(Jerusalem Post) Tel Aviv University researchers have transformed humble pond slime into an engine for clean fuel. ... Dr. Iftach Yacoby and his team at Tel Aviv University genetically altered single-celled algae, which naturally emit hydrogen throughout the day, allowing
Hydrogen/Renewable Hydrogen
Back TO HOMELow Cost Cellulosic Sugars, Hydrogen: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Electrosep
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Amidst all the discussion this week of deal-making in cellulosic and sugar-based fuels — the likes of Tesoro-Virent and Lufthansa-Gevo — we were intrigued by this slide deck on a pathway to low-cost cellulosic sugars and
September 09, 2016 Read Full Article
Nikola’s U.S., Canadian Trucks Will Be Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered
by Lauren Tyler (Next Gen Transportation News) Following Nikola Motor Co.’s recent zero-emissions announcement, the company now says the electric drivetrain used in the U.S. and Canadian markets will be powered by a custom-built, hydrogen-electric 800 V fuel cell. Nikola says
September 01, 2016 Read Full Article
Could Ethanol Power the Future for Electric Cars?
by Daniel Gallas (BBC) The automotive industry is rushing to produce electric vehicles (EVs) as the world tries to move away from polluting hydrocarbons to greener, cleaner fuels. But EVs still only account for 1% of the total market. Some companies are
August 16, 2016 Read Full Article
New Renewable Energy Research Centre Opens in Denmark
(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 by Professor Ib Chorkendorff who
August 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Ants! Run for Your Lives! Or, Perhaps, Are Ants the Key Players in the Hydrogen Economy?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Could be that formic acid provides a vital energy storage medium for hydrogen. when H2 is used for transportation fuel. ... As this article notes, Storage and transportation of hydrogen is a major obstacle for its
August 05, 2016 Read Full Article
Alternative Fuels for Marine and Inland Waterways Transport
(Netzwerk Biotreibstoffe) A recent JRC (Joint Research Center) report finds that fuels like liquefied natural gas (LNG) and methanol are the most promising alternatives to drive decarbonisation of the shipping sector and ultimately contribute to the fight against climate change.
August 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Scientists Discover New Way to Make Energy from Garden Grass
(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 cheap catalyst. It is the first
July 26, 2016 Read Full Article
Hyundai And U.S. Department Of Energy Extend Fuel Cell Vehicle Loan Partnership In Concert With New D.C.-Based Hydrogen Fueling Station
(Fuel Cells Works) Latest, Phase II of current program prepares for rollout of fuel cell vehicles nationwide in near future -- Hyundai and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are extending their fuel cell vehicle confirmation program, originally from 2013
July 17, 2016 Read Full Article
The Olympic Village of the Future
by Heather Hansman (Popular Science) ... But Japan, home of the 2020 games, wants to make the event good for their country and society. The nation has done it before. To host the 1964 Olympics, Japan launched the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet
July 08, 2016 Read Full Article
Business Owner, NMSU’s Arrowhead Center Hope to Create Jobs, Ecosystem with Biorefinery
(El Paso Herald Post) ... On June 15, through a LEDA grant from the City of Tucumcari, ERD purchased the former ethanol plant at 1600 Rock Island Road. In partnership with Robert Lopez, a Tucumcari farmer, the company plans to reconfigure
July 05, 2016 Read Full Article
Could the Hydrogen Economy Run on Ethanol?
