Articles tagged with: Grasses
(Advantage News) The Illinois Department of Transportation has approved implementation of a renewable energy demonstration project using grasses collected from mowing highway rights-of-way.
The work will implement the findings of a three-year study by a multidisciplinary …
(U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Rice is a staple food for over half of the world’s population and a model for studies of candidate bioenergy grasses such as sorghum, switchgrass, …
(Phys.Org/Michigan State University) Could cellulosic biofuels – or liquid energy derived from grasses and wood – become a green fuel of the future, providing an environmentally sustainable way of meeting energy needs? In Science, researchers at …
(Penn State News) Slowed as much by extremely low oil prices as supply-chain and technological challenges, the effort to integrate biofuels into the nation’s aviation fuel supply is nonetheless progressing, according to a researcher in …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Green Biologics is focused on the production of renewable n-butanol and other C4 chemicals from various renewable feedstocks, including sugar (cane, molasses, beets), starch (corn) and cellulosic biomass (corn residues, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Last December , the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would support the country’s 10th Manufacturing USA Institute with $70 million over five years, subject to federal appropriations. Another $70 million is …
(Phys.Org/University of Hong Kong) Straw is commonly used for feeding animals, burning, baling, etc. As one of the “Three Canton Treasures”, straw can actually be used as a raw material to produce biofuel.
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With an increasing …
(Phys.Org) … Taking up this double-edged sword is Cynthia Bartel, a doctoral candidate at Iowa State University. She’s finding a way to lessen the harm and increase the benefits of removing maize stover.
“While water and wind …
(Indian Express Tech) In the quest of more sustainable energy sources, scientists have developed ‘grassoline’ – a biofuel derived from grass that could one day power airplanes. Researchers investigated methods that can disintegrate and treat grass …
by Gretchen Miller (Biofuels Digest) … Meghan Pawlowksi, a graduate student at the University of Hawaii Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture, crawled around her field site on the last sugarcane plantation in Hawaii, Maui’s Hawaiian Commercial …
by Lauren Tyler (NGT News) The Sierra Club has filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to conduct the required environmental impact analysis on the Renewable …
(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 …
(Iowa State University) Iowa State University will bring its expertise in biorenewable technologies and pilot plant operations to the country’s 10th Manufacturing USA Institute.
The recently announced advanced manufacturing institute is dedicated to improving the productivity …
(University of Missouri) Switchgrass Can Improve Soil Quality on Eroded Farms, Study Finds — The loss of fertile topsoil from agricultural fields is an economic problem for modern farmers. When runoff water washes topsoil from …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Green Biologics is focused on the production of renewable n-butanol and other C4 chemicals from various renewable feedstocks, including sugar (cane, molasses, beets), starch (corn) and cellulosic biomass (corn residues, sugar …
by Bernard Cooker (Chemical Processing Solutions/Biofuels Digest) This is a review of the biomass-fed chemical process projects to renewable chemicals which were published in Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP) and Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) from 1/1/16 …
(Tech2) Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur have unlocked the secret to ramp up yields of biofuel sourced from commonly found aquatic weeds such as water hyacinths. In a new study published on December …
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) The White House has published a mid-century strategy on decarbonization that addresses biofuels and bioenergy. On Nov. 16, the report was filed with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Lignocellulosic sugars and lignin have become necessary intermediates for advancing research towards economically producing biofuels and bioproducts. Recently, the US Department of Energy issued a Request for Information: Cellulosic Sugar …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Lignocellulosic sugars and lignin have become necessary intermediates for advancing research towards economically producing biofuels and bioproducts. Recently, the US Department of Energy issued a Request for Information: Cellulosic Sugar …
(U.S. Department of Energy) The results of the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) Cellulosic Sugar and Lignin Production Capabilities Request for Information (RFI) are now available on the RFI responses web page. This …
(AZO CleanTech) In 2014, researchers announced the successful engineering of a poplar plant “designed for deconstruction.” The finding caught the attention of the global scientific community. The highly degradable poplar was the first of its …
by Mark E. Griffin (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) have found a way to nearly double the efficiency with which a commonly used industrial …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The factories of old — a technological wave that swept in with the Industrial Revolution — these were inorganic manufacturing centers, and they are now the wave of the past.
They …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Renmatix is a technology licensor that enables the production of petrochemicals from plants. The company’s water-based Plantrose process is the lowest cost method for converting a wide range of non-food …
(Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc.) Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc. (OTCQB:ALLM) (the “Company”), is very pleased to release the results from months of testing and data collection on dozens of lignocellulose feedstocks utilizing the patented CTS conversion process. …
by David Suzuki (EcoWatch) The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is occurring mainly at the power plant level. But what about transportation? Can we significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching to cleaner …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Direct Combustion, Anaerobic Digestion, Cellulosic Biofuels, Biochemicals, and Animal Feed: these are just some of the markets envisioned for a fast-growing grass known as Giant King Grass. With composition like corn stover or …
(Bioenergy Insight) A team of UK researchers, including experts from Cardiff University’s Cardiff Catalysis Institute, have shown that significant amounts of hydrogen can be unlocked from fescue grass with the help of sunlight and a …
by Kathleen Phillips (AgriLife Today) The U.S. Department of Energy has granted $2.5 million for a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study to find ways to use biorefinery waste to make new, marketable products.
“In the biorefinery field, …
(Brookhaven National Laboratory) Fundamental enzyme study leads to increased access to bioenergy feedstocks and improves ethanol yield by modifying plant cell wall structures.
Lignin is a natural component of plant cell walls, the scaffolding that surrounds …
(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) The Bioenergy Feedstock Library is a physical sample repository and database for physical, chemical and conversion performance characteristics of biomass feedstock.
The library provides tools to store, record, track, retrieve, and analyze data to help …
(University of Arkansas) A University of Arkansas chemistry professor has received a $400,000 award from the National Science Foundation to investigate a roadblock in the harvesting of biomass from perennial plants for the purpose of …
(Viaspace/PR Newswire) VIASPACE CTO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, made an invited presentation on Giant King Grass at the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference – Feedstocks held in Miami, Florida June 6-8, 2016.
The Conference, organized by Biofuels Digest …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Green Biologics is focused on the production of renewable n-butanol and other C4 chemicals from various renewable feedstocks, including sugar (cane, molasses, beets), starch (corn) and cellulosic biomass (corn residues, …
by Jessica Rose Spangler (Lancaster Farming) Ethanol isn’t a new concept. Using corn to make it isn’t either. And Pennsylvania even has a plant to create it, Pennsylvania Grain Processing LLC in Clearfield, which is capable …
by Lisa Young (AgriNews) Cover crop and row crop biofuels systems can work together. They may have to as the Renewable Fuel Standard spurs increased demand for biofuels while many are calling for more controls …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This week, we held a well-attended webinar on “Drop-In Fuels” Here below is the second slide deck presented on the day, from Will Thurmond, President of Emerging Markets Online — highlights from …
by William Westhoven (Parsippany, NJ Daily Record) A Lincoln Park educator has been awarded a $450,000 grant to help fund continued research into the development of biofuel alternatives in certain regions of the United States.
Montclair State …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … If jatropha faltered, never mind, went the argument, we’ll always have switchgrass. Or giant miscanthus, or pongamia, or poplar, or camelina. The list could get really long. For example, try …
by Dave Evensen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Research finds where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing detrimental effects on aquatic ecosystems — … Researchers at the University of Illinois used detailed models to examine impacts …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Chempolis’ multi-year quest to build cellulosic ethanol in India finds a happy landing. — In India, €110 million joint venture cellulosic ethanol project of Chempolis Ltd and Numaligarh Refinery Limited …
(National Energy Technology Laboratory) The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has granted a license for two patented sorbent technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from streams of mixed gases and enable cleaner, more-efficient energy production from …
(Agri-View/Renewable Energy World) The relationship between a prairie grass such as switchgrass and naturally occurring microbes may help shed light on growing hardier plants for livestock and humans. Understanding how microbes promote prairie grasses to …
(Purdue University) Nancy Ho, founder and president of Green Tech America Inc. and a research professor emerita in Purdue University’s School of Chemical Engineering, will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack …
by Mark E. Griffin (Wisconsin Energy Institute/University of Wisconsin) A six-year Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) study on the viability of different bioenergy feedstocks recently demonstrated that perennial cropping systems such as switchgrass, giant …
(Chempolis, Ltd.) Chempolis Ltd., a Finland-based biorefining technology corporation, has entered into partnership with Avantha Group’s research wing Avantha Centre for Industrial Research & Development to offer technology to India to extract ethanol from various agricultural residues …
by Kay Ledbette (Texas A&M AgriLife) … Russ Jessup, an AgriLife Research perennial grass breeder in College Station, said he is introducing a new biofuel-biomass feedstock that is a hybrid “similar to seedless watermelons, …
by Alison Goss Eng and Daniel Adams (U.S. Department of Energy) … Earlier this year, we highlighted five cost-saving harvesting technologies that private companies and universities developed through $21 million in 2009 funding from the Bioenergy …
by Kristen Johnson and Alicia Moulton (U.S. Department of Energy) At the Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, we’re actively working to develop the advanced biofuels industry in a way that leads to positive impacts and …
by Stephan Piotrowski, Michael Carus and Roland Essel (nova-Institut /Biofuels Digest) How much biomass can be sustainably produced globally by 2050? How much of the demand for food, feed, materials, bioenergy and biofuels can be met …
by Elliot Levine (US Department of Energy) A five-company team led by Haldor Topsoe, and funded in part by the Energy Department, produced 10,000 gallons of gasoline from woody biomass, which included trees and wood …
(Bioenergy Insight) The government of Estonia has passed a bill which will secure a large investment into the Baltic country’s biomethane market and infrastructure.
In the expansion project’s pilot phase, the Estonian state will support the …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Commercial-scale production and harvest of several annual and perennial biomass feedstocks is under way, paving the way for biofuels, biopower and biobased products. — … There are, however, a handful …
by Joanne Ivancic* (Alberta Council of Technologies/Advanced Biofuels USA) Myths and misunderstandings about biofuels abound. You’ve heard them–food vs. fuel, land use change, energy return on energy invested, decreased mileage, harmful to engines, and more.
Nevertheless, …
(Michigan State University) Michigan State University has earned a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to better understand how biofuel crops acquire nitrogen, insights that could help maximize yields while minimizing fertilizer …
by Olatomiwa Bifarin* (Advanced Biofuels USA) Around 770,000 BC, it was fire, at some point – wood, dung and coal, to the now-ominous fossil fuels. This is the evolution of energy, and today the evolution …
by D’Lyn Ford (North Carolina State University) The same process plants use to respond to environmental stress acts as an on/off switch for a key enzyme in wood formation, NC State researchers have found.
The discovery improves …
(Michigan State University) Converting large tracts of the Midwest’s marginal farming land to perennial biofuel crops carries with it some key unknowns, including how it could affect the balance of water between rainfall, evaporation and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Solazyme took the #1 spot in the 2015 “35 Hottest Companies in Feedstock Development & Supply” rankings, announced today by The Digest, the world’s most widely-read bioeconomy daily, at the …
(Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison) Clearing grasslands to make way for biofuels may seem counterproductive, but researchers show that crops, including the corn and soy commonly used for biofuels, expanded onto 7 million acres of new …
by Robert E. Kozak* (Advanced Biofuels USA) Imagine if you will a country with two natural resource industries. Both produce high demand products. One is the lowest priced producer on the planet and is able …
(Joint BioEnergy Institute/Biomass Magazine) Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute have unveiled the first glycosyltransferase clone collection specifically targeted for the study of the biosynthesis of plant cell walls. The idea behind …
(25 x ’25) Reports out of Washington this week that the Obama administration’s lengthy delay in releasing a final 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) biofuel blending rule due to a White House desire to re-evaluate …
(US Department of Agriculture) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today (July 17, 2014) announced the selection of 10 projects that are being awarded funding aimed at accelerating …
(TimesDispatch.com) LYNCHBURG — Conservation researchers set about killing the grass on about 500 acres of land at Sweet Briar College this spring in preparation for a multiyear study that could have implications for landowners and environmentalists nationwide.
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The …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Thought you knew everything there was to know about some of biofuels’ favorite feedstocks? Here are 18 free reports that may dampen or re-ignite your enthusiasm.
…To bring you up to …
by Peter Rüegg (ETH Zurich) Biofuel can be produced from wood, too. The key to this is the suitable pretreatment of the plant parts in order to break up the wood structure. Researchers at the Transport …
(University of Bern, Switzerland) If grassland used intensively, biodiversity decreases. Particularly affected are rare species, a new study headed by Berner plant scientists shows. Such negative effects could be reduced if farmers would vary the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In Massachusetts, applied mathematicians Markos Katsoulakis and Luc Rey-Bellet of the University of Massachusetts Amherst will share a three-year, $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, with others, to develop …
by Lynn Grooms (Farm Industry News) Soon after hearing about Big Oil’s numerous challenges to the Renewable Fuel Standard, attendees of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop this summer, heard from producers forging ahead to commercialize cellulosic …
by Bruce Barcott (OnEarth.org) Imagine a future in which airliners run on cornstalks and Navy ships ply the oceans on tanks of switchgrass. That day may at last be inching closer.
The promise of cellulosic biofuels …
by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) …The state of Iowa is proving that our farmers can simultaneously produce the food, feed, fuel and fiber that our country needs.
During the past 30 years, we’ve witnessed tremendous growth …
by Christopher K. Wright and Michael C. Wimberly (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) In the US Corn Belt, a recent doubling in commodity prices has created incentives for landowners to convert grassland to …
(Bioenergy Crops) There is an increasing interest worldwide on developing sustainable bioenergy alternatives for low competitive lands where food production profitability is scarce or where soils and climates are not suited for traditional activities or …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Like it or not, corn and corn ethanol production are large, established industries in the U.S. While they provide significant economic, energy, and environmental benefits for our …
(Renewable Fuels Association) The Advanced Ethanol Council this morning released a report giving a snapshot of cellulosic ethanol producers in the U.S. and around the world. A look at facilities owned by companies such as …
(Direvo) Direvo Industrial Biotechnology GmbH is commercializing its BluCon™– platform for complete, one-step conversion of non-food feedstocks to carbohydrates used in the production of fuels and chemicals. In the recent years Direvo has undertaken a …
by Robert Sanders (Biodiesel Magazine/UC Berkeley) A long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel fuel to replace the fossil fuels now used in transportation, University …
by Kristofor Husted (KBIA) In the parched, rolling hills of western Missouri, you might expect to see a desolate scene after this summer’s drought. But in this field, hip-high native grass sways across the landscape like …
(Biofuels International) Scientists from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) have uncovered a series of genes which could help grasses being breed with better characteristics for bioenergy production.
The genes …
by Perrin H. Beatty and Allen G. Good (Science Magazine) Nitrogen availability is limiting to plant growth and has long been overcome through applications of synthetic nitrogen-rich fertilizer. This has revolutionized crop yield and food production worldwide, but …
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 …
by Tim Sheehan (The Fresno Bee) Two plants aim for biofuels made without corn.
With corn prices up and demand rising, work is under way in the Valley to develop two biorefineries to make ethanol without …
by John Colson (The Citizen Telegram) A new kind of economic development is being pursued in the West.
Area ranchers and farmers are being urged to grow grass that can be converted to a liquid “biofuel,” …
by Kelsey McNeeley and Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA/Lancaster Farming) In 2002, Penn State University began using 20 percent (B20) biodiesel fuel on campus in the division of farm operations. Because of their expertise in biodiesel, Penn …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Illinois, Chromatin announced the successful first demonstration that genes can be assembled, stacked, and expressed in sugarcane using the company’s mini-chromosome technology.
Now, what exactly is a gene stack and …
(EurekAlert/University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana) Using detailed land analysis, Illinois researchers have found that biofuel crops cultivated on available land could produce up to half of the world’s current fuel consumption – without affecting food crops or …
by Tim Wall (Discovery News) Picture the vibrant wildflowers and swaying grasses of prairies covering the Midwestern United States once again, teeming with wildlife and requiring very little management from people, yet providing a renewable …
Experts from across the country will discuss the role of bioenergy crops for meeting renewable energy goals at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry’s second annual symposium, Jan. 12, 2011.
The program, “Meeting Renewable Energy …
by Laura MacInnis (Reuters) BP is focusing its biofuel efforts on Brazilian sugar cane and U.S. energy grasses, holding off on investments in the rest of the world for the moment, a senior executive of the …
(EurekAlert!) Money may not grow on trees, but energy could grow in grass. Researchers at the University of Illinois have completed the first extensive geographic yield and economic analysis of potential bioenergy grass crops in the …
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 …
(US Department of Energy) U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced September 8, 2010, the investment of up to $16.5 million for two major research and development (R&D) initiatives that will support the expansion of renewable transportation …
(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 …
(VIASPACE) VIASPACE Inc., a clean energy company growing Giant KingTM Grass as a low-carbon, renewable energy crop, announced that Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen made an invited presentation at the International BIOMASS Conference and Expo held …
(Ecological Society of America) Analyzing biofuel sources and predicting effects on water, soil and the atmosphere: The promise of switchgrass, the challenges for forests and the costs of corn-based ethanol production: Ecological scientists review the many …
by Vance Owens (South Dakota State University). He stated that the overall objective was to” perform replicated field trials of diverse biomass feedstocks at different locations,” and in this way to determine the most promising …
by Gary Pinnell (Highlands Today) In April 2008, Congressman Tim Mahoney told county commissioners that Highlands was poised to become “the biofuels capital of America.” They were expected to produce hundreds of jobs and millions …
A global initiative that includes key scientists from Oregon State University has successfully sequenced the genome of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon, which will serve as a model to speed research on improved varieties of …
Researchers at the (Teesside) University’s Contaminated Land and Water Centre began the project in 2004 to see which plants could best be grown on brownfield sites as a way of improving unsightly blots on the …
Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Mississippi, MSU professor Brian Baldwin provided an update on feedstock research at the MSU’s Sustainable Energy Research Center, where a focus on biofuels grasses has produced the recently licensed Freedom …
… In a paper published in the latest issue of the journal BioScience, David Flaspohler, Joseph Fargione and colleagues analyze the impacts on wildlife of the burgeoning conversion of grasslands to corn for ethanol production …
As part of an effort to develop a new collection of alternative fuels, ecologist Julie Jastrow and her colleagues from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago planted …
(Green Transport and Energy) … But the problems of degradation and soil erosion by intensive monocultures must also be taken into account.
To solve these issues, in the last few decades researchers have studied the advantage …
by Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Sarah C. Davis, Michael D. Masters and Evan H. Delucia (Global Change Biology Bioenergy) One potentially significant impact of growing biofuel crops will be the sequestration or release of carbon (C) in …
