(Biofuels International) Pat Gruber, CEO of Gevo, has expressed his views to Biofuels International about what the next 12 months will bring. He said: “We appear to be in the midst of a great ‘awakening’. We can do something about
photosynthesis
Back TO HOMENet Zero Drop-In Fuels: The Digest’s 2021 Multi-Slide Guide to Gevo
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Low-carbon, drop-in fuels with a pathway to “net zero” is what Gevo is all about. Capturing renewable energy and transforming it into energy dense, liquid hydrocarbons that can be drop-in fuels is a game changer,
April 08, 2021 Read Full Article
Genome Scalpel Invented for Industrial Microalgae to Efficiently Turn CO2 into Biofuel
(Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters/EurekAlert!) A single-celled alga undergoes genome surgery to remove non-essential parts. This can lead to a most efficient cellular factory for producing sustainable biofuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Researchers from the Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess
March 18, 2021 Read Full Article
Ethanol Industry Options: The Digest’s 2021 Multi-Slide Guide to Transforming a 1st-Gen Biorefinery
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) David Dodds of the ABLC Due Diligence Wolfpack shared this illuminating slide guide at DigestConnect last week on new technologies that can transform 1G refineries – Carbon Capture, hand sanitizers and other new compounds, advanced protein,
March 18, 2021 Read Full Article
New Discovery Could Make Biofuel Production Simpler and Less Expensive
(AZO CleanTech) Scientists have figured out a cheaper, more efficient way to conduct a chemical reaction at the heart of many biological processes, which may lead to better ways to create biofuels from plants. Scientists around the world have been trying for
January 14, 2021 Read Full Article
Research Creates Hydrogen-Producing Living Droplets, Paving Way for Alternative Future Energy Sources
(University of Bristol) Scientists have built tiny droplet-based microbial factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air. The findings of the international research team based at the University of Bristol and Harbin Institute of Technology
November 27, 2020 Read Full Article
Utilizing CO2, as the Cause of Global Warming, as the Source for Fuel and Energy? Green Science Alliance Confirmed Artificial Photosynthesis with their Original Catalyst
(Green Science Alliance Co./CISION/PR Newswire) ... Artificial photosynthesis is one of the innovative technologies to clean up our atmosphere. Just like plants, this technology utilizes the energy of sun light and from CO2 and water, they can produce organic substances including
November 19, 2020 Read Full Article
Plants Rule! Harnessing the Sun for a Negative-Carbon Bio-economy
(Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association) ... Among the Carbon-negative (and climate positive) solutions, those based on photosynthesis are by far the cheapest and most scalable options now, and likely for many decades to come. Properly implemented, these solutions can also provide
October 23, 2020 Read Full Article
For a Climate-Friendly Industry: Using Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen as Raw Materials for Sustainable Chemicals
(Siemens) Evonik and Siemens Energy put pilot plant into operations; Artificial photosynthesis closes carbon dioxide cycle; The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the various project stages with more than €6 million Evonik and Siemens Energy today commissioned a
September 23, 2020 Read Full Article
Using Light-Harvesting Polymers to Speed up Photosynthesis in Algae
by Bob Yirka (Phys.Org) A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found a way to speed up photosynthesis in algae by applying a conjugated polymer. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes experiments
September 08, 2020 Read Full Article
Renewable Fuel from Carbon Dioxide with the Aid of Solar Energy
(Linköping University/EurekAlert!) Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, are attempting to convert carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to fuel using energy from sunlight. Recent results have shown that it is possible to use their technique to selectively produce methane, carbon monoxide or
June 10, 2020 Read Full Article
Could We Develop Plants to Absorb Our Excess Carbon? Salk Plant Biologists Have a Bold Solution to Climate Change
(Massive Science/The Salk Institute) ... Plants — historically speaking, our most reliable friends — have evolved to capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide. They use energy from the sun to convert CO2 and water into sugar and other important molecules,
May 29, 2020 Read Full Article
Oil Boom: ZeaKal Boosts Soybean Oil Output by 18%, Protein up 3%, No Drop in Yield
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... ZeaKal, which announced that its multiyear field trials of its PhotoSeed technology – and their soybeans increased the per acre production of oil and protein by 18 percent and three percent respectively without any penalty
April 17, 2020 Read Full Article
How Exactly Cyanobacteria Convert CO2 So Efficiently
(Ruhr University Bochum (Google Translation)) A research team was able to reveal the secret of the bacteria. In the future it will be possible to look at them. -- With the help of sunlight, photosynthetic organisms use carbon dioxide from the air
February 10, 2020 Read Full Article
Scientists Discover Key Factors in How Some Algae Harness Solar Energy
(Rutgers Today) Scientists Discover Key Factors in How Some Algae Harness Solar Energy -- Scientists have discovered how diatoms – a type of alga that produce 20 percent of the Earth’s oxygen – harness solar energy for photosynthesis. The Rutgers University-led discovery, published
August 16, 2019 Read Full Article
Engineered Bacteria Could Be Missing Link in Energy Storage
by Krishna Ramanujan (Cornell Chronicle) One of the big issues with sustainable energy systems is how to store electricity that’s generated from wind, solar and waves. At present, no existing technology provides large-scale storage and energy retrieval for sustainable energy at
May 23, 2019 Read Full Article
The Plan to Grab the World's Carbon with Supercharged Plants
by Emily Dreyfuss (Wired) ... Plant biologist Joanne Chory thinks plants can do more. She has studied the genetics of plants at the Salk Institute in San Diego for more than 30 years, and she and the rest of the five-person
May 04, 2019 Read Full Article
Quest Fulfilled? Holy Grail Found? 40% Crop Yield Increase Really Possible?
