by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  North American sugar-to-ethanol strategy differs from Brazil’s, Europe’s
…North Dakota-based Green Vision Group is resolutely moving forward with a plan to build multiple 20 MMgy dedicated energy beet plants in …

by Vicky Boyd (The Grower)  Growing a biofuels crop on old citrus ground or rotating it with vegetables just doesn’t pencil out, even with today’s high fuel prices.
But add in a legume cover crop and …

by Peter Byrne  (The Energy Report)  Believe it or not, industry experts see biofuels accounting for up to 25% of global energy consumption by 2050. With this long-term vision in mind, Mark McHugh, president and …

(US Department of Agriculture)  A recent study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) highlights the potential for alternative energy production at airports. The study …

(U.S. Geological Survey)  USGS scientists have developed a new method for mapping grasslands that demonstrate high potential for growing biofuel crops with relatively little energy input and environmental impact.
The pioneering investigation used remote sensing data …

by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register)  Fuel for carriers, jets adds demand for biofuel source other than corn
A Missouri cooperative called (what else?) ShowMe Energy is building an $80 million, 3 million gallon facility that …

by Harry Cline (Western Farm Press)  Former sugar beet growers on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley are expected to learn next month whether they’ll be able to take the next step in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Yield unlocks value, and especially feedstock yield. What’s the latest? What feedstocks are reporting yields that could support 1000+ gallons per acre for terrestrial crops?
…Yield from the acre, yield from …

by Pamela Glinski (Highlands Today)  Vercipia is no more. The name has been changed to BP Biofuels, Highlands Ethanol LLC, explained Mike Milicevic, the agricultural operations manager for the company.
Vercipia was a joint-venture company formed …

by Skip Derra (Arizona State University/Western Farm Press)  A team of researchers from Arizona State University, Stanford University and Carnegie Institution for Science has found that converting large swaths of land to bioenergy crops could …

(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 Pavel Molchanov (Raymond James)  As energy investors know well, it is much better to own the oil than to refine it. In other words, the bulk of the value is in the upstream of the …

by Aaron Deslatte (Orlando Sentinel)  …Since 2006, Republican lawmakers and governors have created and disbanded an energy commission; funded and de-funded solar initiatives; and created tax incentives for renewable energy producers that expired before the …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  By the end of January, Atlantic BioEnergy Corp. expects to be producing ethanol at its new $6.2 million demonstration plant in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island. The 79,000 gallon a …

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 Tyler Hamilton (OilPrice.com)  …This isn’t just about corn; it’s also about how we choose to use agricultural residues, municipal organic waste, wood waste, algae biomass, and non-food crops.
Does it make sense to just burn …

(Reuters/VIASPACE)  VIASPACE Executive Highlights Giant King Grass Advancement & Commercial Opportunities in Africa to Generate Electricity, Manufacture Energy Pellets and Produce Bio-Fuels:  Presents at the Biomass West & Central Africa Congress in Ghana
VIASPACE, Inc., a clean …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …There’s a rumor going around the biofuels and biomaterials business that today represents one of the most difficult periods to raise capital. Apparently, the rumors did not reach ZeaChem, Chromatin …

by Dr. Carl Kukkonen  (Viaspace) At the September 2011 Biorefining Conference,Dr. Kukkonen spoke about the properties of Giant King Grass.
–  Giant King Grass is the lowest cost cellulosic feedstock for a biorefinery
–  Co-location of biorefinery with …

(EnvironmentalResearchWeb.org)  A global map that identifies areas of low-yielding biofuel crops whose productivity could be increased through intensification has been produced by researchers in the US.
…”The US biofuels target for 2022 is 136 billion litres,” Matt …

(PR NewsWire/SarTec) SarTec Corporation announced today it has received a $500,000 Department of Energy grant (Award # DE-EE0003127) as part of a larger project to develop and enhance the use of inedible energy crops for the production of advanced …

(University of Tennessee)  Center to coordinate woody biomass production and utilization studies
The Center for Renewable Carbon, a program of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, has been named by the USDA as a recipient …

by David R. Robbins and Stephen S. Tam  (Ethanol Producer Magazine/Earth Sense Energy USA Inc.)    Miscanthus x Giganteus (MxG) has great potential to become the energy crop of choice in the United States. It …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced five major agricultural research projects today aimed at developing regional, renewable energy markets, generating rural jobs, and decreasing America’s dependence on foreign oil. Altogether, the five-year …

by Carol Skewes  (The Vindicator) A farm in Liberty County, Texas, has started growing energy grasses as part of a BP project to produce cellulosic ethanol. BP is planning to build a 70-million-gallon cellulosic-ethanol plant, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Earlier this week in California, Constellation Energy and Chromatin announced a memorandum of understanding to supply of renewable sorghum grown specifically for use as fuel, to two of Constellation’s California power …