by Geoffrey Styles (The Energy Collective) Plans for a fuel cell car running on ethanol look like a clever way to circumvent the obstacles faced by other fuel cell vehicles. However, it is not clear that ethanol’s perceived logistical benefits or
June 21, 2016 Read Full Article
Modernizing the Electric Grid and Its Integration with the Transportation Sector
by Bill Brandon (Biofuels Digest/) ... Some, like Mark Z. Jacobson, assert battery electric vehicles (BEV) are “the key transportation solution”. ... Just deploying BEVs does not guarantee they will be clean. The Dutch effort to push BEVs resulted in an increased
June 21, 2016 Read Full Article
A Fuel Cell Vehicle Revolution: The Digest’s Multi-Slide Guide to Nissan’s SOFC System
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Fuel cells are important technology. You may remember them from the space program. They show up in the drama of Apollo 13, for example. Many car companies have investigated their potential — but here’s a
June 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Nissan Develops New Ethanol Fuel Cells to Jump Infrastructure Hurdle
by Hans Greimel (Automotive News) Nissan Motor Co. has developed a new kind of fuel cell drivetrain for cars that taps an onboard tank of ethanol instead of pressurized hydrogen, delivering a cheaper and safer ride that it says is
June 14, 2016 Read Full Article
50-100% Boost in Yields, and No CO2: The Digest’s 8-Slide Guide to White Dog Labs
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) US-based White Dog Labs have developed a new process that eliminates the production of CO2, a potent greenhouse gas, during fermentation and instead shifts the carbon to added ethanol production, boosting fermentation yields by around
June 13, 2016 Read Full Article
50% Yield Boost for Ethanol? No CO2? What?! White Dog Labs Comes out of Stealth
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In what might become the most transformative development in fermentation yields since Noah debuted winemaking technology in the Book of Genesis, US-based White Dog Labs have unveiled a new process that eliminates the emission of CO2, a
June 13, 2016 Read Full Article
Burning “Liquid Sunlight” Instead of Fossil Fuels Is Getting Closer to Reality
by David Roberts (Vox) ... However, some uses of energy are not easy to electrify in the short term, maybe even in the long term. They rely on energy-dense liquid fuels. So if we're ever going to get to net zero emissions,
June 08, 2016 Read Full Article
Wassup, DOE EERE? The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to EERE’s Projects and Missions
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) What’s up at the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewables unit ? Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Reuben Sarkar answered the question in this update, given at the Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee meeting. In this
May 10, 2016 Read Full Article
This Startup Just Launched With A New Way to Turn Seawater into Hydrogen
by Katie Fehrenbacher (Fortune Magazine) With funding from the early investor behind GoPro, this new startup has an ambitious plan. People don’t really talk about the “hydrogen economy” like they did a decade ago. It’s a dream to use hydrogen to
February 24, 2016 Read Full Article
Energy Department Requests Information on Biofuels & Bioproducts Process Pilot Verification Capabilities
(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy is seeking input from industry, academia, national laboratories, and other biofuels and bioproducts stakeholders to identify existing pilot- or process development-scale facilities with the capability to perform process verifications for biomass
February 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Short on Sustainable Hydrogen? Here Comes New Water-Splitting Tech to Save the Day
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) You may not know it, but you are short on hydrogen. Right now. We live in a hydrogen-starved world, and it’s expensive to make. And most of what we make is unsustainable, produced from fossil sources.
February 09, 2016 Read Full Article
Harvesting Hydrogen from Tough Biomass
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. -- In this chemical-electric conversion, a
January 27, 2016 Read Full Article
Biofuels for Transport in Germany
(Task 39 Newsletter) ... This article briefly introduces the regulative framework in the EU and in Germany before addressing current developments and perspectives of conventional and advanced biofuels. ... The main instruments for decarbonizing the transport sector in the EU
January 27, 2016 Read Full Article
Should the Ethanol Industry Promote E30 Fuel Blend?
