In Norway, researchers claim to have discovered a new category of enzymes that may hold the key to cellulosic biofuels because it speeds up the process significantly. The scientists at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Aas say they even got the enzymes to break down chitin, found in prawn shells, into sugars so […]
In California, UC Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology is hosting a series of free events Oct. 14 to highlight the future of renewable energy and serve as a launchpad for its new Alternative Transportation Fuels Research Center of Excellence. The Oct. 14 events kick-off at 10 a.m. Oct. 14 with a National Alternative […]
In Connecticut, researchers at the University of Connecticut are experimenting with hemp as a potential biodiesel feedstock and are preparing development of a multi-feedstock manufacturing facility. The 200,000 gpy plant will be built with a $1.8 million grant from the DOE. Research shows that hemp-based biodiesel burns at a lower temperature than biodiesel produced from […]
1. Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture 2. Jeff Broin, CEO, POET 3. Bob Dinneen, President, Renewable Fuels Association 4. Miguel Soldateli Rossetto, CEO, Petrobras Biocombustiviles 5. Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme / Harrison Dillon, PhD, CTO 6. Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy 7. Marcos Lutz, CEO, Cosan 8. Alan Shaw, PhD, CEO, Codexis 9. […]
In Washington, the US Department of Agriculture dramatically lowered its corn harvest projection from 13.11 billion bushels to 12.664 billion bushels, which touched off a rally in ethanol prices to $2.184 per gallon on the CBOT for November deliveries (and reaching $2.31 in the New York cash market). The report is likely to substantially rally […]
In the Netherlands, researchers from Wageningen University, in a study published in Energy Policy, concluded that the current cost of producing algal-based biodiesel has dropped to 52.3 Euros per gigajoule of energy (7.17 Euros per gallon of biodiesel), compared with 36 Euros per gigajoule for rapeseed and only 15.8 Euros for oil. Environmental economist Justus […]
In Washington, C. Boyden Gray, one of the architects of the historic 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments that established the nation’s reformulated gasoline program, called for increased regulation of air toxics by the Environmental Protection Agency and in so doing, increasing the market for ethanol. Writing in an Ethanol Across America White Paper, Mr. Gray […]
In Sweden, Scania has been granted to $8.8 million to develop an engine for heavy vehicles that will combine the high energy efficiency of diesel (compression ignition) technology with the more efficient exhaust after-treatment system of Otto (spark ignition) technology. The funds are granted under Sweden’s Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation Initiative and the project will bring […]
In Washington, Friends of the Earth released a report “Synthetic Solutions to the Climate Crisis: The Dangers of Synthetic Biology for Biofuels Production,” concluding that synthetic biology projects including the creation of algae with synthetic DNA to produce fuels or synthetic yeast to break down biomass could have potentially devastating results if these organisms were […]
In California, USDA Agricultural Research Service Western Regional Research Center chemist Dominic Wong and partners at Cargill have isolated, sequenced and cloned twelve genes that they believe can be inserted into e.coli bacteria that will produce FAE enzymes. These enzymes are known for their ability to break down plant cell walls, which would make it […]
