Articles in R & D Focus
by Bob Brooks (Automotive Industries) Possibly the most innovative new synthetic fuel, developed by privately financed Joule Unlimited, has proven the cost effectiveness of its system during 18 months at a pilot plant in Arizona. …
(iStockAnalyst) Four-Year Agreement Includes 100 Acres of PowerCane Miscanthus Near BP Biofuels’ Demonstration Plant in Jennings, Louisiana
Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. (MBI) and BP Biofuels have signed a four-year agreement to conduct a demonstration field trial of …
by Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communications (MarineLink.com) USS Ford Conducts Operational Transit on Alternative Fuel Blend.
USS Ford (FFG 54) successfully transited from the ship’s homeport in Everett, Wash., to San Diego, March …
by Cory Nealon (Daily Press) U.S. must “hustle” to reach goal, Ag. Secretary Tom Vilsack says
…Vilsack expects the U.S. will eventually produce 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol, a target set by the U.S. Environmental …
by Leslie Brooks Suzukamo (TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press) Cellulosic ethanol – ethanol made from nonfood crops – has been an alluring but elusive promise. That promise might finally be taking solid form.
Today, ethanol powerhouse Poet will officially break …
(Mettler – Toledo Int. Inc/Environmental Expert) The main obstacle in biodiesel production from waste fats and oils is their high free fatty acid content. Its precise measurement helps Professor Karel Kolomaznik’s Faculty of Applied Informatics team at …
(Butamax/iStockAnalyst.com) Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC, the biobutanol technology leader, announced today that the Company filed a new lawsuit against Gevo, Inc. for infringing the recently awarded Butamax™ patent8,129,162.
The patent covers recombinant KARI enzymes which perform …
(CheckBioTech/JOil) JOil (S) Pte Ltd, a scientific bioenergy crop developer of New Generation Jatropha, discussed cutting edge science and biotechnology processes that could increase the present productivity of Jatropha from the less than 1 ton …
(Algae Industry Magazine) OriginOil, Inc. has received an order to supply the company’s Algae Appliance™ harvester and other components for a test of urban algae production at the iconic La Défense Complex, near Paris, France. The program aims …
by The (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Daily News Journal (USA Today) … (Cliff) Ricketts, a Middle Tennessee State University professor, and his eight-member support team drove three Toyota hybrid alternative-fuels vehicles approximately 2,582 miles across country, using …
(Ecofys) Ecofys started a trial with the combination of seaweed cultivation and offshore wind energy. Thursday, 01 March, the cultivation module left the NIOZ harbour on the Dutch island of Texel for a disused sand …
(Cobalt) Confirms 40-60% cost reduction compared to petroleum-derived n-butanol
Cobalt Technologies, a leading developer of next generation technology for the production of n-butanol, announced the successful demonstration of one of its advanced biocatalyst. Partnering with the …
by Brandon Keim (Wired Science) The link between commodity speculation and global food price weirdness just got stronger, and researchers warn that a new and potentially calamitous price bubble is imminent.
Previous research had blamed a …
by Toby Price (Renewable Energy Magazine) In an attempt to better coordinate and, ultimately, speed up research into fuels of the future, an interdisciplinary “Fuels Joint Research Group” has been founded in Germany.
International research in …
(Maverick BioFuels) Companies will integrate technologies to accelerate the cost competitive production of transportation fuels and bioplastics from biomass and waste feedstocks…
Maverick Biofuels, a second-generation biofuels and bioplastics technology company, and TopLine Energy Systems (TES) …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Cobalt Technologies announced that it has successfully demonstrated its dilute acid hydrolysis pretreatment process, the first step of Cobalt’s process for converting sugars into n-butanol for use as a renewable …
by Nina Chestney (Reuters) Water management company Aqualia plans to launch a commercial-scale demonstration project using waste water to cultivate algae for biofuel production, which could fuel 400 vehicles, the firm said on Monday.
Spain’s Aqualia, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In California, Virdia, formerly HCL CleanTech, a leading developer of cellulosic sugars, today announced major company milestones, including a new brand and CEO, its latest funding round, and a $75 …
by Luke Geiver (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The Forest Guild has released its report, “Forest Biomass Retention and Harvesting Guidelines for the Southeast,” identifying how expanding markets for forest bioenergy can enhance forests, while meeting the …
by Tina Casey (Talking Points Memo) Republicans recently had themselves a good laugh over President Obama’s enthusiasm for biofuel made from algae, but they might want to stifle that chuckle when it comes to another modest-seeming but …
by Naomi Lubick (Chemical & Engineering News) Pollution Monitoring: Cars may produce more climate-warming particles than previously thought.
Tiny particles known as black carbon can pack a heavy punch when it comes to climate change, by …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) What are Google, BP, Conoco, and GE investing? Is 3,000 gallons per acre of renewable gasoline possible?