by By Mikkel Pates (Grand Forks Herald) ... Brian West, deputy director of the Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said the issue shouldn't be difficult with owners of flex-fuel vehicles that
January 25, 2016 Read Full Article
Renewable Hydrogen From Tri-Generation Fuel Cells Included Under California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
(Globe Newswire/FuelCell Energy) Distributed renewable hydrogen solution receives contingent approval for Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Credit Market to sell or trade credits; Using stationary fuel cells to convert biogas from wastewater treatment into renewable hydrogen, power, and heat (tri-generation), offsetting
January 22, 2016 Read Full Article
The 30 Hottest Biobased Molecules for 2016
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Florida, the Digest has released the 30 Hottest Biobased Molecules for 2016, as voted by the Digest’s global readership. The Readers were surveyed over December and January, and rated more than 100 individual molecules
January 14, 2016 Read Full Article
Audi Beefs up Collaboration with French Biotech to Extend Biofuels Scope
(Biofuels International) Car giant Audi is entering a renewed collaboration agreement with French renewable energy firm Global Bioenergies to promote the development of biofuels. The two companies recently announced the delivery by Global Bioenergies to Audi of a first batch of
January 14, 2016 Read Full Article
Indiana University Scientists Create 'Nano-Reactor' for the Production of Hydrogen Biofuel
(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 formation of hydrogen -- one
January 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Linde Hydrogen Fueling System Surpasses One Million Fills at BMW South Carolina Plant
(Fuel Cells Works) ... "Because of the way it is produced, the hydrogen supplied to BMW is sustainable with only a small carbon footprint incurred during shipping," said Dave Read (Business Development Manager – Hydrogen Fuel Markets). "The hydrogen is a by-product of
December 21, 2015 Read Full Article
Hydrogen from Biomethane; Gasoline & Diesel from Tree Residue; Cellulosic Ethanol among New Proposed California LCFS Fuel Pathways
(Green Car Congress) California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff posted 32 new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications for comments at the LCFS website. Among the multiple applications for different processing pathways of corn or sorghum ethanol are
December 18, 2015 Read Full Article
Research and Markets: Analysing the Biofuel Industry in the United States 2015
(Research and Markets/BusinessWire) Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Biofuel Industry in the United States - 2015" report to their offering. The report helps assess the feasibility of production of biofuels and the potential of biofuels in the US.
November 18, 2015 Read Full Article
Zero Emission Vehicles: Not Really
by Don Siefkes, Debbie Baron and Eileen Broderick (E100 Ethanol Group, Mendo Alcohol Fuel Group) ... California Governor Jerry Brown and other Governors, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and much of the major media are continuing their unnerving habit
September 21, 2015 Read Full Article
Energy Department Awards up to $4 Million to Develop Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts
(US Department of Energy) The Energy Department today announced two additional projects selected to receive up to $4 million to develop next-generation biofuels that will help reduce the cost of producing gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels from biomass. These projects—in
August 27, 2015 Read Full Article
Switchgrass to Hydrogen
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Newswise) Biorefineries could benefit from a new process developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that produces hydrogen from plant sources such as switchgrass. The method converts biomass waste streams into hydrogen through heating and processing in microbe-based
August 04, 2015 Read Full Article
The Pyromaniax, Class of 2015: The Top 10 Pyrolysis Projects in Renewable Fuels
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 the dawn of man. But
August 04, 2015 Read Full Article
Advancing Alongside Ag
by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine) An example of sheer innovation over time, farmers today grow five times as much corn as they did in the 1930s, on 20 percent less land. As science and farming continue to evolve, agriculture machinery
August 03, 2015 Read Full Article
The Future of Low-Carbon Road Transport: What Role for Second-Generation Biofuels?
by Joern Huenteler and Henry Lee (Belfer Center Programs or Projects) The promise, prospects, and public policy trade-offs related to second-generation biofuels in road transport were addressed in an executive session convened at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan,
July 29, 2015 Read Full Article
The Need For A New Fuel Paradigm: Transitioning From Legacy Fuels to Modern Efficient Fuels
by Bill Brandon (Leaders in Energy) ... This two-part White Paper presents the proposition that we need to transition away from the legacy fuels we use today to modern liquid and gas fuels[1] that: 1) reduce or eliminate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
