by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A technology developed for Europe finds it is in demand again, as technologists address the growing mountains of palm waste and its special opportunities and challenges. ...So, if we turn to foreign shores for bioenergy and
pyrolysis
Back TO HOMETurning Agriculture into Oil, Bio Oil, That Is
(US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) The process dates to ancient Egypt. Now, it’s being studied here by the USDA as a way to fuel farms. Pour a few handfuls of chopped- up corn stalks or switchgrass into a hopper.
July 23, 2013 Read Full Article
$45/bbl Bio Crude Oil Puts New Fuel on Fast Track to Market
by Bob Brooks (Automotive Industries) Bio diesel and JetA have moved a giant step ahead in the race to provide renewable, price competitive fuels that drastically cut GHG emissions and the need for imported fuel. At the heart of one of
July 02, 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
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Announces Commissioning of Biomass-to-Biofuel Pilot Plant
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) In early March, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany announced the successful commissioning of the second stage of its bioliq pilot plant. The achievement was made in cooperation with technology partner Air Liquide Global
March 15, 2013 Read Full Article
Anellotech and the Advent of the Green ‘Enes
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Fast pyrolysis developer plans to rapidly expand green benzene and toluene production in 2013 for downstream product development purposes. Opens new pilot plant, R&D facility in New York; green BTX platform ready to emerge. ...In
March 12, 2013 Read Full Article
Lux: Alternative Fuel Companies Reach for Real Revenue in 2013
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A 32-page report by Lux Research picks winners and losers in 2012 among alternative fuel developers. The state of the market report, which is provided only to clients, also predicts that many companies will
February 25, 2013 Read Full Article
EPA Issues Final Rule for Additional Qualifying Renewable Fuel Pathways under the RFS Program
(Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to identify additional fuel pathways that the Agency has determined meet the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements for biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and cellulosic biofuel
February 25, 2013 Read Full Article
Engineer Gets NSF CAREER Grant to Study Biofuel Process
(University of Massachusetts-Amherst NewsWise) Paul J. Dauenhauer, a chemical engineer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a five-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s CAREER program to conduct basic research on the chemical reactions that create biofuel
January 23, 2013 Read Full Article
Can KiOR Soar?
by Robert Rapier (Biofuels Digest/Energy Trends Insider) Last month KiOR announced the start of production of biocrude from their Columbus, Mississippi plant. KiOR CEO Fred Cannon stated in an earnings call that when the product shipped it would be “the world’s
December 21, 2012 Read Full Article
DE-FOA-0000812: Carbon, Hydrogen and Separation Efficiencies in Bio-Oil Conversion Pathways(CHASE BIO-OIL PATHWAYS)
(US Department of Energy) This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will address research and development (R&D) challenges that were identified at a stakeholder workshop held in December 2011 called “Conversion Technologies for Advanced Biofuels” (CTAB) and from a Request for Information (RFI)
December 17, 2012 Read Full Article
NREL and Johnson Matthey Announce Five-Year Collaboration on Biofuels
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory) Goal is to develop new catalysts to lower costs for producing biofuels The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will partner with Johnson Matthey, a global specialty chemicals company, in a five-year, $7 million
December 17, 2012 Read Full Article
Tick-Tick-Tick. Crude Oil from Algae in 60 Seconds, Really?
by Robert Rapier (Biobased Digest/Energy Trends Insider) Researchers tout a process to make oil from algae biomass – is it pyro oil or a real biocrude? ...Researchers at the University of Michigan announced that they had sped up the process that
December 11, 2012 Read Full Article
Ensyn: Biofuels’ Big, Fast Cracker, in Pictures
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Ensyn – moving rapidly towards scale as a transport fuel technology after decades in smaller, high-value markets. What does Ensyn’s signature RTP technology, that’s making such a splash, look like? ...Ensyn has become a signature part
November 19, 2012 Read Full Article
Everyday Low (Fuel) Prices: Drop-In Advanced Biofuels for under $100 per Barrel
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Brent Crude trades this past week at a transorbital $109 per barrel (West Texas Intermediate at a suborbital, if high, $85). It puts the conventional wisdom that biofuels are too infrastructure incompatible and too costly
November 12, 2012 Read Full Article
The Pine Beetle Problem: Making Renewable Energy Lemonade from Biomass Lemons
by Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World) ...Armed with a $200,000 U.S.D.A. two-year research grant, Fernando Resende will start work on a fast pyrolysis mobile reactor next year that could revolutionize how foresters and the timber industry currently deals with millions of
October 24, 2012 Read Full Article
The Dandelion Model: Two-Step Biofuels Technologies and the Emergence of Super-Refineries
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Can local communities pyrolize their wastes and residues, to make renewable fuels and chemicals at biobased super-refineries? Two-step processes could be the ticket to the future, according to an Iowa State team. Imagine, for a
October 24, 2012 Read Full Article
RTI International to Build Energy Technology Development Facility to Support Biofuels Projects
(RTI) RTI International began construction last week on a new 3,000-square-foot energy technology development facility on RTI’s main campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The facility will house a biomass pyrolysis reactor to further extend RTI’s biofuels research efforts. Using RTI’s technology, the
October 23, 2012 Read Full Article
Characteristics of Hemicellulose, Cellulose and Lignin Pyrolysis
by Haiping Yang, Rong Yan, Hanping Chen, Dong Ho Lee, Chuguang Zheng (Fuel) The pyrolysis characteristics of three main components (hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin) of biomass were investigated using, respectively, a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) detector and a pack bed. The
September 20, 2012 Read Full Article
UMass-Amherst Team Solves Mystery of Cellulose Chains Breakdown
