by Daehwan Chung, Joel Farkas, Jennifer R. Huddleston, Estefania Olivar, Janet Westpheling  (PLoS ONE)  Thermophilic microorganisms capable of using complex substrates offer special advantages for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels and bioproducts. Members of the Gram-positive bacterial genus Caldicellulosiruptor are …

Presentation by Helena Chum (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) US led by its State Department, and Brazil led by Department of Energy of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, have entered into an MOU to advance cooperation …

by Amir Kurtovic (St. Louis Business Journal)  …A team of University of Missouri researchers has won a $5.4 million grant to study alternative biofuels that do not impact the already strained food supply.
…Shibu Jose and his …

(US Department of Energy)  On August 1, the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration held a workshop with video conferencing.  Specifically, the Office of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Analysis conducted a workshop to explore …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Fewer people know that natural gas is a platform for producing ethanol – either through fermentation or catalytic conversion (typically via methanol) – and drop-in fuels using the methanol-to-gasoline method …

(ECNMag.com)  Engineered enzyme alters cell wall composition in ways that could make it easier to convert plant biomass into biofuels
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created a new enzyme …

(U.S. Energy Information Administration)  Biodiesel production data were reported for the first time in U.S. and regional petroleum supply and disposition balances as published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the Petroleum Supply Monthly(PSM) …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Touchstone Research Laboratory, of Triadelphia, WV is scaling up its Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project to produce fuels and other high-value, bio-based products from algae. The laboratory is working with DOE’s National …

The race to create a better, less controversial biofuel has spawned plenty of research into a variety of potential new sources – including switchgrass, cornstalks and algae.
One goal behind the next generation of ethanol fuel …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The recent focus on drought, and the scarcity scare, shows that diversification and yield enhancement remain the bioeconomy’s chief weapons in the war on availability and affordability.   The USDA and …

(National Renewable Energy Laboratory)  A new web application collects cost and performance estimates for electric generation, advanced vehicles, and renewable fuel technologies and makes them available for utilities, policy makers, consumers, and academics. The Transparent Cost …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Here we are, some 30+ years into the era of genetic modification of crops. The primary breadbasket of the world, the United States, is experiencing its most severe drought conditions …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the US Energy Information Administration released its Annual Energy Outlook for 2012. Among changes in this year’s Outlook, an updated Reference case was included as part of this …

(US Department of Energy)  The purpose of this request for information (RFI) is solely to solicit input for DOE consideration in the development of future algal biofuels research, development, and deployment (RD&D) programs. Information obtained …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As bio-based companies race across the Valley of Death, in the dash for scale, who’s getting financing now, and how?
The path to financing success in bio-based project development used to …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Can the harnessing of the powers of magnetism overcome cost challenges in algal biofuels?  Researchers across the globe pursue the answers.
…For the fossil molecule, its time within a living system …

(Solazyme)   Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil and bioproducts company, announced today the successful commissioning of its first fully integrated biorefinery (IBR) in Peoria, Illinois, to produce algal oil. Solazyme has been running routine fermentations at …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The Obama Administration has laid out an integrated strategy for commercializing advanced biofuels, with a focus in this phase on military advanced biofuels at cost-competitive prices with conventional fuels.
The vehicle …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)   The latest look at long-term projections by the U.S. DOE’s Energy Information Administration shows E85 use growing to a 37 percent share of domestic ethanol production by 2035. The …

Each year at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting (AMR) hydrogen, fuel cell and advanced vehicle technologies projects funded …

by Max Frankel (ThinkProgress)   …But in the world of science, researchers around the world are working on some very innovative ways to produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from more sustainable feedstocks.
Here’s a look …

(Brookhaven National Laboratory)  Findings suggest ways to increase oil production for biofuels and industrial processes
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified key elements in the biochemical mechanism plants use to …

by Jill Sakai and Renee Meiller (University of Wisconsin-Madison)  A young generation of researchers are seeking biofuels in some unlikely sounding places: toxic algae blooms and cow stomachs.
Two University of Wisconsin-Madison professors are drawing on …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  The Biomass Program has recently developed Critical Technology Goals (CTG) related to a) converting biomass into processable sugars or other fractionation products and b) upgrading those processable sugars or biomass fractions …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Most of the stories we write at the Digest on the subject of biofuels feedstocks fall into the well-established realms of normal. But every once in  a while, a feedstock …

(UPI)  …Now scientists led by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have discovered how certain bacteria can tolerate those man-made toxic chemicals used in making biofuels.
“Discovering microbes naturally tolerant to salty liquids and understanding …

by Christopher Doering  (Des Moines Register)  The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday (May 8, 2012) it will make $5 million available in 2012 to expand the use of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric models.
The Energy …

by Robert Rapier (Consumer Energy Report)   A reader recently called my attention to a new and very interesting presentation from the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program:
Biofuels Design Cases
The presentation explored the question of whether …

by Dan Krotz  (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Berkeley Lab-led team explores a way to create biofuels, minus the photosynthesis
Is there a new path to biofuels hiding in a handful of dirt? Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley …

(Origin Oil)  Algasol, collaborating with NASA and Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, will bundle its offering with OriginOil’s Algae Appliance™
OriginOil, Inc., developer of breakthrough technology to convert algae into renewable crude oil, and Algasol Renewables, a technology …

by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine)  …According to LBNL, the work focuses on transferring a hydrocarbon-synthesizing gene from cyanobacteria into a tobacco plant. The resulting plants would be able to produce fuel molecules within their leaves. …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  As part of President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources, the Energy Department announced today up to $15 million available to demonstrate biomass-based oil supplements …

The Energy Department announced up to $2.5 million available this year for applied research to advance clean biomass cookstove technologies for use in developing countries. The funding will support the development of innovative cookstove designs …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the Senate Agriculture Committee has approved $800 million in mandatory biofuels-related funding for the proposed energy title in the upcoming Farm Bill.
…Yesterday, Senators Kent Conrad of North Dakota …

(Trillium FiberFuels Inc./Biorefining Magazine)  A team of scientists from Trillium FiberFuels and Oregon State University has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the U.S. DOE to further develop innovative enzymes that could …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  Providing flexibility to fuel retailers will be key to the continued growth in availability of higher level ethanol blends like E15 and other renewable fuels, according to Renewable Fuels Association President and …

(U.S. Federal Register)  The United States Department of Navy (DoN) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration (DOT FAA), …

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)  Light of specific wavelengths can be used to boost an enzyme’s function by as much as 30 fold, potentially establishing a path to less expensive biofuels, detergents and a host of …

by Matthew L. Wald (The New York Times)  How will the world meet its rising demand for energy? Experience suggests the solutions might already be at hand, although it may be years before they are …

(U.S. Department of Agriculture)  The U.S. Department of Agriculture – along with the Department of Energy, and the Department of Navy – will co-host an Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable in Washington D.C. on May 18, …

(UPI)   The U.S. Energy Department said up to $15 million is available to help support nearly a dozen so-called bio-oil projects targeted for the transportation sector.
…The Energy Department said the so-called bio-oil precursors could find …

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Biomass Program is currently seeking qualified individuals to participate in several upcoming merit reviews. Expertise is being sought in the following areas:

Biological conversion of sugars and carbohydrates from biomass (specifically …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  A  team of scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory has published a paper in IOP Science’s Environmental Research Letters comparing the emissions performance of algal biofuels to petroleum fuels. In their qualified …

by Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)  Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Develop Dynamic System for Regulating Metabolic Pathways
Significant boosts in the microbial production of clean, green and renewable biodiesel fuel has been achieved with the …

by Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)  A class of chemical compounds best known today for fragrance and flavor may one day provide the clean, green and renewable fuel with which truck and auto drivers …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Research to advance next generation biofuels and renewable energy technologies
Today, as President Obama went to Ohio State University to discuss the Administration’s all-out, all-of-the-above strategy for American energy, the White House …

By Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA)  At the March 21 Bioenergy Day on Capitol Hill, discussion focused on the need for a continued Renewable Fuels Standard, reviews of the history of biofuels, assessment of current …

by David Biello (CNET.com/Scientific American)  The U.S. government aims to improve energy production from renewables to oil, but what does that mean in practice? Energy Secretary Steven Chu explains.
…”We’re not going to be able to …

(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 Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   Ol’ Gramps Gingrich gets feisty and forgetful on the stump, mocking Obama for reviving a Reagan Administration program for algal biofuels. Today, we look at the Gingrich Test.
…Speaker Gingrich jumped …

Virtual Event Summary:    ARPA-E Energy Innovation Virtual Summit
March 15, 2012 10am EST Rebroadcast Begins!
The event is designed to bring together key players from across the energy ecosystem – researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and …

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 …

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 Yoni Cohen (GreenTechMedia)  The United States absolutely, positively has to wean itself off foreign oil.
“Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, activity for activity, it is hard to find a thing the United States has …

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 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 …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  President Obama has announced new funding to catalyze breakthrough technologies for biofuels—as part of his all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and provide American families new choices for …

(Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati)  The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) recently released three Requests for Information (RFIs) related to more than $100 million in anticipated future funding opportunities. The RFIs encourage …

by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine) …Of the nearly $2.34 billion requested for energy efficiency and renewable energy, a total of $270 million has been specifically requested to support biomass and biorefinery systems development. That is …

by Brian Wingfield (Bloomberg)  The United States lost $10.4 million on six clean-energy projects, including biofuel research at Iowa State University, that were suspended for missing performance milestones, according to the Energy Department.
…Iowa State spent about …

by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post)  A White House consultant’s report said Friday that the Energy Department should bolster its ability to assess loan guarantee risks in the wake of the Solyndra bankruptcy, and urged the department …

(US Department of Energy)  The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible development of future chemo/electro-autotrophic fuel production programs.  Information obtained may be used …

by Richard Kessler  (RechargeNews.com)  The Energy Department (DOE) expects to award up to $150m in its latest funding round to support high-risk transformational concepts and technologies that can reduce US dependence on fossil fuels and …

by S. Heather Duncan (Macon.com)  The new owner of a shuttered ethanol plant in Soperton plans to eventually add hundreds of jobs there to produce ethanol and other chemicals, a company official said this week.
That …

by Bryan Sims (Biorefinery Magazine)  The newest of three bioenergy research facilities in the U.S. is slated to come online this fall on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, as construction is progressing on …

(National Science Foundation)  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory uses supercomputer simulations to explore designer enzymes for renewable fuels
…
“Cellulose in the biosphere can last for years,” said Gregg Beckham, a scientist in the National Bioenergy Center at …

by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  On the day before the Washington DC Auto Show opens to the public, there is an event called Policy Day. Administration officials and high ranking auto company executives give …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Two titans form a monster JV, starting out with a $250M investment.
…In Iowa, Poet has teamed with Dutch-based Royal DSM to create a 50/50 joint venture called Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels that will …

by Cody Winchester (Argus Leader)  Lack of federal money causes ethanol giant to shift priorities
Ethanol giant Poet has scuttled plans for a $4 billion pipeline that would have carried Midwestern ethanol to the East Coast, …

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)  To comply with the mandate to increase the use of alternative fuels, the Coast Guard has enlisted the help of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers with expertise in fuels and engines. …

by Emily Chad and Todd Taylor (Biomass Power and Thermal Magazine)  A veritable alphabet soup of government funding programs exist that can help you get your project off the ground. These programs include:
• USDA Biorefinery …

(Iowa State University)  Now, an Iowa State University-based study over the next five years will examine whether a single, coordinated production system can address all of these concerns while making profits for producers.
A multi-state, interdisciplinary …

by Umair Irfan  (ClimateWire/Scientific American)Scientists are seeking help from microbes to produce road-ready biofuels
…As they move, breathe, eat and reproduce, bacteria produce byproducts like ethanol and hydrogen while feeding on simple sugars, starches and sunlight. …