June 25, 2015 Read Full Article
8 Hot Targets in Advanced Bioeconomy R&D
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Fuels, chemicals, pathways, and microbes that could shake it all up ... (H)ere are 8 Hot Targets that we can point to that could be game-changers in the world of making fuels, chemicals and biomaterials from
May 30, 2015 Read Full Article
4 Minutes with… Mike Lewis, Co-Founder, Pearson Fuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Pearson Fuels develops alternative fuel infrastructure at both the retail and terminal level and then concentrates on maximizing throughput of those assets. We built the first retail E85 site on the West Coast and now
May 19, 2015 Read Full Article
Low Carbon Transport on the Move: What’s up in Australia?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Electrics, fuel cell vehicles, smart cars, biofuels for road and sky, and greening the grid come under the microscope Down Under. In Sydney this week, a number of US and Australian leaders gathered at the
May 15, 2015 Read Full Article
Total La Mede Crude Refining to Cease: Update 3
(Argus) Total will cease crude refining at its loss-making 160,000 b/d La Mede refinery and convert it into a 500,000 t/yr biofuels facility, the company confirmed today in its French refinery strategy plan. La Mede will cease crude refinery operations by the
April 17, 2015 Read Full Article
High-Yield Hydrogen Production from Biomass by in vitro Metabolic Engineering: Mixed Sugars Coutilization and Kinetic Modeling
Joseph A. Rollin, Julia Martin del Campo, Suwan Myung, Fangfang Sun, Chun You, Allison Bakovic, Roberto Castro, Sanjeev K. Chandrayan, Chang-Hao Wu, Michael W. W. Adams, Ryan S. Senger, and Y.-H. Percival Zhang (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
April 13, 2015 Read Full Article
Corn Husks a Promising Source of Renewable Fuel
(Yahoo! News/Agence France-Presse) US scientists said Monday they have found a way to use discarded corn husks and stalks to make cheap hydrogen fuel that doesn't pollute the environment like fossil fuels. The advances by a team at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
April 07, 2015 Read Full Article
Low Carbon Fuel Project Inches Closer to Construction
by Russell Hixson (Journal of Commerce) Blue Fuel Energy, based in Victoria, plans to make its final decision on a $2.5 billion gas refinery at the end of the year. The renewables and natural gas-to-gasoline plant would be built at a
February 08, 2015 Read Full Article
George W. Bush’s Favorite Green Car Is Making a Comeback
by Jason Plautz (National Journal) Under President George W. Bush, hydrogen-powered cars were the automotive technology of the future, with the promise of ditching gasoline and driving for miles with only water as exhaust. But a lackluster market and tepid government
February 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Energy Secretary Moniz Unveils More Than $55 Million to Advance Fuel Efficient Vehicle Technologies
(US Department of Energy) Following the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, January 20 in which President Obama highlighted the surge in U.S. manufacturing and the strong growth in the auto industry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz today announced more than
January 23, 2015 Read Full Article
CPI Work to Transform Food Waste into Graphene and Renewable Hydrogen
(Centre for Process Innovation) The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is leading a European collaborative project that aims to transform food waste into a sustainable source of significant economic added value, namely graphene and renewable hydrogen. The project titled ‘PlasCarb’ will
January 15, 2015 Read Full Article
Shell: Expects to Be Producing Advanced Biofuels at Scale, in US, by End of Decade
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Shell VP Matthew Tipper, at ABLCNext: “We will likely begin manufacture in the southeast United States. We plan to be operational by late this decade. “We believe our best bet is woody biomass and energy
November 21, 2014 Read Full Article
Advocates: Minnesota Needs More Alternative Fuel
by Logan Wroge (Twin Cities Daily Planet) ... “A token amount of renewable energy isn’t going to cut it. We need a total transition,” said Simone Childs-Walker, a member of the student group Fossil Free Minnesota. The Legislative Energy Commission
November 20, 2014 Read Full Article
Yield Quest for Cellulosic biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Could a new wave of cellulsoic processes find the key to capturing the carbon lost by today’s technologies — and providing a drive to lower costs that busts through infrastructure barriers? Iogen has been running its
November 13, 2014 Read Full Article
New Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association Website Helps Public Learn About America’s Exciting Fuel Cell Technology
(Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association) With interest in fuel cells growing around the nation, the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) today launched its new website to help the public understand the many benefits of fuel cell technology. The website
September 16, 2014 Read Full Article
The Hydrogen Wall: Looking at the Prospects for Drop-In Biofuels
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 might be finding enough hydrogen.