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... (S)cientists in Illinois may have just gotten incredibly close to finding the treasure that any crop producer has been searching for. In field testing across two different growing seasons, they showed >25% increase
January 21, 2019 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide ABLC Guide to Antares and Innovations in Harvest, Pre-Processing of Herbaceous Biomass
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ANTARES has been assisting clients identify and use biomass resources since the company was founded and our experience ranges from conducting feedstock supply assessments to serving as owner’s representative in the conceptualization, development and operation of
November 21, 2018 Read Full Article
Harvesting Solar Fuels through a Bacterium’s Unusual Appetite for Gold
by Theresa Duque (University of California Berkeley) A bacterium named Moorella thermoacetica won’t work for free. But UC Berkeley researchers have figured out it has an appetite for gold. And in exchange for this special treat, the bacterium has revealed a more
October 10, 2018 Read Full Article
From Water to Hydrogen Biofuel – ASU Uses Light-Driven Energy Extraction
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) In Arizona, Arizona State University researcher Kevin Redding is working on biological, light-driven energy extraction. Redding, a biochemist who leads the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis at ASU, is producing hydrogen biofuel from water instead of
July 09, 2018 Read Full Article
A New Type of Photosynthesis Is Discovered
(Algae Industry Magazine) Hayley Dunning writes from the Imperial College of London that a new discovery has changed our understanding of the basic mechanism of photosynthesis and should rewrite the textbooks. It will also tailor the way we hunt for
June 21, 2018 Read Full Article
Stress Testing Algae’s Internal Solar Panels
by Igor Houwat (Algae Industry Magazine) A collaboration between the Benning and Kramer labs is revealing how algae’s internal solar panels constantly grow and shrink in size to adjust to changes in their environments, a crucial system that ensures their hosts stay healthy and alive. The
February 27, 2018 Read Full Article
New Insights into Photosynthesis Could Boost Biofuel Production
(Biofuels International) Newly published research explains for the first time how plants switch from photoprojection to photosynthesis when transitioning from darkness to daylight. The authors of the study, from the University of Sheffield, claim that the new insight could have a
February 01, 2018 Read Full Article
Ice Plant to Help Fight Global Warming Effects on Bioenergy Crops
(University of Nevada, Reno/EurekAlert!) ... Biochemist and molecular biologist John Cushman at the University of Nevada, Reno will create a gene atlas for the common ice plant that will help find ways to allow bioenergy feedstocks to better tolerate salinity
April 25, 2017 Read Full Article
Mechanism for Photosynthesis already Existed in Primeval Microbe
(EurekAlert!/Kobe University) A Japanese research group led by Associate Professor ASHIDA Hiroki (Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University), Academic Researcher KONO Takunari (Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University), and Professor MATSUMURA Hiroyoshi (Ritsumeikan University)
February 06, 2017 Read Full Article
Will the Artificial Leaf Sprout to Combat Climate Change?
by Katherine Bourzac (Chemical & Engineering News) Technology to produce fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide faces scientific and economic challenges -- READ MORE and MORE (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Excerpt from Environmental and Energy Study Institute: Scientists are pushing
November 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Heard on the Floor at the Algae Biomass Summit
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) On October 23-26 the algae industry gathered in Phoenix, AZ for the Algae Biomass Summit , its annual get together. Gone are the glory days of algae biofuels capturing headlines and promising to save the world
November 02, 2016 Read Full Article
Weird Science: How to Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Renewable Biofuel
by David Dittman (Wall Street Daily) ... ClimateWire recently reported that scientists have engineered a bacterium that can turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuel in a single, enzyme-catalyzed metabolic step. Summarizing a paper published on August 22, 2016, in the journal Proceedings of
August 30, 2016 Read Full Article
Michigan State University Partners with ExxonMobile to Advance Biofuel Research
(Michigan State University) A new $1 million relationship between Michigan State University and ExxonMobil will expand research designed to progress the fundamental science required to advance algae-based fuels. David Kramer, MSU’s John Hannah Distinguished Professor in Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics at the
October 02, 2015 Read Full Article
Discovery of New Plant Switch Could Boost Crops, Biofuel Production
(Michigan State University) A team of Michigan State University researchers has discovered a switch that regulates plant photosynthesis – the process that lets plants store solar energy and use it to grow and produce food. Photosynthesis stores energy in two forms
April 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Washington State the Center of Climate Change Solutions
by Gleen Farley (KING 5 News) In 2011, Alaska Airlines was the first carrier in the country to fly regular passenger carrying flights using bio-fuel. It replaced 20 percent of the jet fuel with a crystal clear liquid - refined industrial
July 09, 2014 Read Full Article
The Carbon Fix? Think Carbon Suit. ZeaKal Raises $3.8M in Series A Financing
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Crop yield and oil content increases of up to 50% and 34% seen from ZeaKal’s HME technology. Though in early days — what’s going on? ... A successful Series A is always a good indication that,
April 02, 2013 Read Full Article
University of Georgia Discovery May Allow Scientists to Make Fuel from CO2 in the Atmosphere
by James Hataway (University of Georgia) Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways
March 27, 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
Frogs, Foam and Fuel: UC Researchers Convert Solar Energy to Sugars
For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun. In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to
March 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Bacteria Engineered to Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Liquid Fuel
by Matthew Chin (Science Daily) In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential