(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced $20.2 million in funding for 10 university and industry projects to advance mixed algae development for low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts. Located
kelp
Back TO HOMEThe Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to Marine BioEnergy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Giant Kelp is one of the fastest growing producers of biomass. Giant kelp does not grow naturally in the open ocean because kelp needs key nutrients that are available in deep ocean water or near
May 14, 2024 Read Full Article
25 Bold Actions to Accelerate Global Bioeconomy Deployment: Results from the 9/22/23 Meet-up of the Bold Goals Action Group in Sydney
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Australia, at the initial meet-up of the global Bold Goals Action Group, leaders of the global bioeconomy, a “coalition of the willing”, established a draft of 25 Bold Actions that, if achieved by the various stakeholders in
September 29, 2023 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2023 Multi-Slide Guide to Marine BioEnergy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Giant Kelp is one of the fastest growing producers of biomass. Giant kelp does not grow naturally in the open ocean because kelp needs key nutrients that are available in deep ocean water or near shore
August 11, 2023 Read Full Article
Researchers Are Using Beer Wastewater to Develop Biofuels
by Chloe Nordquist (WCPO) ... Plastic, cow poop, beer wastewater — you name it, and researchers are working with it to create alternative biofuel products. ... Researchers at the University of San Diego in California are developing an unlikely mixture to help power the future. “In
July 27, 2023 Read Full Article
Threat to Whales Complicates US Research into Seaweed for Biofuel
by Gloria Dickie (Reuters) U.S. Department of Energy has invested $55 million in seaweed biofuel research; Whale biologists worry kelp growing gear could entangle critically endangered North Atlantic right whales; Seaweed farms test out stiffer, whale-friendly gear -- ... Now, the
June 07, 2023 Read Full Article
How an Aquatic Organism Could Be Key to Net-Zero Aviation
by Camelia Sadeghzadeh (BBC/4:08 Productions) Aviation currently leaves a major footprint on the world's climate, producing almost 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Giant kelp, the fastest growing seaweed in the world, is a highly promising source for making sustainable biofuels.
March 29, 2023 Read Full Article
Quantifying Baseline Costs and Cataloging Potential Optimization Strategies for Kelp Aquaculture Carbon Dioxide Removal
by Struan Coleman , Tobias Dewhurst, David W. Fredriksson, Adam T. St. Gelais, Kelly L. Cole, Michael MacNicoll, Eric Laufer, and Damian C. Brady (School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine) To keep global surface warming below 1.5 °C by
July 26, 2022 Read Full Article
Can Marine Carbon Sequestration Make a Difference?: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to SNAME
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yes, biological ocean carbon sequestration could help prevent catastrophic climate change, according to Christopher Barry from SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers). How? What are the physical and biological options? What are the
June 02, 2022 Read Full Article
Seaweed Farming Has Vast Potential (But Good Luck Getting a Permit)
by Alex Brown (PEW Stateline) ... The state’s permitting process involves nine different agencies, and the paperwork is so burdensome and time-consuming that few people bother. “There's a lot of people who are interested in seaweed farming, take a look at that
March 31, 2022 Read Full Article
Could Algae Be the Answer to Aviation's Big Carbon Problem?
by Jacob Dykes (Geographical) ... Hydrogen, in both its liquid and gaseous forms, is light and powerful. If the supply chain can be made greener and cheaper, it’s seen by some as the long-term solution to decarbonising aviation. But others point
March 09, 2022 Read Full Article
Closing the Gap in Renewable Energy – the Next 80%?
by Sergey Nuzhdin, Kristen Davis, Meredith Brooks, Ann Carpenter, Pierre Wensel, and Cindy Wilcox, (Cluster for Sustainable Seaweed Solutions (CS3)/Biofuels Digest) .. (A) similar marine “Blue Revolution” is the potential key to meet global demand for biofuel, feed, and food security
November 10, 2021 Read Full Article
Waste to Energy: Biofuel from Kelp Harvesting and Fish
by Kelsey Adkisson (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory/Newswise) Possibility of cheaper, greener fuel for remote, coastal Alaska communities -- Kelp is plentiful in remote, coastal Alaska. Fuel is not. And it’s expensive. Many isolated communities rely on diesel generators for energy because they
August 03, 2021 Read Full Article
Corona’s Barley Waste Packaging, Skittles Biodegradable Wrappers, Nestlé’s Biobased Polyethylene, and More: The Digest’s Top 8 Innovations for the Week of March 25th
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) The coronavirus vaccine is offering hope to end a global pandemic, much like rainbows signal hope and solidarity. Today’s Top 8 Innovations are full of Corona and Rainbows, but in a different way. From beer
March 25, 2021 Read Full Article
USC Scientists May Have Unlocked Kelp’s Potential as a Major Biofuel Source
by Gary Polakovic (USC News) Using a “kelp elevator,” researchers at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies were able to grow the biofuel crop in large quantities in the open ocean. ... Scientists at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Santa Catalina
March 03, 2021 Read Full Article
Looking Back on 2020, Algae Thrived.
(Algae Biomass Organization) ... Our collective effort has resulted in record-breaking policy support, including: $70 million for algae industry research, development, and demonstration in 2020 Congressional appropriations for DOE’s Bioenergy Technology Office, Office of Fossil Energy, and Office of Science. $110 million
January 04, 2021 Read Full Article
UWM Scientist Receives Grant to Study Giant Kelp as a Biofuel
by Tom Luljak (WUWM) Giant kelp is usually found thousands of miles from Milwaukee. It’s known for being an incredibly fast-growing seaweed in the Pacific Ocean. But recently, scientists have learned that the kelp could be a huge source for
December 18, 2020 Read Full Article
How Natural Gas Utilities Are Developing the RNG Market in a Decarbonizing World—Webinar Review
by Hannah DelSordo* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The December 15th webinar discussed how natural gas utilities are developing the renewable natural gas (RNG) market in a decarbonizing world. This event featured speaker Philip Sheehy, the technical director of transportation and energy
December 17, 2020 Read Full Article
Policy and Investment Failures Doomed the Biofuel Revolution
by Todd Woody (Bloomberg Green) To reignite the industry, biofuels need the type of government incentives that allowed solar and wind companies to flourish, analysts say. -- ... Technology from Honeywell’s subsidiary UOP had refined the camelina into renewable jet fuel,
July 09, 2020 Read Full Article
The Competitive Edge: Marine BioEnergy, Inc.
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... We can add capacity for energy by turning to the massive spaces in the open oceans to gather sunlight to grow abundant, competitive biomass for carbon-neutral fuels. For scale, we need 220,000 square kilometers to
April 24, 2020 Read Full Article
Kelp Elevator Could Give Biofuels a Lift
by Katharine Gammon (Inside Science) An experiment off the coast of California may bolster efforts to make biocrude from "the Sequoia of the sea." --- Catalina Island, .... Its waters are also home to an unsual-looking science experiment: a floating bed
October 14, 2019 Read Full Article
For The Sake Of Our Biofuel, We Must Stop This Feral Hog Menace
by Tina Casey (Clean Technica) ... Aside from scaring the children and scattering the chickens, they are genuinely a major threat to US agriculture and yet another headache for farmers who are already suffering under the impacts of climate change
August 26, 2019 Read Full Article
Farming Seaweed to Make Biofuel
(AZO Cleantech) Seaweed can be broadly termed as marine macroalgae, and belongs to one of the many groups of multicellular red, green and brown algae. Seaweed is widely used to produce vitamin supplements, cosmetics, plastics and animal feed in many parts
June 04, 2019 Read Full Article
Kelp Farming Sees a Rise In Interest On the Cape
by Sarah Tan (WCAI) Kelp farming is on the rise around the Cape and Islands, as more growers are finding reasons to love this ocean crop. From researchers like Scott Lindell at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who want to farm the crop
May 14, 2018 Read Full Article
Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference—Thoughts and Tidbits from Day 1
by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The ABLC 2018 conference began at the US Department of Agriculture headquarters with a focus on feedstock. Jordan Solomon, Managing Director & CEO Ecostrat Inc.. kicked off the event with news of new US
March 01, 2018 Read Full Article
Fueling the Future: WHOI Awarded $5.7M to Advance Seaweed Energy Production
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) In the future, our homes and vehicles could be powered by fuel made from seaweed grown at large-scale offshore farms. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are working to help make that scenario a reality sooner
October 09, 2017 Read Full Article
Yelp! 18 Kelp Wheps Get $22M in ARPA-E Help
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yes, ARPA-E has unveiled its latest moonshot and is investing $22M in Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources — also known as MARINER. The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program
September 21, 2017 Read Full Article
Startup Is Developing Kelp Farms in the Open Ocean to Make Carbon-Neutral Biofuel
by Lacy Cooke (Inhabitat) Marine BioEnergy’s new kelp elevator grows seaweed on a long tube, and if tests go well, they hope to start farming in the open ocean between Hawaii and California. They’re working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which has
September 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Study Shows Seaweed Succumbs to Viruses
(Phys.Org/University of Plymouth) Scientists are warning the UK kelp biofuel industry to beware of viruses. Whilst known to infect certain types of seaweed, a new study published in the ISME Journal is the first to describe viruses in kelps, which are
August 11, 2017 Read Full Article
First Kelp Crop Harvested in Cornell Pilot Program
by Nicole Smith (Riverhead News-Review) Early Thursday afternoon, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski climbed aboard a barge and headed into the Peconic Bay. Their mission: to harvest sugar kelp, a type of seaweed. The officials participated
June 15, 2017 Read Full Article
Kelp Farming Project Could Come to Catalina Island
by Parimal M. Rohit (The Log) USC’s Wrigley Institute and Marine BioEnergy propose an experimental project to produce a biofuel alternative. -- Plans to build an experimental kelp cultivation system just off the shore of Catalina Island is slated to be
May 05, 2017 Read Full Article
China Team Identifies New Thermophilic Bacterium for Direct Production of Ethanol from Brown Algae
(GreenCarCongress) Researchers from the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences have identified and characterized the first thermophilic bacterium capable (Defluviitalea phaphyphila) of direct conversion of brown algae to
April 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Three New Technologies to Make Energy Cleaner, More Efficient
by Frances White (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Three technologies — a computational tool to improve power grid planning, a process to create biofuel from kelp and a hybrid device that makes hydrogen and stores energy — are being developed by
December 03, 2015 Read Full Article
The 10 Hottest Trends in Algae
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Algae has been touted as the ultimate platform for fuels, chemicals, nutraceuticals, proteins — even cancer therapies. There’s been a rate of progress that would impress any devotee of Moore’s Law — and a series of
March 04, 2014 Read Full Article
Ocean Renewable Energy: The Next Frontier?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Christopher D. Barry and Paul Kamen of the Ocean Renewable Energy Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers have scribed a fascinating, 26-page “Overview of Ocean Renewable Energy,” which includes a look at the potential
September 21, 2012 Read Full Article
Biofuel from beneath the Waves
by Zoe Cormier (Nature) Engineered bacterium can produce ethanol directly from seaweed. Bioengineers have devised a way to produce ethanol from seaweed, laying the groundwork for a biofuel that doesn't sacrifice food crops. Yasuo Yoshikuni and his colleagues at the Bio Architecture
January 20, 2012 Read Full Article
Algae Biofuel Pilot Plant Construction Starts
by Analia Murias (FIS Worldnews) The Biotechnology Consortium (Bal Biofuels) began the construction of the Experimental Centre of Algae (CEA) in Puerto Montt Campus of the University of Los Lagos. The plant is expected to be operational from August next year. The