Articles tagged with: catalysis
by Tv Jayan (The Hindu) JNU researchers discover bacteria from Rajasthan, Ladakh, use them as catalysts — Using microbes growing in two diverse climatic conditions, Indian scientists have found a way to convert carbon-rich waste …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The US Department of Energy is supporting a project led by Pacific Northwest National Lab to develop a new deconstruction technology to provide low ash and low impurity sugars and sugar-derived intermediates …
(Biofuels International) Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new catalyst to improve the synthesis of primary amines (derivatives of ammonia).
It is claimed that in the future the newly developed ruthenium based catalyst …
by Tracey Bryant (University of Delaware) … A UD research team has invented a more efficient process for extracting the sugars from wood chips, corn cobs and other organic waste from forests and farms.
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Basudeb Saha, associate …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Plant Bottle has generated so much goodwill and publicity for its 30% renewable, sustainable content (and that biobased MEG) that it’s easy to forget that there are several paths …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to develop a catalyst cost estimation tool that would enable rapid and informed cost-based decisions in research and commercialization of catalysts.
As the research …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The DOE established and funded a project to develop a novel Multistage Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) of biomass and integrate with Virent’s Catalytic BioForming Process to efficiently produce cost effective “drop‐in” …
(Phys.Org/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute that examines the use …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Vertimass gained its intermediate technology validation with the US DOE’s Bioenergy Technology Office, which verified performance against negotiated milestones, provided progress on scale-up, and reviewed Vertimass’ estimated cost …
(Biofuels International) Scientists in Germany have found a way to refine biodiesel so that it works in standard diesel car engines, according to an article appearing on Live Science.
Differences in molecular structure mean that biodiesel made …
(Queen’s University Belfast) A researcher at Queen’s University Belfast has discovered a way to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst, which could help to solve global waste and energy problems.
In the UK, around …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Within the ChemCatBio set of core catalysis projects lies Fast Pyrolysis and Upgrading, which has as its goal “to develop cost competitive biofuels through catalytic stabilization and deoxygenation of Fast Pyrolysis …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The US Department of Energy has set a goal to “Select and develop at least one route for catalytic upgrading of sugars/related intermediates and/or biologically derived intermediates into fuel blendstockswith …
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Using a novel, reusable carbon material derived from old rubber tires, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led research team has developed a simple method to convert used cooking oil into biofuel. The …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ChemCatBio is a research and development consortium dedicated to identifying and overcoming catalysis challenges for biomass conversion processes. Led by U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, the consortium works “with …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Colorado, ChemCatBio announced a new 2017 directed funding assistance opportunity. It’s an opportunity for industry and academia to engage with ChemCatBio to tackle challenges associated with these core research themes, to leverage …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … There’s been the cellulosic wave, then waste — and alongside there has been steady progress in what are known as the electrofuels. These are fuels made directly from CO2, water …
(Cision Newswire/Shell Canada Ltd) Agreement grants Shell exclusive development and licensing rights for SBI BioEnergy patented renewable drop-in biofuels. — Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. (“Shell”), and SBI BioEnergy …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Vertimass’ John Hannon gave this illuminating overview of one-step, high-yield production of drop-in fuels without added hydrogen, at the 2017 DOE Project Peer Review sessions. READ MORE
by Mark Schwartz (Stanford News) Most of the fuel additive ethanol used in the U.S. is made from corn. But new research reveals that copper can turn carbon dioxide into ethanol without using corn or …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The value of cellulosic fuels has reached $4.33 per gallon in the California market. That’s real-world, today, including the energy and the low-carbon attributes, and not based on speculation. The …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Anellotech’s Bio-TCat process is designed to produce cost-competitive renewable aromatic (BTX) chemicals (benzene, toluene and xylenes) from non-food biomass for use in making plastics such as polyester, nylon, polycarbonate, …
