by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) Animated discussion characterized the fourth day of the Infocast series on cellulosic biofuels. Much is at stake. The industry is so close to being able to find success. If gasoline was $4.00/gallon, implementation would
Feedstocks
Back TO HOMEBiofuels Done Right: Land Efficient Animal Feeds Enable Large Environmental and Energy Benefits
by Bruce E. Dale, Bryan D. Bals, Seungdo Kim and Pragnya Eranki (Biomass Conversion Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University) There is an intense ongoing debate regarding the
October 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Giant Sweet Potato May Be Viable Ethanol Feedstock
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) ...Letterman was doing a special featuring giant vegetables and North Charleston native and horticulturalist, Janice Ryan-Bohac, was selected to showcase her 15 pound sweet potato. She did, only she threw a few extra messages into the mix.
October 18, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil Set to Assist Tanzania Survey Biofuel Farming Areas
by Beatrice Philamon (IPP Media) Tanzanian and Brazilian experts are expected to carry out a countrywide survey to identify and propose strategic areas that would be allocated for biofuel farming. “Our intention is to have special areas or land that will be
October 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Purdue Receives Nearly $1.6 Million for Biofuels Crop Research
(AgriMarketing/Purdue) Purdue University is receiving $1.59 million in federal funding for a project to conduct a sustainability assessment of energy crops for biofuels. The funding is part of a $16.5 million renewable fuel initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy to
September 30, 2010 Read Full Article
The Biorefinery Project of the Future: A 10-Part Series
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...We have spoken to farmers, local business owners, environmentalists, community development officials, engine developers, scientists, policy makers, producers, investors, lenders, blenders, wholesalers, retailers, and end users. We have visited development projects on four continents. We have
September 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Ban on Field Burning Prompts Plan to Convert Straw to Energy
by Dana Tims (The Oregonian) ...They propose breaking ground next year on a $25 million bioenergy park somewhere in the Willamette Valley. The multi-faceted facility would convert straw and other waste materials into saleable products such as ethanol, electricity, fertilizer, compost
September 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Public Consultation on Version 1.1 of the RSB Principles & Criteria and Guidance for P&Cs
(Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels) In November 2009, the RSB Steering Board approved Version One of the RSB Principles & Criteria (P&Cs) and the Certification System for pilot testing after public regional outreaches and extensive consultation of the RSB Chambers. While
September 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Florida Farm Service Agency Holding Feedstocks for Florida Biofuels Townhall Meetings
by Julie (SoutheastAGNet) Florida Farm Service Agency State Director, Tim Manning, wants to inform and educate producers about the need to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels through their statewide “Feedstocks for Florida Biofuels” town hall meetings. ...The next Feedstocks for
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
USDA and DOE Partnership Seeks to Develop Better Plants for Bioenergy
(US Department of Energy) Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced research awards under a joint DOE-USDA program aimed at improving and accelerating genetic breeding programs to create plants better suited for bioenergy production. The $8.9 million
September 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Ag Secretary Candidate Thicke Promotes 'New Vision'
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) Francis Thicke of Fairfield, the Democratic candidate for Iowa agriculture secretary, used his State Fair Soapbox speech Wednesday to call for a "new vision" for Iowa agriculture based on renewable fuels, ecologically sustainable production
August 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Growing Fuel by the Roadside
by Sam Harris (Charlotte Observer) ...In conjunction with a national program known as "FreeWays to Fuel" ( freewaystofuel.org), researchers at N.C. State University are working to grow canola and sunflower crops along the wasted edges of highways and other marginal
August 10, 2010 Read Full Article
25 Million Acres of Corn with Nowhere to Go, by 2030? A Digest Special Report
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...(D)oomsayers who have been predicting an inevitable conflict between food and fuel appear to have been completely off the mark. Rather than a shortage of food, the increased pace of biotechnology innovation associated with bioenergy is
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
Sustainable Oils Opens Expanded Camelina Research Facility in Bozeman
(Sustainable Oils) North America's Largest Camelina Research Program Expands to Deliver Improved Varieties to Growers Even More Quickly. A new, larger camelina research facility in Bozeman will allow Sustainable Oils to deliver improved camelina varieties to growers even more quickly. Sustainable Oils'
June 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Novozymes and Ceres Partner on Biofuel Crops
(Ceres) Companies take step towards commercialization of low-carbon biofuels from switchgrass and other energy crops. Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. and Novozymes, the world’s largest enzyme provider, have entered a research collaboration to co-develop customized plant varieties and enzyme cocktails for
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Virginia Barley Plantings Surge, Ethanol Plant Credited
(Bloomberg Business Week, AP) ...Federal statistics show barley acres jumped from 67,000 in 2009 to 105,000 this year. David Coleman with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation says Osage Bio Energy's plant in Hopewell has created a market for barley. In the
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Is Switchgrass In Your Future, And If So, Will It Be Profitable?
(Cattle Network) ...One of the first products that may be digested in a cellulosic ethanol plant is switchgrass, which is a warm-season grass native to this part of the world. Agronomically it can be produced, but will it be economically
April 26, 2010 Read Full Article
Agricultural Research Service Researching Camelina as a New Biofuel Crop
by Stephanie Yao (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have long-term studies underway to examine growing camelina as a bioenergy crop for producing jet fuel for the military and the aviation industry. This research supports the recently signed memorandum of
April 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Sustainable Feedstock Resource Availability: Increasing Feedstock Production for Biofuels
Zia Haq (Biomass Program, U.S. Department of Energy) focused his presentation on efforts that the Biomass R&D Board Interagency Working Group makes in order to increase the feedstock production. The priorities he pointed out in his talk are sustainability, modeling,
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Sustainable Feedstock Resource Availability: Overview
Moderator Laura Neal (Biomass Program, U.S. Department of Energy) emphasized the resources availability to ensure a sustainable supply of feedstock in order to meet increased biofuels demand. The presentation mainly pointed out three focused areas of feedstock platform: feedstock analysis, feedstock
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
New Barley Market Spurs Research Effort
by Roy Roberson (Southeast Farm Press) Research under way at Virginia Tech Universitiy’s Tidewater Research and Extension Center near Suffolk, Va., is geared to giving area growers better information on the benefits of barley/soybean double-crop rotations versus wheat/soybean double-crop, full-season
April 07, 2010 Read Full Article
Developing the Feedstock for Biofuels Supply
by Bill Belden (Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc.) This presentation at the 4th Cellulosic Ethanol Summit describes developing a sustainable “fuel,” i.e., “feedstock” supply for biofuels and biomass-to-energy projects. Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization with a current membership of
January 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Engineered Tobacco Plants Have More Potential as a Biofuel
Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson Universityin Philadelphia have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel. Their paper was published online
January 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Market Interactions, Farmers' Choices, and the Sustainability of Growing Advanced Biofuels: a Missing Perspective?
by Yong Jiang and Scott M. Swinton (International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology) Advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are of great interest in the USA. With agriculture being the major source of feedstock for advanced biofuels, how farmers would
December 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Renewable Energy Group Publishes "Feedstock and Biodiesel Characteristics Report"
... The goals of this project were to produce biodiesel from a wide variety of feedstocks and to provide the characteristics of both the feedstock and biodiesel. The project is unique because it encompasses an extensive range of feedstocks and
November 22, 2009 Read Full Article
Safflower Topping Rest as Best Oilseed for Biodiesel
by Sue Roesler (The Priairie Star) Just ask Chuck Flynn, research chemist at Montana State University's Eastern Ag Research Center, how many oilseed crops can actually be turned into biodiesel. He has tried every oilseed crop that can be grown
August 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Biggie Smalls: Microcrops Go Mainstream and Head for the Big Time
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) All microalgae are microcrops, but not all microcrops are microalgae: a larger family of diatoms, cyanobacteria, and tiny aquatic flowering plants such as the lemna family are increasingly in the mix for biofuels commercialization. As
August 05, 2009 Read Full Article
The Water Footprint of Bioenergy
All energy scenarios show a shift toward an increased percentage of renewable energy sources, including biomass. This study gives an overview of water footprints (WFs) of bioenergy from 12 crops that currently contribute the most to global agricultural production: barley,
August 05, 2009 Read Full Article
Corn Farmers Coalition Publishes The Corn Fact Book
.... There is plenty of corn to eat and plenty for making ethanol and plenty for feeding cattle and plenty more to export and still more to make chemicals and fabric. After peaking briefly in July 2008 at more than
August 05, 2009 Read Full Article
Wyoming Plant Making Ethanol from Trees
by Bob Moen (Forbes) ... The business plan of KL Energy, which has been funded mostly through private investment, is to build plants based on its Upton (WY) model near forests around the country. The plants would produce up to 5 million gallons
July 09, 2009 Read Full Article
Chromatin Licenses Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane to Syngenta
Chromatin Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide research and commercial license agreement with Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. for Chromatin's proprietary gene stacking technology in sugar cane. Chromatin has developed a novel approach to gene stacking, using the
July 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Resources Lost if Congress Fails to Broaden Definition of Renewable Biomass
Efforts continue to amend federal policy and widen the availability of renewable biomass resources that would be available from agriculture and forestry to meet the nation’s renewable energy goals. A number of advocacy groups and their allies in Congress are
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels Digest Publishes Special Online Report on Aviation Biofuels
Biofuels Digest presents a special report on biofuels aviation, including coverage of feedstocks, airlines, aircraft manufacturers, engine makers and policy. READ MORE
May 25, 2009 Read Full Article
International GeneSyst Converts Municipal Waste to Ethanol
GeneSyst upgraded the weak acid hydrolysis process to convert biomass from municipal waste to fuel ethanol by making it a 'continuous (flow) process ' using the patented Gravity Pressure Vessel instead of the former 'pump and pressure' tanks (batch). READ
March 30, 2008 Read Full Article
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
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
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
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