by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This project, 33% complete with $400k in FY24 funding, aims to develop predictive chemistry and particle microphysics models for SAF contrail formation, a major climate impact driver (57.4 mW/m2 Effective Radiative Forcing). A multi-scale ice nucleation
machine learning
Back TO HOMEDeep Learning Revolutionizes Biodiesel Production
by Noopur Jain (AZO CleanTech) In a recent article published in Green Energy and Intelligent Transportation, researchers emphasize the integration of advanced computational techniques—specifically deep learning and artificial neural networks (ANNs)—to accelerate biodiesel research. By harnessing the predictive capabilities of deep learning, scientists
September 09, 2025 Read Full Article
Scientists Use AI to Predict Protein Structure and Function
by Sophia Ramirez (Brookhaven National Laboratory) Researchers developed an artificial intelligence workflow that could help them grow biofuel crops on infertile soil and protect the plants from infectious diseases -- Using data from known protein structures and sequences, scientists developed an artificial
September 09, 2025 Read Full Article
Advancements in Artificial Neural Networks and Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass Processing: A Comprehensive Review and a Bibliometric Analysis
by Khaoula Laouidi, Sanae Habchi, Casimir Kalibe Fanezoune, Brahim Sallek, Nataliia Kussul, and Hassan El Bari (Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis) • Bibliometric analysis reveals growth in ANN applications in pyrolysis processes. ANN algorithms were extensively studied for the fast pyrolysis of several biomass. ANN optimizes reactor conditions, boosting
August 31, 2025 Read Full Article
Revolutionizing Biodiesel: How Deep Learning Is Transforming Sustainable Fuel Production
((Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd/EurekAlert!) As the world grapples with climate change and dwindling fossil fuel reserves, biodiesel emerges as a promising renewable alternative to conventional diesel. However, the journey toward sustainable biodiesel production faces significant hurdles, particularly
August 29, 2025 Read Full Article
The Rising Role of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Biofuel Innovation
by Will Wetzel (Spectroscopy) A new bibliometric study published in Infrared Physics & Technology highlights the growing global impact of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in biofuel research, revealing key trends, contributors, and future directions for advancing sustainable energy solutions. -- A recently published
July 28, 2025 Read Full Article
Datavault AI to Deploy AI-Driven Supercomputing for Biofuel Innovation
(Datavault AI) Computational Modeling and High Performance Computing (HPC) to Optimize Biofuel Digital Twins and Support U.S. Energy Independence -- Datavault AI Inc. (Nasdaq: DVLT), leading the way in AI data experience, valuation and monetization, is poised to develop an AI-driven multi-modal
June 18, 2025 Read Full Article
University of Surrey Startup BiofuelAI Shortlisted for £1 Million Manchester Prize to Accelerate UK’s Green Energy Transition
(University of Surry) A startup from the University of Surrey is one of just ten finalists shortlisted for the Manchester Prize – a UK government-backed award that supports AI solutions for the public good. BiofuelAI now has the chance to win
June 12, 2025 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to ABF Project Management
by Jim Lane (REenergize the Gulf Coast) In this presentation, researchers look at the management plan for this ABF project includes bimonthly video calls and updates by task leads, with monthly tracking. The team comprises experts in various fields like synthetic
March 24, 2025 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to Next-Generation Feedstocks for the Emerging Bioeconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A team of researchers have designed a project to develop productive, cost-effective, and sustainable warm-season perennial bioenergy feedstock production systems on marginal croplands across geographic locations in the Midwest. They have found that there is limited data
October 24, 2024 Read Full Article
BASF Launches xarvio BIOENERGY in the US to Help Lower the CI of Corn Grown for Ethanol Production
(BASF/Ethanol Producer Magazine) BASF has launched xarvio BIOENERGY, an innovative low carbon intensity crops program that lowers, tracks and documents CI levels in corn grown for ethanol biofuel production in the U.S. Xarvio BIOENERGY offers the biofuel production supply chain - growers, retail agronomists
October 04, 2024 Read Full Article
Knowledge-Guided Machine Learning Can Improve Carbon Cycle Quantification in Agroecosystems
by Licheng Liu, Wang Zhou, Kaiyu Guan, et al. (Nature Communications) Accurate and cost-effective quantification of the carbon cycle for agroecosystems at decision-relevant scales is critical to mitigating climate change and ensuring sustainable food production. However, conventional process-based or data-driven modeling
September 13, 2024 Read Full Article
Researchers Develop Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Models to Analyze Corn Kernels and Biomass
by Marianne Stein (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign/Phys.Org) In the agricultural and food industry, determining the chemical composition of raw materials is important for production efficiency, application, and price. Traditional laboratory testing is time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. New research from the University
August 28, 2024 Read Full Article
Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity: University Training and Research for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
(U.S. Department of Energy) On August 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) released a notice of intent to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in support of its University Training and Research program.