(CleanTech Canada) In a discovery that could help jump-start the hydrogen economy, a team of physicists at the University of Houston have found a catalyst that can divide water using low-cost materials — Hydrogen gas …
(Phys.Org/Tomsk Polytechnic University) Gold nanoparticles serve as catalysts for obtaining valuable chemical products based on glycerol. Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and their international colleagues are developing gold catalysts to recycle one of the main …
(Bioenergy Insight) Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding the workings of the ‘third’ method of microbial production, known as ‘flavin-based electron bifurcation’ (FBEB). Their findings could be hugely significant for the world of microbial …
(University of Washington/Biomass Magazine) The mountain pine beetle has destroyed more than 40 million acres of forest in the western United States. That amounts to an area the size of Washington state that is strewn …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Digest had a well-received webinar on C5 and C6 sugars, featuring in-demand industry consultant David Dodds and Fluid Quip exec Jeffrey Robert — looking at transformative approaches to making sugars and …
by Kapil Shyam Lokare (E2IG Solutions Pvt Ltd / Biofuels Digest) … The overall failure of KiOR can essentially be narrowed down to three text-book cases:
I. Utilizing (Incorrect/Underdeveloped) Catalyst Systems for Upgrading Biomass,
II. Disregarding Inherent Oxygen Content …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Not long ago, George Huber and Robert Brown wrote in a special issue of Energy Technology of their desire to “highlight recent advances in pyrolysis technologies and to discuss the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Not long ago, George Huber and Robert Brown wrote in a special issue of Energy Technology of their desire to “highlight recent advances in pyrolysis technologies and to discuss the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Byogy has developed a catalytic platform that converts any source of ethanol, butanol, mixed alcohols, or related olefins, into full replacement, and cost competitive biofuels including gasoline, diesel and jet …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The High Lords of Pyrolysis travel under the unlikely cover identities of “George Huber” and “Robert Brown” — but we know them in their true superhero identities of “The Catalyst” …
(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announces the launch of its Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium (ChemCatBio), a research and development consortium dedicated to identifying and overcoming …
by Ron Kotrba (Biomass Magazine) With help from investors, Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. plans to fast-track deployment of its renewable diesel technology at a shuttered, gutted biodiesel plant in Alberta. — … CWS has been …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The program objective seen in these slides is to take a technology from Technical Readiness Level 2 to TRL 3/4 — a technology that directly upgrades ethanol to a drop-in …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) To demonstrate an advanced biofuels technology that integrates a catalytic biomass pyrolysis step and a hydroprocessing step to produce infrastructure compatible biofuels, here’s the basic recipe, according to a research …
(Lux Research, Inc.) Advanced biofuels will nearly double in five years to 9.6 billion gallons per year as first-generation fuels like traditional biodiesel lose out to newer low-carbon fuels, says Lux Research — New biofuel …
(University of Minnesota/Biomass Magazine) A team of researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has invented a new technology to produce automobile tires from trees and grasses in a process that could shift the tire …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The goal? Develop microbial biocatalysts to convert lignin-rich streams into value-added products. That’s subject which this project — “Synthetic Metabolic Pathways for Bioconversion of Lignin Derivatives to Biofuels,” led by Oak …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) To “Demonstrate an advanced biofuels technology that integrates a catalytic biomass pyrolysis step and a hydroprocessing step to produce infrastructure compatible biofuels,” that’s the ratuional behind a DOE project with …
(South China Morning Post/sponsored) … This new Catalyst for Green Biodiesel can be synthesized in one step from low-grade unrefined feedstock such as waste cooking oil, with no aqueous treatment steps required. Ethanol or propanol extracted …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ETB Catalytic Technologies has developed a one-step process for producing butadiene from ethanol – and attracted investment in March 2016 from Zavkom Group and grant funding from Skolkovo for Pilot …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Virent is in the business of replacing crude oil by applying clever chemistry to create the fuels and chemicals the world demands using a wide range of naturally-occurring, renewable resources. …
(Iowa State University) A special issue of the journal Energy Technology details the latest advances in pyrolysis technologies for converting biomass into fuels, chemicals and fertilizers.