August 12, 2014 Read Full Article
Simple Air-and-Water Fuel Soon to Take Off
by Karin Kloosterman (Israel21c.org) An Israeli professor is poised to ramp up production of an exciting alternative to polluting jet fuels and natural gas. An Israeli research team from Ben-Gurion University has developed something that seems like fuel for the futuristic
July 10, 2014 Read Full Article
Developers of the First Cellulosic Plants Share Updates at FEW
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) ... A week before the FEW, Enerkem Inc. celebrated the inauguration of its 10 MMgy facility in Edmonton, Alberta. Commissioning is nearly completed, reported Tim Cesarek, senior vice president of business development. The thermochemical process
June 12, 2014 Read Full Article
Fuel from the Sea: Scale Model WWII Craft Takes Flight with Seawater
by Daniel Parry (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory/Renewable Energy World) Navy researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Materials Science and Technology Division, demonstrate proof-of-concept of novel NRL technologies developed for the recovery of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2)
May 14, 2014 Read Full Article
Return of the Pyromaniax: Proton Power and Its Hydrous Pyrolysis Process for Super Low-Cost Hydrogen
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A new wonder technology to behold: über low-cost hydrous pyrolysis for power and fuels. What’s up at the front lines with the pyro kings? A few weeks ago, in our continuing coverage of recent advances in
May 13, 2014 Read Full Article
Biofuels Digest Posts "Hot Slides" from Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) On ABLC's opening morning, we have some of the top slides -an inside look from Inbicon, Ensyn, GranBio, Sapphire Energy, LanzaTech - hot topics such as product portfolios, refinery integration, policy cliffs, the use of
April 25, 2014 Read Full Article
Frost & Sullivan: Hydrogen Unlikely to be 21st Century's Chief Alternative Energy Source
(Frost & Sullivan/Digital Journal/PR Newswire) Countries across the globe are desperately looking for alternate sources of power that are dense enough to accommodate consumption needs, while preserving the global ecosystem. Amongst the contenders for mainstream alternative energy production is hydrogen
April 01, 2014 Read Full Article
Making Silk Purses from Sows Ears: Converting Waste Into Energy and Biofuels, Pt 1 and 2
by Tim Sklar (Biofuels Digest) Part 1 ... It seems that many of the companies providing new biofuels technologies do not fully understanding the competitive environment that they must navigate. As a consequence they fail to develop strategies that will allow
March 27, 2014 Read Full Article
The Hydrogen Spring
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Reminiscent of 2009′s Summer of Algae, when those technologies were coming out of the woodwork, we appear to be in the Hydrogen Spring. Every time we write about them, more pop up, like a Prairie
March 14, 2014 Read Full Article
The Hunt for Hydrogen and Hydro-Riches
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 successful completion of a six
March 07, 2014 Read Full Article
Highway Agency Moving toward New Alt Fuel Rules
by Tim Devaney (The Hill Reg Watch) ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Wednesday it is considering a new rule that would require car manufacturers to indicate which vehicles can operate on alternative fuels and explain which alternative fuels
February 20, 2014 Read Full Article
Iogen Announces New Drop-In Cellulosic Biofuel
(Iogen) Iogen Corporation today announced it has developed and patented a new method to make drop-in cellulosic biofuels from biogas using existing refinery assets and production operations. The company estimates there is refining capacity in place to incorporate 5-6 billion gallons per year
February 12, 2014 Read Full Article
Pathfinder: Sierra Energy Heads for a World beyond Garbage, Traditional Power, Fuel
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...One of these days, someone might make a commercial in which the protagonists find a detour around some methane-reeking Mt. Garbage, crowning peak in a range of towering landfill mountains. In the foreground, impassable mountains
February 06, 2014 Read Full Article
Hydrogen, Gasoline, Solar Panel Hybrid or Cellulosic Ethanol: What’s Better, What’s Best?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This past week, we’ve had the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Plenty of opportunities for new automotive technologies to strut their stuff — and they’ve
January 14, 2014 Read Full Article
An Enzymatic Route to H2 Storage
by Inês A. C. Pereira (Science Magazine) Electricity is increasingly produced from renewable sources, but it remains difficult to store electric power at a large scale. Hydrogen is a strong candidate for energy storage, but there is still no safe, economically
December 13, 2013 Read Full Article
Space, the Biobased Frontier: Hot Biotechnologies for the Big Beyond
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Next-gen biofuels technologies may be key to making the International Space Station cost effective — not to mention, other destinations in the NASA agenda. Which may explain why a high-tech algae outfit, Evodos, is advertising
October 22, 2013 Read Full Article
New Device Harnesses Sun and Sewage to Produce Hydrogen Fuel
by Tim Stephens (University of California Santa Cruz) A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment. A research team led by Yat Li,
October 18, 2013 Read Full Article
Water + Sunshine = Fuel as Lab in California Chases Dream: Cars
by Alan Ohnsman (Bloomberg) ...Mimicking the way plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air into energy and oxygen, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology is in a race to trump nature and slow global
August 23, 2013 Read Full Article
New Innovative Technology for Low Cost Monatomic Hydrogen and Biofuels
(Advanced Plasma Industries Inc. /Phys.Org) Hydrogen fuel cells are emerging as key players in the clean energy landscape of the future, except for one problem: it takes a lot of energy to make hydrogen (H2-molecular), and here in the US,
July 26, 2013 Read Full Article
Applications of Acceptorless Dehydrogenation and Related Transformations in Chemical Synthesis
by Chidambaram Gunanathan, David Milstein (Science Magazine) Conventional oxidations of organic compounds formally transfer hydrogen atoms from the substrate to an acceptor molecule such as oxygen, a metal oxide, or a sacrificial olefin. In acceptorless dehydrogenation (AD) reactions, catalytic scission of
July 22, 2013 Read Full Article
Doing it in the Dark: Fuel from Thin Air, and beyond Light
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Beyond biomass, beyond fossil fuels, beyond light itself. And now, the direct production of drop-in biofuel blendstocks. All available from a microbial “cow”. This week in California, a research team from Shota Atsumi’s lab at the
May 23, 2013 Read Full Article
Recipe for Low-Cost, Biomass-Derived Catalyst for Hydrogen Production
(Brookhaven National Laboratory) Promising results are a step toward a range of renewable energy strategies fueled by Nature In a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Energy & Environmental Science (now available online), researchers at the U.S. Department
April 29, 2013 Read Full Article
Hydrogen Production Efficiency Discovery in Green Algae
by Anneli Waara (Algae Industry Magazine) ...However, a group of researchers at Sweden’s Uppsala University, led by Senior Lecturer Fikret Mamedov and Professor Stenbjörn Styring, have just announced a discovery that changes the view on hydrogen production from green algae.
April 18, 2013 Read Full Article
Oxygen for High Altitudes: 17 Biofuels Ventures Raise $434M in Equity
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Despite the sluggish economic recovery and questions over policy stability — biofuels ventures have been busy raising lots of capital. In the past 6 months, $434 million. Who got what, where, when and why? ...supplemental oxygen,
April 08, 2013 Read Full Article
Breakthrough in Hydrogen Fuel Production Could Revolutionize Alternative Energy Market
(Virginia Tech News) A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world. “Our new
April 05, 2013 Read Full Article
The Hydrogen Problem
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A numbers of readers responding to “Biofuels from a raging fireball” (Friday’s Top Story, on research work with the raging fireball, Pyrococchus furiosus, to make biofuels and renewable chemicals from hydrogen gas and CO2) raised
April 02, 2013 Read Full Article
Ash from Refuse Could Become Hydrogen Gas
(Lund University) ...The ash is what is left when rubbish has been burnt in thermal power stations. A researcher from Lund University in Sweden has now developed a technique to use the ash to produce hydrogen gas. The method is
March 27, 2013 Read Full Article
Biorefinery 2015 – The Shape of Advanced Biofuels to Come – Part II
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Today in part II, we look at a new set of technologies coming along that are redefining our ideas about scale and cost. ... A barrier to long term deployment? The $11 per gallon average capital
March 26, 2013 Read Full Article
Petroleum Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Automobiles Could Drop 80 Percent by 2050; Efficiency, Alternative Fuels, and Strong Government Policies Will Be Needed
(National Academies of Science) A new National Research Council report finds that by the year 2050, the U.S. may be able to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent for light-duty vehicles -- cars and small trucks -- via
March 19, 2013 Read Full Article
Renewable Energy Vehicle Club Has Optimistic Goals
by Molly Craig (Iowa State Daily) In the spring of 2012, Tyler Cain had an idea. A year later, his idea has grown into his passion project: the REV club. REV stands for Renewable Energy Vehicle. Think along the lines of
March 08, 2013 Read Full Article