August 27, 2024 Read Full Article
Tens of Millions of Acres of Cropland Lie Abandoned, Study Shows
by Erin Blakemore (Washington Post) The biggest changes took place around the Ogallala Aquifer, whose groundwater irrigates parts of numerous states, including Colorado, Texas and Wyoming. -- About 30 million acres of U.S. cropland have been abandoned since the 1980s, a new
June 11, 2024 Read Full Article
The ABCDE Chain: Acetogens, the Baltic forests, Clean fuels, Dorpat, the Enlightenment
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... If you have gleaned from earlier editions of The Digest that acetogens can make the useful chemical acetate from waste carbon and green hydrogen, you’ve remembered it well. If recall is sketchy, may I recommend All
June 10, 2024 Read Full Article
Available Now! BETO 2023 Project Peer Review Presentations
(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) hosted the 2023 Project Peer Review on April 3-7, 2023, in Denver, CO. During this in-person event, more than 280 projects in BETO’s research, development, and demonstration portfolios presented their progress
June 02, 2023 Read Full Article
New Report: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Bioenergy Research: Opportunities and Challenge
(U.S. Department of Energy) The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) with automated experimentation, genomics, biosystems design, and bioprocessing represents a new data-driven research paradigm poised to revolutionize scientific investigation and, particularly, bioenergy research. To identify the opportunities and
May 03, 2023 Read Full Article
Machine Learning Model Speeds up Assessing Catalysts for Decarbonization Technology from Months to Milliseconds
by Joseph E. Harmon (Argonne National Laboratory) Scientists create computational model for identifying low-cost catalysts that convert biomass into fuels and useful chemicals with low carbon footprint. ... A major stumbling block at present is lack of effective, low-cost catalysts needed
March 01, 2023 Read Full Article
NREL Launches Synthetic Biology Project to Advance Biofuels
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory/Ethanol Producer Magazine) The pathway that leads us away from unsustainable fossil fuel consumption is not straight and narrow but filled with many branches of possibilities. One of those branches—carbon-negative production of biofuels and biochemicals—is the focus of
February 22, 2023 Read Full Article
NextChem Kicks Off the Engineering Phase of Rome Hydrogen Valley (IPCEI HY2USE) and Awards LanzaTech the Process Design Contract for the Circular Ethanol Unit
(LanzaTech/Globe Newswire) The contract relates to the syngas fermentation section of NextChem Hydrogen Valley to produce circular ethanol as initial co-product together with Circular Hydrogen™ -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that NextChem, through its subsidiary MyRechemical, has kicked off the engineering
October 25, 2022 Read Full Article
How Much Mining Is Needed to Save the Planet?