Two pyrolysis experts are guest editors of the issue: Robert …
by Bernard Cooker (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest) The use of catalysts, both living entities, such as microorganisms, and otherwise inert synthetic and biologically-derived materials, such as supported transition metals and enzymes, are frequently key to the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Last June, we reported that Technip completed the acquisition of Hummingbird ethanol to ethylene technology from BP Chemicals Ltd. Utilizing a proprietary catalyst operating under mild operating conditions, the technology converts ethanol to …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … For Anellotech, a new technology to extend catalyst life by reducing catalyst poisons that cause catalyst and product cost to soar. For Novvi, a signature investment from Chevron. From Edeniq, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Gevo has two proprietary technologies that combine to make it possible to retrofit existing ethanol plants to produce isobutanol, a four carbon alcohol which serves as a hydrocarbon platform molecule. …
(Washington State University/Biomass Magazine) Researchers at Washington State University Tri-Cities have been awarded a National Science Foundation I-Corps grant to explore the market potential of their biojet fuel research.
The team has successfully demonstrated a new, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Byogy has developed a catalytic platform that converts any source of ethanol, butanol, mixed alcohols, or related olefins, into full replacement, and cost competitive biofuels including gasoline, diesel and jet …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In 2011, KiOR raised $150 million in its June IPO, claiming that it was generating yields of 67 gallons per ton in its Demo unit operations. But it was miles …
by Brooks Hays (UPI) Chemical engineer Jae Sung Lee said the research will offer a “new opportunity for recycling CO2 into valuable fuels and chemicals.” — Researchers have developed a new way to turn captured …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have come up with a highly-efficient process to make liquid fuels directly from carbon dioxide and water.
Because burning fuels in an internal combustion engine …
(Phys.Org) In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … But so far, the company and its celebrity investors and directors such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and famed venture capitalist Vinod Khosla had escaped close scrutiny.
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The methods …
by Robert Mills (Iowa State University) A team of researchers from Iowa State University’s Bioeconomy Institute is investigating a new technology for converting biomass into biofuels and chemicals. With a $371,000, one-year grant from the …
by Lorenz Bauer and Gerald Kutney (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest) … In this report, we are focused on bioenergy and biofuels (and not bioproducts) that are moving from the lab to initial commercial demonstrations and …
by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the Department of Energy’s Small Business Vouchers program awarded $8 million worth of research vouchers to 43 small businesses, of which five were related to bioenergy:
Avatar Sustainable Technologies, …
by Terry Mazanec (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest) … The US EPA estimates that 250 million tons of municipal solid wastes are sent to landfills each year. These materials have a wide range of chemicals in them, including …
(Bioenergy Insight) A new renewable energy research centre, called VILLUM Center for the Science of Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals, has opened in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The new centre at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) will be headed …
(Phys.Org) A jar of bio-oil, an alternate “crude oil” for transportation fuels currently made from petroleum, is created by first rapidly heating plant matter in a process called pyrolysis. Scientists then use catalysts to remove oxygen …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Here, we profile 15 techs that offer incremental to profound shifts in the economics of the Gen-1 ethanol fleet, and have implications for everything from passenger cars to jets.
#15 Vertimass and Byogy
#14 …
(University of Sydney) International paper waste and plastic recycling contracts signed for ground-breaking Australian technology. — It’s been a busy few days for Australian start-up Licella, whose innovative technology, developed in partnership with the University …
by Elizabeth E. Hood and Lorenz Bauer (Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc./Biofuels Digest) … Biofuels can be produced by a number of processes, broadly categorized as biochemical and chemical. Biochemical processes utilize proteins called enzymes (biological catalysts).
Chemical …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Virent is in the business of replacing crude oil by applying clever chemistry to create the fuels and chemicals the world demands using a wide range of naturally-occurring, renewable resources. Virent’s …
by Gerald Kutney (Lee Consulting/Biofuels Digest) … From the time of the caveman until the early Industrial Revolution, biofuels – namely wood and the advanced biofuel of the day, charcoal – reigned supreme. Both fossil fuels and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Licella produces drop-in biofuels from a wide range of biomass and uses a supercritical water-based technology and catalysts to break up biomass and reform it into a drop-in fuel hydrocarbon.
