In Illinois, a Nature Catalysis study from six chemists at the University of Chicago shows an innovative new system for artificial photosynthesis that is more productive than previous artificial systems by an order of magnitude. Unlike regular photosynthesis, which produces carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water, artificial photosynthesis could produce ethanol, methane, or other fuels. […]
\In the UK, the Business Magazine reported that UK company Biome Technologies, have secured a grant from Innovate UK in order to scale their range of natural plastic packaging and coatings. The grant amount of $332,000 will assist the company to increase the natural plastics it has developed in small amounts in the lab to […]
In Kansas, Kansas State University researchers are part of a five-year collaborative grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve oilseed crops for use as biofuels and other bioproducts. The researchers received nearly $1.9 million to better understand how changing the biochemistry of oilseed plants alters their oil production. The research group is working […]
In Arizona, new research that will be published on Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability shows a pathway toward full decarbonization of U.S. aviation fuel use by substituting conventional jet fuel with sustainably produced biofuels. The study, led by a team of Arizona State University researchers, found that planting the grass miscanthus on 23.2 million […]
In Germany, residual and waste materials from hemp processing that have been largely unused so far are mainly leaves and blossoms, hemp hurds and hemp dust or extraction residues from hemp oil production. In the “HempNRG” project led by Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gemeinnützige (DBZG), these are to be put to a preferably energetic use in the […]
In Japan, chemists in Japan, Canada and Europe have uncovered flaws in the surface structure of cellulose nanocrystals—an important step toward deconstructing cellulose to produce renewable nano-materials relevant to biochemical products, energy solutions, and biofuels. The findings—published in Science Advances—are the most detailed look yet at the surface chemistry and structure of individual cellulose nanocrystal […]
In the UK, the Imperial College London will lead a collaboration between industrial and academics partners to develop functional materials from biowaste products. A new $7.1 million, five-year project, called “VALUE”, aims to develop functional materials from local, bio-based waste resources. The new initiative will provide opportunities to move away from unsustainable traditional materials and […]
In the Netherlands, small differences in DNA sequence contribute to heritable variations within a species, as do chemical modifications of DNA called epigenetic changes. In order to better understand the significance of such epigenetic changes for the evolution of plants, an international research team led the University of Tübingen investigated a large number of populations […]
In Italy, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched seeds into space as they intensify their joint efforts to develop new crops able to adapt to the ravages of climate change here on Earth. Seeds of Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in genetic experiments […]
In Washington state, a new method to treat sewage can efficiently convert leftover sludge to biogas, an advance that could help communities lower their waste treatment costs while helping the environment. Reporting in the journal, Waste Management, a Washington State University research team tested a pretreatment technology, adding an extra step to typical treatments and using oxygen-containing […]