(OriginOil)  Company partners with Idaho National Laboratory to enable algae growers to enter the global crude oil market
OriginOil, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to extract oil from algae and an emerging leader in the …

by Lynn Yarris (PhysOrg.com)   JBEI researchers determined the structure of the AgBIS enzyme and found it to consist of three helical domains, the first three-domain structure ever found in a synthase of sesquiterpenes. This …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …First commercial projects from newly-minted public companies Solazyme, Gevo and KiOR. Two trash-to-biofuels projects from INEOS Bio and Enerkem, located in Florida and Alberta. Europe’s largest biosuccinic acid project, scheduled …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In North Carolina, Applied Combustion Technologies announced the completion of a DOE grant to build and test a prototype crude glycerol burner. The 20 kW burner utilizes a novel spray atomization, …

by Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)  The computer assisted design (CAD) tools that made it possible to fabricate integrated circuits with millions of transistors may soon be coming to the biological sciences. Researchers at …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Since early October, New Mexico State University’s Institute for Energy & the Environment (IEE) researchers have been transitioning from algae operations in the IEE water and energy lab to the Algae Test …

by Dr. Steven Thomas (US Department of Energy)  Biomass feedstocks – the raw organic material that can be converted into biofuel, biopower, or bioproducts – come in many forms, from woody crops like hybrid poplar and …

by Cole Gustafson, Thein Maung and David Ripplinger (North Dakota State University/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  NDSU quantifies the cost and time involved in corn stover collection
…The research team at  North Dakota State University in Fargo recently …

(Los Alamos National Laboratory)  Los Alamos National Laboratory’s top 10 science stories of 2011 illustrate the broad variety of scientific excellence that’s the hallmark of the Laboratory. This year’s stories include alternative energy research, world …

(US Department of Energy)  Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) announced today a major breakthrough in engineering systems of RNA molecules through computer-assisted design, which could lead to important …

by Kevin Bullis (MIT Technology Review)  This month, Range Fuels, one of the first companies in a wave of startups that promised cheap biofuels made from sources such as wood chips rather than corn, shut …

by John Schueler (US Department of Energy)  The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy works in partnership with industry to develop, build, operate and validate integrated biorefineries across the country at various scales …

(MarketWatch/Mascoma)  Fully-funded commercial-scale facility
Mascoma Corporation, a renewable fuels company, announced today that it has signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to assist in the design, construction and operation of a …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …The industry believed it had the scientific backing to support the use of higher ethanol blends in all vehicles and said allowing higher blends into the market would create …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Your calls and emails are always the highlight of our days. Most questions can be answered johnny-on-the-spot. Some are still out there and well worth arguing over. Here are the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …“The government rushed into investments, with no diligence,” says Codexis chief Alan Shaw. “They are just not industrialists, in my opinion.”
Two major announcements this week drive the point home in …

by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine)  …In the letter, the group pointed out the need for programs like the 9003 Biorefinery Loan Guarantee Program offered through USDA. “Loan guarantees are the most cost-effective way to develop …

(US Department of Energy)  As part of President Obama’s commitment to helping U.S businesses create jobs and strengthen their competitiveness by speeding up the transfer of federal research and development from the laboratory to the …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …“Thermophilic fungi can be found worldwide, most commonly in habitats where self-heating of plant material results in high temperatures, such as compost heaps, municipal waste, plant straw, and animal …

(OriginOil)  OriginOil will work with DOE’s Office of Biomass Programs to create standards for algal biomass
OriginOil, Inc. (OTC/BB: OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to extract oil from algae and an emerging leader in the global …

by Carol D. Leonnig and Joe Stephens (The WashingtonPost) The Obama administration has poured roughly $5 billion in taxpayer funds into the electric-car industry, offering incentives to manufacturers, their suppliers and even car buyers who might want …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Let’s talk about Range Fuels, the good and the bad.
In Georgia, the AgSouth Farm Credit bank, which is the lender of record for an $80 million construction loan that Range …

by Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)  Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) Researchers Reach Milestone on the Road to Biofuels
A milestone has been reached on the road to developing advanced biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel …

by Bruce V. Bigelow (Xconomy)  …Jason Pyle:  …So soon, we will see the U.S. military as the leading customer for crude oil replacements. As pressure rises on the commercial airline industry (which uses most of …

(Science Daily)  …Unlike the starch sugars in grains, the complex polysaccharides in the cellulose of plant cell walls are locked within a tough woody material called lignin. For advanced biofuels to be economically competitive, scientists …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Texas, Waste Management announced that it has closed an equity investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy.  In connection with this investment, WM agreed to a secured loan facility that provides for WM’s …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Want to know what the best vehicles are for fuel economy, including flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs)? Consult the 2012 Fuel Economy Guide, released by the U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE …