Advanced BioFuels USA – Truly Sustainable Renewable Future

Who is Driving the Biofuels and Biobased Products Industry?

One of the common frustrations that these leaders face is that the research and government organizations come to them for ideas or product samples, but instead of treating them as the drivers of innovation, they are treated as one of

January 10, 2008 Read Full Article

The Third Domain: The Untold Story of Archaea and the Future of Biotechnology

(Science News) Until 1977, the known classes of life included eukaryotes and bacteria. When microbiologist Carl Woese announced the discovery of a third class, most academics scoffed. Yet today, barely 30 years later, archaea are known to be at least

January 02, 2008 Read Full Article

George Washington Carver and Henry Ford Shared a Bio-fuel (Ethanol) Vision

(The Auto Channel) Though worlds apart, George Washington Carver and Henry Ford shared a vision of a future in which agricultural products would be put to new uses to create products and industries. One idea both men worked on more than

December 30, 2007 Read Full Article

It Takes a Lot of Water to Grow a Corn Crop

by David Bennett (Southeast Farm Press) Last year, many Southern farmers found out just how much water a corn crop requires. “A good, high-yielding corn crop will use 22 or 23 inches of water,” says Emerson Nafziger, professor of crop production

December 30, 2007 Read Full Article

Nonwood Fiber Raw Materials and the Biorefinery

by Robert W. Hurter (HurterConsult, Inc.) The biorefinery is being touted as the way for the North American pulp and paper industry to reinvent itself. Feedstock for biorefineries includes virtually any biomass including forest waste, bark, fiber bearing sludge, construction waste,

December 29, 2007 Read Full Article

Transgenics Are Imperative for Biofuel Crops

by Jonathan Gressel (Plant Science) Petroleum dependency is a challenge that can potentially be partly offset by agricultural production of biofuels, while decreasing net, nonrenewable carbon dioxide output. Plants have not beendomesticated formodern biofuel production, and the quickest,most efficient, and

December 03, 2007 Read Full Article

Rain Forest for Biodiesel?

by Guido Reinhardt, Nils Rettenmaier, Sven Gärtner, ifeu-Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH (Chapter 2 and 4) Andreas Pastowski, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH (Chapter 3) (WWF Germany) The study concludes that the use of tropical fallow land for planting oil

November 02, 2007 Read Full Article

Roadmap for Bioenergy and Biobased Products in the United States

The United States has become increasingly dependent in recent decades on imported petroleum to meet its energy needs. A portfolio of more diverse and domestic feedstocks for our nation's energy and chemical supply must be found to reduce our dependence

October 31, 2007 Read Full Article

'Sweet' Biofuels Research Goes Down On The Farm

(Science Daily) Oklahoma State University’s sorghum-related biofuels research is taking a localized approach, with the aim of making possible the effective production of ethanol in the farmer’s own field. Sweet sorghum can be grown throughout temperate climate zones of the United

September 30, 2007 Read Full Article

Salty Biodiesel Crops May Be Grown at the Beach

University of Delaware researchers are interested in developing a type of mallow, the seashore mallow, for biodiesel and ethanol production: And unlike soybeans and corn, which require annual plantings on valuable farmland to feed the growing appetite for biofuels, the

August 30, 2007 Read Full Article

Syngenta Introduces Tropical Sugar Beet for Food and Biofuels

Syngenta has introduced sugar beet in India for cultivation in tropical climatic conditions. Tropical sugar beet brings significant agronomic, environmental and output advantages to Indian farming and the Indian economy. The beet delivers similar output yields to sugar cane and

August 28, 2007 Read Full Article

An Apple a Day Keeps the Gas Pump Away

by Jeremy Elton (Treehugger) A team of scientists led by James Dumesic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has discovered a way (subscription needed) to turn the sugar commonly found in fruits like apples and oranges into a biofuel with 40%

June 30, 2007 Read Full Article

A Research Roadmap for Making Lignocellulosic Biofuels A Practical Reality: Breaking the Chemical and Engineering Barriers to Lignocellulosic Biofuels: Next Generation Hydrocarbon Biorefineries

Based on the June 25-26, 2007 Workshop in Washington, DC, with Dr. George Hubner, University of Massachusetts--Amherst, Workshop Chair View the PDF

June 26, 2007 Read Full Article

Mediterranean Energy and Ecology Center Announces New Biomass Hydrolysis Process Test Results

BIOPOLYGEN Group of the MEEC, Israel, reports a successful completion of the first phase of its new biomass hydrolysis process tests and announces the plans to construct and demonstrate a small-scale pilot biorefinery for co-production of second generation ethanol, organic-mineral

June 15, 2007 Read Full Article

Biomass Recalcitrance: Engineering Plants and Enzymes for Biofuels Production

by Michael E. Himmel, Shi-You Ding, David K. Johnson, William S. Adney, Mark R. Nimlos, John W. Brady and Thomas D. Foust (Science Magazine) Lignocellulosic biomass has long been recognized as a potential sustainable source of mixed sugars for fermentation to biofuels and other biomaterials. Several technologies have

February 26, 2007 Read Full Article

University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Join Research Effort

(British Petroleum) BP today announced it has selected the University of California Berkeley and its partners the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to join in a $500 million research program that will explore how bioscience

February 02, 2007 Read Full Article

Making the Desert Bloom - with Fuel-Yielding Plants, Halophytes

A NASA scientist is confident that within five years commercial aircraft could be powered using a type of biofuel derived from saltwater plants, or halophytes, grown in desert areas and irrigated using sea water. While the concept may sound far-fetched,

January 20, 2007 Read Full Article

Biologist Finds Cell Wall Construction Pathway

Wood with altered properties and cheaper ethanol through more efficient production are two possibilities as a result of a find by a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Erik Nielsen, Ph.D., Washington University adjunct professor of biology in Arts

October 30, 2006 Read Full Article

Saab 9-3 BioPower Concept

(Left Lane) ...(T)he ground-breaking Saab 9-3 BioPower Hybrid Concept, which delivers zero fossil CO2 emissions, enhanced performance and a range of energy-saving features by combining the use of pure bioethanol fuel and electric power generation for the first time. As

October 30, 2006 Read Full Article

Citrus Peel Waste a Potential Source of Ethanol

Thanks to recent hikes in gasoline prices, there is a renewed interest in finding a cheaper way to fill up the gas tank. Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory in Winter Haven, Fla. have

April 30, 2006 Read Full Article

How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!

by Adam Lashinsky and Nelson D. Schwartz (CNN Money/Fortune Magazine) You probably don't know it, but the answer to America's gasoline addiction could be under the hood of your car. More than five million Tauruses, Explorers, Stratuses, Suburbans, and other vehicles

January 31, 2006 Read Full Article

Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply

USDA and DOE put together this study finding that there could be adequate biomass to displace 30% or more of current US annual petroleum consumption. READ MORE

April 28, 2005 Read Full Article

Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass Volume 1: Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas

(US Department of Energy) This report identifies twelve building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars via biological or chemical conversions. The twelve building blocks can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials. Building

December 29, 2004 Read Full Article

The Novel Pathway for ketodiene oxylipin Biosynthesis in Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) Tubers.

(PubMed) The new route of the plant lipoxygenase pathway, directed specifically towards the ketodiene formation, was detected during in vitro experiments with Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tubers. Through this pathway (9Z,11E,13S)-13-hydroperoxy-9,11-octadecadienoic acid (13-HPOD) is reduced to corresponding 13-hydroxy acid (13-HOD),

November 30, 2004 Read Full Article

Biogas from Human Waste

(Consortium on RuralTechnology) Biogas plants have been accepted by now in the country~as a device for improving the quality of the life of the people. They help in recycling of the cattie wastes and produce both fuel and manure from