(Citizen-Times.com)  About 50 interested farmers, academics, and biofuels experts toured the five acres of energy crops under study at N.C. State University’s Mountain Research Horticultural Research Station Wednesday for the first Western North Carolina Bioenergy …

by Jeff Falk (University of Minnesota/Hutchinson Leader)  New research published online this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, by a team from the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, shows that closing agricultural …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Partnering to produce energy from stover could be an attractive option for corn ethanol plants.
In mid-July, right around the time the area’s corn crop was beginning to mature and …

(Science Daily)  Measuring the emission of greenhouse gases from croplands should take into account the crops themselves.
That’s the conclusion of a study in the Sept.-Oct. issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, which examined the …

by Liz Ahlberg (University of Illinois)   Many energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than …

(Biofuels Journal)  Five undergraduate students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received a $5,000 grant from British Petroleum to research the engineering properties of biomass.
The students wrote the grant to develop a virtual database that will …

by Don Comis (US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service)  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers have developed an inexpensive way to grade the ethanol potential of perennial grasses at the biorefinery’s loading dock.
That future …

by Tiffany Stecker (ClimateWire/Scientific American)  A study looks into giving farmers permission to harvest cellulosic feedstocks on land set aside for wetlands and wildlife conservation
Growing cellulosic feedstocks on federally subsidized conservation land could balance the biofuels emissions …

by Lisa Gibson (Biomass Power and Thermal)  A follow-up report to the U.S. DOE’s 2005 “Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply,” commonly referred to …

by Maggie Koerth-Baker (BoingBoing)  …In a nutshell, that’s why liquid fuel is so valuable. So far, it’s the clear winner when we need energy for transportation—especially air transportation and heavy, long-distance shipping—because it allows you …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today the creation of four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) project areas in six states to expand the availability of non-food crops to be …

by Charlie Dunmore  (Reuters)  The EU will protect existing investment in its $13 billion biodiesel sector even as it acts on new evidence that suggests making the fuel from food crops can do more harm …

by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine)  The link between increased insecticide use and landscape simplification has now been documented by a team of researchers from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.
…But, while the research showed the …

(EurekAlert!/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)  Growing perennial grasses on the least productive farmland now used for corn ethanol production in the U.S. would result in higher overall corn yields, more ethanol output per acre and …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Carolyn Hoagland was recently awarded the Volkswagen Distinguished Scholar for her work in learning about how farmers choose to grow bioenergy crops. Hoagland, an adult student, is an environmental science major …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The U.S. Southeast is ripe for energy crop development, according to several panelists who spoke during a session devoted to next-generation feedstock strategies June 28 at the International Fuel …

By Carole Shifrin  (Air Transport World)  Detroit Metro operator Wayne County Airport Authority said it has agreed to partner with Michigan State University Extension to grow, harvest and process bioenergy crops on the property of DTW …

by Renee Schoof (McClatchy Newspapers/Seattle Times)  Maj. Aaron Jelinek of the Air Force Thunderbirds flies his F-16 upside down, rolls it, thunders past his teammates in breathtaking close charges and joins five other fighter jets …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Mendel CEO Neal Gutterson talks about miscanthus, and the role of the power sector as the driver of a global supply chain for biomass.
…The company’s IP lies in its understanding …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Projects Further Obama Administration’s Effort to Produce Clean Home-Grown Energy, Create Sustainable Rural Jobs
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today the establishment of four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) project areas …

(University of Massachusetts Amherst) Detecting the genetic mechanism for how certain strains of the energy crop model systemBrachypodium can produce more ethanol than others is the aim of a new five-year, $750,000 Early Career Research …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In California, energy crop breeder Ceres has filed for a $100 million IPO on Nasdaq, with Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital as underwriters.
…From the S-1: “We are an agricultural biotechnology company …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  A start-up company, Tyton BioSciences, is looking for a new outlet for tobacco – biodiesel and ethanol. The company is developing genetically modified tobacco that will, according to their website, “produce both …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  At the International Biomass Conference and Expo last week, Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac attracted a lot of attention carrying around a sweet potato the size of a newborn baby.
Ryan-Bohac is president of CAREnergy, …