by Jael Holzman (E&E News/Greenwire) With climate change pushing the U.S. toward more rapid adoption of new technologies, many Republicans and Democrats are in rare agreement on one key point: This country needs a lot more mines. But exactly how much new
October 14, 2022 Read Full Article
New Joint Venture Executed to Escalate Industrial Hemp Industry as a Sustainable Solution in North America
(Global Cannabis Applications Corporation/The Newswire) Global Compliance Applications Corp. ("GCAC" or the "Company") (CSE:APP), (FSE:2FA), (OTC:FUAPF), announces a strategic partnership with ThingBlu Inc., a Washington state-based business with a SaaS agriculture business intelligence solution and B&M Products and Services LLP, an Indiana state company that has contracts with
October 12, 2022 Read Full Article
The Zymerger: Ginkgo Acquires Zymergen as the Industrial Biotech Carousel of Slower than Expected Progress Takes Another Spin
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)The Iron Law of Sustainability reasserted itself this morning when Ginkgo BioWorks acquired Zymergen and along with it a vast sea of intellectual property and some tasty business opportunities, for the bargain price of $300 million. It’s just a fraction of the
July 26, 2022 Read Full Article
From the Lab to Jet Engines: New Software Tools Will Speed up Biojet Fuel Development
by Katy Christiansen (Department of Energy) ...The first tool, Feedstock to Function, addresses one of the biggest hurdles involved in starting biojet fuel research: knowing whether a molecule could be viable as a fuel. “During early stage development, we are often missing
November 08, 2021 Read Full Article
With NREL’s Feedstock Research, Algae and Garbage Could Be Ingredients for Zero-Emissions Fuels of the Future
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory) In theory, over 1 billion tons of biomass could be sustainably collected and processed into biofuels by 2030 in the United States, according to U.S. Department of Energy analysis. But turning that theory into practice hinges on improvements
October 31, 2021 Read Full Article
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Idaho National Laboratory
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Barriers abound in the bioeconomy, but this slide guide from Idaho National Lab shows how artificial intelligence and machine learning will lower the barriers to growing a bioeconomy. From biomass supply and logistics to preprocessing
January 15, 2021 Read Full Article
The Tri-Fecta – Machine Learning, Synthetic Biology and Automation: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Joint BioEnergy Institute
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Synthetic biology produces fabrics, food, biofuels, health products and more, but we need better predictive power. Machine learning can help and be used to design pathways or choose promoters to optimize production for example. Hector
December 21, 2020 Read Full Article
FarmLab Thinks It Can Get 1m Farmers to Sequester 1bn Tonnes of CO2 by 2025. Here’s How
by Jack Ellis (Ag Funder News) ... He (FarmLab co-founder and CEO Sam Duncan) started FarmLab with co-founder and chief technology officer Shahriar Jamshidi in 2016 with the aim of making sampling on farms more efficient and wallet-friendly. Back then, it was
December 11, 2020 Read Full Article
Understanding Bacteria's Metabolism Could Improve Biofuel Production
by Jules Bernstein (University of California - Riverside/Phys.Org) A new study reveals how bacteria control the chemicals produced from consuming 'food.' The insight could lead to organisms that are more efficient at converting plants into biofuels. The study, authored by scientists at
December 03, 2020 Read Full Article
Who’s in Hot Water, Cold Water, and Who’s Just Right?: Mitsubishi, Monolith Materials, Codexis, Casdin, LG Chem, Neste, Wells Fargo, EPA, NXTLEVVEL, Elementis, Growth Energy, US National Labs, Ginkgo Bioworks in the News
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Who’s in Hot Water? Some of the Usual Suspects get into the usual trouble. We note that EPA missed the 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation deadline, and Growth Energy threatens a lawsuit. Really. We get tired of reporting on
December 03, 2020 Read Full Article
Lowering Tech Barriers to Grow Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) There are major barriers in growing a bioeconomy, but Idaho National Laboratory is tackling some of those by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the supply of sustainable biomass feedstock for conversion to
November 06, 2020 Read Full Article
Machine Learning Takes on Synthetic Biology: Algorithms Can Bioengineer Cells for You
by Julie Chao (Berkeley National Laboratory) If you’ve eaten vegan burgers that taste like meat or used synthetic collagen in your beauty routine – both products that are “grown” in the lab – then you’ve benefited from synthetic biology. It’s a field
October 15, 2020 Read Full Article
Department of Energy Selects New Projects to Accelerate Innovation and Growth in the Biomanufacturing Sector
(U.S. Department of Energy) Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of eight projects totaling over $5 million to conduct research and development (R&D) needed to accelerate the US biomanufacturing sector. Part of the Agile BioFoundry (ABF) consortium, these