Hot Sauce! 5 Lessons Louisiana Can Teach Us about Advanced Bayoufuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Louisiana — hot as cayenne pepper in biofuels capacity development, but some cautionary tales there in the sauce. When it comes to the first generation of ethanol and biodiesel-based biofuels, Louisiana didn’t figure much into the
March 07, 2013 Read Full Article
Energy Department Announces New Investment to Advance Cost-Competitive Hydrogen Fuel
(US Department of Energy) The Energy Department today announced a $1 million investment to analyze and evaluate potential cost-competitive pathways for producing and transporting hydrogen fuel. The project selected—led by Strategic Analysis, Inc. in Arlington, Virginia—will identify cost-effective and efficient
February 15, 2013 Read Full Article
EU Launches Clean Fuel Strategy
(European Commission) The European Commission today announced an ambitious package of measures to ensure the build-up of alternative fuel stations across Europe with common standards for their design and use. Policy initiatives so far have mostly addressed the actual fuels
February 06, 2013 Read Full Article
UK Scientists to Mimic Plants to Make Zero-Carbon Fuel
by Nina Chestney (Reuters) British scientists seeking to tap more efficient forms of solar power are exploring how to mimic the way plants transform sunlight into energy and produce hydrogen to fuel vehicles. They will join other researchers around the world studying
January 24, 2013 Read Full Article
The Information Source for Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles
(US Department of Energy) The Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) provides information, data, and tools to help fleets and other transportation decisions makers find ways to reduce petroleum consumption through the use of alternative and renewable fuels, advanced vehicles, and
November 27, 2012 Read Full Article
The Greening of Petronas: Oil Giant Signs with LanzaTech to Turn Waste CO2 into Sustainable Chemicals
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In Malaysia, LanzaTech and the Malaysian national oil company, Petronas, announced they will work together to accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies to produce sustainable chemicals from carbon dioxide (CO2) and natural gas. ...The good
October 16, 2012 Read Full Article
Researchers Make Hydrogen as Cellulosic Ethanol Coproduct
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Rather than focusing on a single microbe capable of converting cellulose to ethanol in a fermenter, researchers at Michigan State University are mimicking nature, culturing two bacteria that grow synergistically. The process creates two
July 17, 2012 Read Full Article
2012 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting
Each year at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting (AMR) hydrogen, fuel cell and advanced vehicle technologies projects funded by DOE are presented and
June 14, 2012 Read Full Article
Researchers Look at Using Food Waste for Hydrogen
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) What might be a good use of food waste? Hydrogen. Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK are creating bioenergy in the form of hydrogen for use an an alternative to gasoline. Researchers note that in
June 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Energy-Dense Biofuel from Cellulose Close to Being Economical
(Purdue University) A new Purdue University-developed process for creating biofuels has shown potential to be cost-effective for production scale, opening the door for moving beyond the laboratory setting. A Purdue economic analysis shows that the cost of the thermo-chemical H2Bioil method
June 05, 2012 Read Full Article
'Hydrogen Is Tomorrow's Biofuel' Say Scientists
(University of Birmingham) Researchers from the University of Birmingham are creating clean hydrogen from food waste paving the way for a bioenergy alternative for the future. Currently, Brazil is the world’s most intensive user of bioethanol as an alternative to gasoline for
May 30, 2012 Read Full Article
HyperSolar Discloses Development Plan for Breakthrough Renewable Hydrogen and Natural Gas Technology
(HyperSolar) Company lays out specific milestones for reaching commercial viability of the world’s first nanotechnology-based, zero-carbon process for the production of renewable hydrogen and natural gas HyperSolar, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen and natural gas
March 23, 2012 Read Full Article
No Farm Bill, No Tier 3—Not until after the Election; Sundrop Fuels Presents an Alternative
By Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) At the March 21 Bioenergy Day on Capitol Hill, discussion focused on the need for a continued Renewable Fuels Standard, reviews of the history of biofuels, assessment of current questioning of biofuels as viable
March 23, 2012 Read Full Article
Fungus Research at Montana State University Could Help Biofuels Production
by Jason Bacaj (Bozeman Daily Chronicle) ...(Mark) Kozubal found the fungus could survive in an acidic habitat with a pH of 6, an acidity level similar to cow’s milk. What was really amazing, though, was when he took it out
January 23, 2012 Read Full Article
Want Cheap Biofuel? A Startup Makes It with Natural Gas
by Kevin Bullis (MIT Technology Review) Virent says supplementing biomass with fossil fuel could increase yields and lower costs. Virent, a biofuels company based in Madison, Wisconsin, has developed a potentially inexpensive way to make gasoline and other valuable chemicals out
January 18, 2012 Read Full Article
Portable Ammonia Factories Could Fuel Clean Cars
by Helen Knight (New Scientist) Ammonia produces just nitrogen and water vapour when burned and, unlike hydrogen, it is relatively easy to store in liquid form. That means transporting ammonia will not require costly new infrastructure, says John Fleming of SilverEagles Energy
September 10, 2011 Read Full Article
New Zealand, Texas Companies Collaborate on Algae Process
by Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine) Aquaflow Bionomic Corp., a New Zealand-based algae technology developer, is taking a broad approach to algae-to-fuel development—one the company’s director Nick Gerritsen said may include nonalgae feedstocks. Aquaflow recently agreed to work with Texas-based CRI
August 31, 2011 Read Full Article
More Advances in Producing Inexpensive Hydrogen
by Glenn Meyers (CleanTechnica) There is now more good news on producing hydrogen, the clean-burning fuel that leaves behind water as an emission. An international scientific team has announced creating hydrogen using ambient temperatures and pressure through a combination of sunlight
May 31, 2011 Read Full Article
MIT Researchers Increase Algal Hydrogen Production
(Algae Industry Magazine) Many kinds of algae and cyanobacteria are capable of using energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen. One reason this approach hasn’t yet been harnessed for fuel production is that under ordinary circumstances, hydrogen
May 31, 2011 Read Full Article
Austin Peay State University Professor and Students Author Paper on Groundbreaking Biofuel Research
(Clarksville Online) ...Dr. Sergi Markov, associate professor of biology at Austin Peay State University, has an idea that could help push the alternative fuel race to new levels of possibility. For the last several years, Markov and two of his APSU
February 22, 2011 Read Full Article
GM CEO Akerson Says 'Doors Open' to Alternative Energy
by Chris Woodyard (USA Today) Just because General Motors (GM) is touting its Chevrolet Volt electric car technology, it hasn't stopped pursuing other energy alternatives, from hydrogen fuel cells to natural gas, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said Wednesday. ... •Hydrogen. While "There
February 18, 2011 Read Full Article
Hawaii Hydrogen Infrastructure Gets Boost
(PRNewsWire) Ten companies, agencies and universities have joined an initiative between The Gas Company (TGC), and General Motors to make hydrogen-powered vehicles and a fueling infrastructure a reality in Hawaii by 2015. The plan, called the Hawaii Hydrogen Initiative (H(2)I), aims to
December 08, 2010 Read Full Article
EU-Wide Study Confirms Hydrogen Is a Key to Zero-Emission Road Transport
(MarketWatch/Linde) ...Linde is currently researching various production options aimed at gradually increasing the share of "green" sources in the hydrogen landscape. One of these uses liquid biomass (glycerine), a by-product of biodiesel production, as the feedstock. READ MORE From the report: The
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
OriginOil Achieves Hydrogen Production Comparable to Photovoltaics
(Origin Oil) Research breakthrough points to a highly scalable and renewable source of hydrogen OriginOil, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced that it
November 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Rochester Airport Explosion: Hydrogen Tanks Ignite
(Democrat and Chronicle) Two hydrogen tanks at Monroe County's alternative fuel station on Scottsville Road exploded and caught fire this afternoon, sending black smoke high in the air. The blasts were heard as far away as Pittsford. A male employee of
August 27, 2010 Read Full Article
New Development in the Algae Field Could Lead to the ‘Holy Grail’ of Hydrogen Production
by Jonathan Williams (Algae Industry Magazine) ...(O)one of the major roadblocks on the road to a hydrogen economy is the cost to produce hydrogen. If hydrogen is to become a viable fuel source, it will need to be produced cheaply.
July 23, 2010 Read Full Article
OriginOil Announces Breakthrough Hydrogen Harvester Invention
(OriginOil) New technology taps hydrogen generated by living algae. OriginOil, Inc. , the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, July 8, 2010, announced a new invention that generates
July 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Ethanol Likely to Have Major Role as Fuel
by Jim Kenzie (Wheel.ca) ...So far, everyone seems to think that the only way we’ll wean ourselves off decomposed dinosaur remains is if we either can’t find any more, or it becomes so expensive to find/extract/ship/refine that we’ll have to find