The …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Licella and Canfor will form a joint-venture under the name “Licella Pulp Joint Venture” to integrate Licella’s unique Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor upgrading platform into Canfor Pulp’s kraft and mechanical pulp …
by Tomas Ekbom (Task 39 May 2016 Newsletter) The production and use of biofuels in Sweden have increased substantially since the mid-2000s. According to preliminary statistics from SPBI, the share of renewable energy in the road …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels DIgest) … Old KiOR was exciting, dramatic, and fast, and the headlines it produced between 2008 and 2011 were candy for a renewables-hungry world.
A Breakthrough in Catalytic Pyrolysis to make cost-competitive, drop-in …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The IH2 process was developed by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) of Des Plaines, Illinois—a research, development, and training organization serving energy markets. GTI experts invented, tested, and patented IH2 technology and are …
(US Department of Energy) Learn about recent updates in thermochemical biomass conversion science from BETO Director Dr. Jonathan Male, who discusses exciting breakthroughs presented during tcbiomass2015: The International Conference on Thermochemical Conversion Science in November …
by Nelly Berg (Chemistry World) US-based scientists have come up with a sustainable way to harvest hydrogen fuel from biomass. Their new electrolytic approach can even release hydrogen from obstinate molecules like lignin and cellulose. — …
(Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc.) In collaboration with several partners, including the special contribution of Versalis under a strategic partnership started in early 2014, Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. — a high-growth company that creates novel specialty …
(Biofuels International) Shell India Markets, the Indian arm of Royal Dutch Shell, has announced plans to build a five tonne/day biofuel demonstration plant using IH2 technology on the site of its new technology centre in …
by Jim Lane (Renewable Energy World) … The IH2 technology is a thermocatalytic conversion route for woody biomass and forest residues feedstock that has been estimated to produce drop-in renewable fuels at around ~$2.25/gallon (in …
(Indiana University Bloomington) Combining bacterial genes and virus shell creates a highly efficient, renewable material used in generating power from water — Scientists at Indiana University have created a highly efficient biomaterial that catalyzes the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Microvi is a biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes biocatalytic solutions in the water, energy and chemical industries. The company’s core discipline is its MicroNiche Engineering platform technology, …
(Virent) Rolls-Royce Testing Demonstrates Virent Synthesized Aromatic Kerosene (SAK) Bio-Jet Fuel Blend Provides Health and Environmental Benefits While Maintaining Engine Performance
Bio-jet emissions testing by Rolls-Royce and supported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Byogy has developed a catalytic platform that converts any source of ethanol, butanol, mixed alcohols, or related olefins, into full replacement, and cost competitive biofuels including gasoline, diesel and jet …
by Hari Pulakkat (Times of India/The Economic Times) … Among the most advanced of the lot is Royal Dutch Shell, whose R&D centre in Bengaluru is now trying to scale up a process – called …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Mercurius says it “has the technology and processes that will, for the first time, make the production of cellulosic biofuels profitable while meeting the needs of the diesel and jet …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In New York, Anellotech, IFPEN and Axens said they have completed construction on a fully-integrated development and testing plant, “TCat-8”, for the production of bio-based paraxylene, benzene, toluene, ortho-xylene and …
by Tina Hilding (Washington State University News) Washington State University researchers have developed a catalyst that easily converts bio-based ethanol to a widely used industrial chemical, paving the way for more environmentally friendly, bio-based plastics …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Avantium is a technology company specialized in the area of advanced catalytic research. From 2005 onwards, Avantium has developed a proprietary technology to produce Furanics building blocks from plant based …
(University of Massachusetts Amherst) University of Massachusetts Amherst computational chemist Scott Auerbach has been awarded a three-year, $330,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to improve basic understanding and optimize the process of producing fuels …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Clariant’s sunliquid technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into sugars, followed by fermentation to cellulosic ethanol, is flexible to be used to convert different feedstocks on a regional basis, for …
(University of Rochester) New Catalysts Lead to Near Total Conversion — … But now a research team, led by William Jones at the University of Rochester, has developed a series of reactions that results in the …
