In Texas, four inventors and Celanese International have received US Patent 7,863,489, for their novel process to produce ethanol from acetic acid using a platinum and tin based catalyst. Celanese owns the world’s largest acetic acid plant in the Pasadena area near Houston, as well as a major acetic acid plant in Nanjing, China. More […]
In China, GCiS China Strategic Research has published a study of the China market for biofuels, covering both ethanol and biodiesel. The study provides an in-depth look at the trends, participants and forecasts for the industry from 2009 to 2015. Findings include the growing, multibillion dollar market, is centered around the government mandated “ethanol-only” areas […]
In Germany, the German Biomass Research Center conducted a study on optimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rapeseed biodiesel. The study sought to analyze current default values for GHGs from rapeseed biodiesel, and to outline areas to improve current GHG levels. At the current default levels for GHG reduction, most biofuels will not meet GHG […]
In New Zealand, the former New Zealand Forest Research Institute, Scion, has published a 210-page report showing government officials that more than 1 million hectares of marginal land throughout New Zealand should be planted in exotic trees like pine, a renewable resource that can be converted to biofuels. In the proposal, Scion identified 19,900ha of […]
In China, researchers have developed a nanowire-based biofuel cell (NBFC) based on a single proton conductive polymer nanowire for converting chemical energy from biofluids into electricity, using glucose oxidase and laccase as catalyst. More on the story.
In Montana, a Montana State research team, publishing in Micobial Ecology and highlighed in a recent issue of Biorefining, are reporting that a fungus of Persea indica is producing cineole, benzene, naphthalene and 1-methyl-1,4 cyclohexane. Cineole – also known as eucapyptol – can be used in an 8:1 blend with gasoline, while all four molecules […]
In Washington, the journal Science, has published an article by US and Swiss researchers concerning the construction of a reactor that uses cerium heated by sunlight to produce fuel. The device uses a parabolic mirror to concentrate sunlight on cerium oxide, held in a chamber where it breaks down carbon dioxide and water into carbon […]
In Illinois, researchers from the University of Illinois, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California and BP have discovered a newly engineered yeast strain can simultaneously consume both glucose and xylose from plants to produce ethanol. The new strain, made by combining, optimizing and adding to earlier advances, reduces or eliminates several major […]
In Germany, researchers at the German Aerospace Center have identified a way to transform biodiesel and ethanol into a hydrogen-rich gas suitable for high temperature PEM (HTPEM) fuel cells while on-board. They determined autothermal reforming in combination with a water gas shift reactor is the preferred option. More on the story.
In Fiji, the Fiji National University (FNU), through its College of Engineering, Science and Technology (CEST) and the Centre for Appropriate Technology and Development (CATD), have signed a memorandum of undertstanding to co-operate in the fields of biofuel research, development and demonstration. More on the story.