In the past few weeks, news has begun to circulate around the industry – …
(The Washington Post/AP) Calling cassava “the Rambo of food crops,” scientists Monday said the long-neglected root becomes even more productive in hotter temperatures and could be the best bet for African farmers threatened by climate …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Small North Carolina producer continues to innovate
The founder of Pittsboro, N.C.-based Piedmont Biofuels, Rachel Burton, gave details at the 2012 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Orlando on the company’s …
by Kari Williamson (Renewable Energy Focus) The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) will develop alternative liquid fuels, including biofuel, for US military applications under a US$906,000 contract from the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) Minimizing catalyst use, particularly homogenous catalysts, while simultaneously maximizing product quality and process yield is a pervasive challenge that every biodiesel producer encounters daily because, after all, single digit differences …
by Luke Geiver ( Biodiesel Magazine) Until 2001, the electrode tip or the fuel nozzle in an oilheat burner didn’t mean much to the biodiesel industry. But after an energy resource manager for the Warwick, …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Supporters of the Open Fuel Standard Act are still working to get the bill passed into law, which would mandate increasing levels of new vehicles manufactured or sold in …
by Patrick Frawley (Jalopnik) It’s been almost two years since we featured an E85-fueled Nissan GT-R from Switzer. Since then, the Ohio-based tuner has been steadily improving their cornfed-Godzilla conversion package to the tune of a nearly 25% …
(University of Illinois) With the support of a $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers will take the first steps toward engineering two new oil-rich crops. They aim to boost the natural, …
by David Shaffer (Star Tribune) …Grants totaling $2.4 million announced Wednesday by the Minnesota Agriculture Department will help nine ventures trying to burn or gasify biomass or to make liquid fuel or ammonia. Biomass includes …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Can companies like Mascoma and Sud-Chemie, by transforming the economics of cellulosic ethanol, compete at parity with gasoline – no subsidies, no five-years-to-commercial-scale, no kidding?
Part II – “Chain-Chain-Chain, Chain of …
(ClickGreen) Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney has today announced funding to increase the energy and low carbon support available to Scottish companies.
The Scottish Government has awarded £3.4 million of European Regional Development Funding to six projects …
(American Chemical Society) Almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. would have to be devoted to raising corn for ethanol production in order to meet current biofuel production targets with existing technology, a …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Sapphire Energy announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with Earthrise Nutritionals, to integrate Earthrise Nutritionals’ spirulina strain into Sapphire’s growing inventory of cyanobacteria and algae strains …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Part I – I Want a New Bug In Part I, today, “I Want a New Bug,” we look at the formation of Lygos, and the magic bugs, coming primarily …
by Connor Radnovich (Cronkite News Service/Tucson Sentinel) State’s sunshine aids in growth of biofuel source
A five–fold expansion of the algae lab at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus will help move Arizona to the forefront of algae–based …
(The Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has opened the Biofuels Company Accelerator to support the development of biofuels and related technology projects, researchers, and companies. A first component of …
Steven E.F. Brown (San Francisco Business Times) The Joint BioEnergy Institute of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has spun out its first business, a chemical manufacturing company named Lygos.
Emeryville’s JBEI is led by Jay Keasling, who is one of …
by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine) The U.S. Coast Guard is exploring the possibility fueling some of its vessels with biodiesel. According to Rich Hansen, branch chief of the USCG’s Research and Development Center surface branch, …
(The Fish Site) The Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development will establish a demonstration bio-refinery that will convert fish oils into biodiesel with support from the Provincial Government.
Darin King, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, announced …
(EurekAlert/Iowa State University) Genetic mutations to cellulose in plants could improve the conversion of cellulosic biomass into biofuels, according to a research team that included two Iowa State University chemists.
The team recently published its …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) New ideas on growing hydrocarbons directly in the field tap ancient ideas of agriculture, and ancient capabilities trapped deep in the genome
…A good part of the work of modern genetics …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Removing fiber from dried distillers grains with solubles using the elusieve process results in an enhanced product with greater nutritional value for growing and finishing pigs, according to a …
(Shanghai Daily) A bilateral cooperative project on the study of biomass fuel sponsored by the Chinese and Swedish governments has made initial progress and is expected to enter the experimental phase, according to experts speaking …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) While confusion reigneth on Shell’s plans for cellulosic ethanol, the company quietly builds a drop-in biofuels pilot plant in Texas, based on Virent’s bioforming technology.
…After a stunning move to establish …
by Paula Horton (Tri-City Herald/The Bellingham Herald) The Tri-Cities is primed to be a leader in creating a new, cleaner alternative jet fuel, Sen. Maria Cantwell said Saturday at the Washington State University Tri-Cities …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In an update to our story The Enzyme Wars, a group of researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the Joint BioEnergy Institute write: “the results from a recently-published paper on …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In Washington, the Obama Administration outlined a new $14 million round of R&D grants for algal biofuels, as the US President highlighted algal biofuels in a speech at the University of Miami …
(Convenience Store Decisions) Auto-engineering firm Ricardo Inc. reports that three out of every four vehicles will require a gasoline-type, higher octane fuel to operate a growing list of engine technology options.
Automakers will need higher octane …