by Seth W Snyder (Editor, Contributor), James H Clark (Editor), George Kraus (Series Editor), Gene Peterson (Contributor), Beth Calabotta (Contributor), Stephen Hughes (Contributor), Robert E. Kozak (Contributor) & 14 more (Royal Society of Chemistry) Biobased …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Founded in 2008, Anellotech has developed a clean technology platform for inexpensively producing bio-based chemicals from renewable non-food biomass. These drop-in, green versions of widely used petrochemicals; benzene, toluene and xylenes …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Will fund 25M high unit, Operational in 2016, to confirm viability of confirm viability Bio-TCat process for scale-up
In New York, Anellotech revealed that it had raised $7M of its current …
(Hamrick Engineering/Your Oil and Gas News) Hamrick Engineering is pleased to announce the granting of a broad patent for extracting sugars and nanocellulose from lignocellulosic biomass by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
“This ground-breaking …
by Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Kaiki, Abhijit Shrotri, Kota Techikawara and Atsushi Fukuoka (Chemical Science) Biomass is the sole carbon-based renewable resource for sustaining the chemical and fuel demands of our future. Lignocellulose, the primary …
(Green Car Congress) Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have discovered that the reactions underlying the transformation of ethanol into higher-grade hydrocarbons unfolds in a different manner than previously thought.
The research, supported by DOE’s …
(Alliance BioEnergy Plus Inc./Biomass Magazine) Alliance Bioenergy Plus, Inc. recently announced that its subsidiary Ek Laboratories in Longwood, Florida, under the direction of Dr. Richard Blair, Dr. Peter Cohen and Dr. Zhilin Xie, continues to see …
(U.S. Department of Energy) The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) pursues a pathway approach for advancing research and development (R&D) of converting biomass into renewable fuels and products. Following the BETO’s successful demonstration of cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol production technologies—R&D …
(Algae Industry Magazine) The Technical University of Munich (TUM) has built a one-of-a-kind technical facility for algae cultivation at the Ludwig Bölkow Campus in Ottobrunn, to the south of Munich, Germany, in cooperation with Airbus …
by Michelle Fredrickson (WSU News) A researcher at Washington State University has received a three-year $450,000 federal grant to develop computer models for using iron to more efficiently refine bio-oils and make better biofuels.
Jean-Sabin McEwen, …
(Select Science) Everyone is talking about biofuels, from biodiesel, plant oil, ethanol and biomethane to the synthetic biomass- to- liquid (BtL)- fuels. They are at present the only renewable alternative in the mobility sector and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Vertimass technology was originated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where scientists discovered novel catalysts that convert a wide range of alcohols into various hydrocarbon blend stocks which can be used …
(De Gruyter) The use of biomass as a resource for fuels and chemicals is a very important topic in chemical research and chemical industry. — The field of biorefineries combines cutting-edge research with innovative industrial …
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) A catalyst being developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory could overcome one of the key obstacles still preventing automobile engines from running more cleanly and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) For every ton of corn, wheat, and rice harvested today, an equal amount of biomass is left behind on the fields. Within this biomass — of which nearly 2 billion …
(Iowa State University) The National Science Foundation (NSF) has added three years and $8.48 million to the grant supporting the NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals based at Iowa State University.
That brings NSF’s total …
(Washington State University) Hanwu Lei, Washington State University Tri-Cities associate professor in biological systems engineering, was awarded a $494,000 grant this fall to research catalysts, which will be used to increase the energy output and …
(Southeastern Partnership for Integrated Biomass Supply Systems) Contrasting with ethanol production with microorganisms to ferment raw material into liquid fuel, biomass materials can be directly “gasified” through controlled burning (called pyrolysis, literally “fire splitting”). Gasification releases …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s been around for a generation or so — fast pyrolysis, that is. Though in the original low-tech incarnation — known as “cooking fire” — pyrolysis has been around since …
(Rennovia) Johnson Matthey Process Technologies, a global provider of advanced process technologies, and Rennovia Inc., a privately held company that develops novel catalysts and processes for the cost advantaged production of chemical products from renewable …
(Chemicals-Technology) Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), UOP and Netherlands-based Utrecht University have found a way to understand chemical transformations occurring within zeolites.
Zeolites are crystalline solid structures made up of …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Seen a number of high-profile cellulosic projects open in recent years, and not much ethanol being produced? Wondered why? Here are answers to your questions.
As Jack Webb used to say …
(US Department of Energy) Microvi Biotechnologies, a leading innovator of biocatalytic processes, together with the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has demonstrated a major breakthrough to biological …
(Research Asia Research News/The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a durable catalyst for green biodiesel production from low grade feedstock through one-step catalysis
Biodiesel is a sustainable liquid …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) An effort is underway in the UK to classify, within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, “novel low carbon fuels” made by companies such as LanzaTech, Joule, Solar Jet, Velocys, Sunfire, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Battelle-led group succeeds in US Department of Energy challenge — 1,000 hours of continuous biomass hydrotreating on a single catalyst charge. The undefeated champ hits 1200 hours before being retired …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … I lead a research group of graduate students and post-docs whose mission is to design new catalyst processes for more efficiently and economically converting biomass into fuels and chemicals. We …
(BusinessWire/IH2) Producing liquid transportation fuels from woody biomass — A leading global forest products company headquartered in Northern Europe has entered into an FEL-1 license agreement with CRI Catalyst Company (CRI), a global catalyst technology company. IH2 …
(Energy Business Review Biofuels and Biomass Energy) US-based nanotechnology research and development firm Nano Labs has formed a joint venture (JV) with Mexican firm DerTek to produce biofuels in North America. The JV will focus …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s New, it’s Neo — the neodiesel companies — brimming with technologies to create cleaner alternatives to a powerhouse fuel. They have the performance, half the carbon, and a range …
by Elizabeth Cooney (Harvard Medical School/Wyss Institute) Harvard scientists have created a system that could speed adoption of solar-generated fuels as a power source
…
Now scientists from a team spanning Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and …
(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Scientists characterized catalysts to determine ability to convert methane to more valuable fuels
Results: Steam reforming turns methane from biomass into a mixture that can be further converted into transportation fuels. By …
by Elizabeth K. Gardner (Purdue University) A new catalytic process is able to convert what was once considered biomass waste into lucrative chemical products that can be used in fragrances, flavorings or to create high-octane fuel …
by Christine Buckley (University of Connecticut) Of all the various uses for Cannabis plants, add another, “green” one to the mix.
Researchers at UConn have found that the fiber crop Cannabis sativa, known as industrial hemp, has properties …
(Vertimass) “Green” Catalyst Technology Will be Commercialized Into Stocks Compatible With Current Transportation Fuel Infrastructure
Vertimass LLC announced today the company has received a grant of up to $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. …
by Carole Abourached* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) recently held a briefing on the technologies involved in commercial cellulosic ethanol production. Cellulosic ethanol is produced from agricultural residues such as …
(US Department of Energy/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Study shows water trips up key chemical reactions that turn plants into fuels, provides scientific principles that can speed up biofuel development
… Trying to understand the chemistry that …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 10 hot companies, The Young Fresh Faces, the Later-Stagers, the Out-of-the-Box Thinkers – who is challenging the status quo and how and why?
Here are new slides from the Advanced Biofuels …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Founded and directed DuPont’s Corporate Catalysis Center before retirement in 2005.
… We have had too many failures, not because the technology is no good but because funding firms require success too …
(Basque Research) … Chemical engineer Inés Reyero Zaragoza proposed the substitution of methanol by ethanol for the production of biodiesel and the use of a heterogeneous catalyst, which will “result in a reduction of costs …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A bolt-on technology for ethanol plants, costing less than $2 per installed gallon, producing a cellulosic biofuel additive that oxygenates diesel fuel at competitive prices? It’s early stage, but what’s …
by Yongchun Hong, He Zhang, Junming Sun, Karim M. Ayman, Alyssa J. R. Hensley, Meng Gu, Mark H. Engelhard, Jean-Sabin McEwen , and Yong Wang (ACS Catalysis) In this work, a series of Pd/Fe2O3 …
(University of Wyoming) After graduating from Northern Kentucky University with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and accounting, Allen Morris decided to pursue graduate studies at the University of Wyoming for two primary reasons: the Rocky Mountain …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Think affordable, available, sustainable carbon is the biggest barrier to the growth of biofuels? Or, access to market via blender pumps? In the case of drop-in biofuels, the biggest challenge …
(Montana State University) Montana State University is the lead institution on a new $10 million, four-year project to form a research center focused on innovative energy research.
The Biological Electron Transfer and Catalysis (BETCy) Energy Frontiers …
by Jade Boyd (Rice University) Rice University researchers register 4th ‘volcano plot’ for palladium-gold catalysts
Rice University chemical engineer Michael Wong has spent a decade amassing evidence that palladium-gold nanoparticles are excellent catalysts for cleaning polluted water, …
by Tim Portz (Biomass Magazine) Enerkem President and CEO Vincent Chornet and his team have driven Enerkem along a commercialization pathway for the past 10 years. As Enerkem’s first commercial-scale deployment in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, enters …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s been known as a source of fiber, and tequila. But exotically high per acre yields and sugar content, and adaptability for low-water and marginal land prompt a key hook-up between …
by Olatomiwa Bifarin* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The June edition of the Northeast bioenergy webinar series by Northeast Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium (NEWBio) featured Kwesi Boateng – Lead Scientist at the United States Department of Energy, Agricultural …
by (Biofuels International) …Enerkem has officially inaugurated its first full-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility in Edmonton, Alberta.
The facility will have a production capacity of up to 38 million litres per year and is expected …
(American Council On Renewable Energy) Today (June 2, 2014), the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) announced that it has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) which sought stakeholder input regarding the biofuel pathways …
(e! Science News) The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has created a faster, cleaner biofuel refining technology that not only combines processes, it uses widely available materials to reduce costs. Ames Laboratory scientists have …
(Axens/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Axens, Total and IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) have launched Atol, an innovative technology for bioethylene production through dehydration of bioethanol. Atol is a technology for the profitable production of polymer grade bio-ethylene by …
by Phillip Fiorini and Cynthia Sequin (Purdue University) Purdue University researchers are launching a company focusing on an innovative process that could revolutionize how lignocellulosic biomass is used to make biofuels and other bio-based products and chemicals.
Spero …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … This week, Blue Sun Energy, ARA, and Chevron Lummus Global achieved a key development milestone with their 100 barrel/day (4,200 gallon/per day) demonstration-scale Biofuels ISOCONVERSION facility in St. Joseph, Mo. …
(Valmet Corp./Biomass Magazine) Fortum, UPM and Valmet have joined forces to develop a new, winning technology to produce advanced high value lignocellulosic fuels, such as transportation fuels or higher value bio-liquids. The idea is to …
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Vertimass LLC, a California-based start-up company, has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels.
The ORNL technology offers a …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) The uses of glycerin – crude, USP-grade or otherwise – and other byproducts from biodiesel production are virtually limitless. Profiled here is the glycerin and coproduct research of three Next Generation …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … “You will never have enough affordable hydrogen.” Perhaps that is the attractor in the news from little-known Solarvest Bioenergy, when they announced third party confirmation of their bio-hydrogen expression system following the …
by Anne Trafton (MIT News) MIT chemists have devised a way to trap carbon dioxide and transform it into useful organic compounds, using a simple metal complex.
More work is needed to understand and optimize the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Reduce carbon? Rid the world of excess CO2? Not so fast, buster. A new generation of technologies has come along that capture, re-purpose and monetize CO2 emissions. Will they realize their promise? As …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) At the frontier of exotic temperature and pressures, even everyday materials like water begin to act strangely in ways that can drive energy transformation. New work in nanocatalysts may make …
