base testing 8,000 gallons of Hydrotreated Renewable Jet Fuel—using chicken fat as a feedstock—on a NASA DC-8. The Air Force bought ‘many thousands of gallons’ of the fuel and gave some to NASA for their […]
In Massachusetts, Qteros is offering biofuel start-up companies about 2/3 of its new 15,000 square foot fermentation facility in Chicopee in order to help incubate local businesses that might be lured out of state. Qteros CEO John McCarthy said he was in discussion with ‘six or seven’ interested companies as well as with state officials […]
In Virginia, Jason Holliday, assistant professor of forest genetics and biotechnology in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, is using a $1.5 million Faculty Early Career Development Program grant from the National Science Foundation to gain insight into how tree populations adapt at the genomic scale as a result of climate change. The […]
In Iowa, PhD student David Correll at Iowa State University has created “ISU BioBus” – a program created to convert spent cooking oil from one of the university’s dining halls into biofuel for a Cyride (the Ames, IA bus system) bus. He has secured two college sponsored grants and has gotten the approval he needed […]
In Vermont, researchers from St. Michael’s College have teamed with researchers from the University of Missouri, University of Florida, Purdue University and the University Nebraska-Lincoln, on a five-year project to study the genes that control the movement of carbohydrates in corn in an attempt to increase corn yield, make more drought resistant plants, larger plants […]
In Hawaii, the US Army Installation Management Command-Pacific and Pacific Biodiesel have finalized a a two-year biofuel crop research project aimed at reducing the Hawaii’s dependence on fossil fuels. The first step in the project is locating suitable land to grow biofuel crops. Pacific Biodiesel is looking at various agricultural sites within the State and will […]
In Connecticut, UConn professor Richard Parnas has patented a biodiesel reactor that uses gravity, heat, and natural chemical reactions to make the biodiesel and separate the glycerol in one step rather than the traditional two-step method that requires mechanical removal of the glycerol. The existing facility produces about 2,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel a year. […]
In California, an F-22 Raptor successfully flew at supercruis (supersonic flight without using the engine’s afterburner) on a 50/50 fuel blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 and biofuel derived from camelina. The flight was the capstone of a series of ground and flight test events conducted by the 411th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force […]