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) What exactly happens in depolymerization, as hydrogen bonds break down? How could that revolutionize the process of making fuels, solvents, thinners, lacquers or paints out of biobased materials? Before one is able to arrange a global
September 19, 2012 Read Full Article
Zero-Waste Tire Processor Targets Environmental Scourge
by Steve Clark (The Brownsville Herald) After a year in development, Tire Recycling & Processing, a facility unlike anything else in Texas and possibly the United States, has thrown the switch in Harlingen. On Friday, several large, expensive, German-made tire-processing
July 18, 2012 Read Full Article
New Kids on the Block: 12 hot bio-based technologies worth watching (Parts 1 and 2)
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Yet, even in an era where venture capital has been harder to come by (Why? See these 42 article links under the rubric, “The VC Model is Broken” ) — some great technologies have been getting out
June 25, 2012 Read Full Article
The Hot Zone: Thermocatalytic Biofuels Projects Are Going South – Here’s Who and Why
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...With the coming of advanced bioprocessing, the picture of opportunity has radically changed and the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest, in particular, have been assessing their opportunities and attracting projects. ...But in the Southeast, there’s been a
June 11, 2012 Read Full Article
Mill, Baby, Mill
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In-field bioprocessing? Dramatically higher plant oil production? R&D breakthroughs offer new paths to victory for Millers vs Drillers. If you haven’t been getting most of your information on the Renewable Fuel Standard from the Grocers Manufacturing
June 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Iowa State Team Gets Grant for Biomass Pretreatment Research
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The Iowa Energy Center recently awarded three grants to research projects focused on improving thermochemical conversion of biomass to biofuels and renewable chemicals. The selected projects will receive one-year research and demonstration grants with negotiated renewal
May 30, 2012 Read Full Article
Current and Projected Costs for Biofuels from Algae and Pyrolysis
by Robert Rapier (Consumer Energy Report) A reader recently called my attention to a new and very interesting presentation from the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program: Biofuels Design Cases The presentation explored the question of whether the U.S. government is spending
May 29, 2012 Read Full Article
Innovation Turning Wood Waste into Bio-Fuel for Transportation
by Denise Deveau (Financial Post) {ISSUE} Soaring energy prices are thinning profit margins in the transport sector and increasing operational costs in many manufacturing industries {SHIFT} Turning wood waste into bio-fuel helps industry find a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable energy
May 01, 2012 Read Full Article
The Distributed/Centralized BioProduction Approach: Sustainable Biofuels and Bioproducts Are Possible Through the Significant Reduction of Biomass Transportation Costs
by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) Problem Definition: The production of biofuels in the US is at a substantial roadblock. Due to the high cost of transporting large quantities of low density, low value biomass to biorefineries, the economies of
March 27, 2012 Read Full Article
The Olive Economy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Here are five types of technologies that straddle the political divide between green and black. Re-using industrial waste gases Here are three companies aiming at capturing CO2 and either directly converting to fuels, or using it as
March 23, 2012 Read Full Article
Metso to Supply a Bio Oil Production Plant to Fortum Power Plant in Joensuu, Finland
(Metso) A demonstration plant enables bio oil production from forest residue Metso and Fortum Power and Heat have signed a contract regarding a delivery of a bio-oil production plant and a related automation system to the Fortum power plant in Joensuu,
March 09, 2012 Read Full Article
[LL] Cool Planet Rocks the Bells
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) What are Google, BP, Conoco, and GE investing? Is 3,000 gallons per acre of renewable gasoline possible? In the past few weeks, news has begun to circulate around the industry – and expanded by Twitter and
March 05, 2012 Read Full Article
'Mini-Cellulose' Molecule Unlocks Biofuel Chemistry
(Science Daily) A team of chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered a small molecule that behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel. Studying this 'mini-cellulose' molecule reveals for the first time the
February 20, 2012 Read Full Article
Two Become One for Bio-Oil Upgrade
(RSC Chemistry World News) The development of a couple of new and improved catalysts for upgrading bio-oil is bringing this novel approach to producing biofuels a step closer to the big time. Although there are several ways to convert plant biomass
February 02, 2012 Read Full Article
Return of the Pyromaniax
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...You just can’t turn your back for very long, around the Pyromaniax – the researchers around the world working on pyrolysis. Now, pyro comes in several flavors – fast pyrolysis, flash pyrolysis, catalytic fast pyrolysis
January 26, 2012 Read Full Article
Iowa State University-Led Group Awarded $25 Million Grant for Land Use, Biofuel Production Study
(Iowa State University) Now, an Iowa State University-based study over the next five years will examine whether a single, coordinated production system can address all of these concerns while making profits for producers. A multi-state, interdisciplinary team led by Ken Moore,
January 19, 2012 Read Full Article
Deciphering the Black Box of Next-Generation Biofuels Chemistry
by Mike Salciccioli (Frontiers in Energy Research) Researchers combine experiments and fundamental models to unveil the previously unknown mechanisms for how biofuels are generated from biomass A series of complex processes fracture large biomolecules containing millions of atoms into much smaller molecules
January 12, 2012 Read Full Article
Santa Cruz Nonprofit Hopes to Make Fuel from Ocean-Based Plastic
by Amy E. West (Mercury News/Santa Cruz Sentinel) ...It sounds like an environmentalist's dream. But it's the ambitious mission of the Santa Cruz nonprofit Clean Oceans Project, which six months ago teamed up with a Japanese manufacturer and a San
January 06, 2012 Read Full Article
New Biofuel Production Technologies: Overview of These Expanding Sectors and the Challenges Facing Them
(IFP Energies Nouvelles) The numerous research programmes looking at new-generation biofuels that were initiated over the last ten years are now starting to bear fruit. Although no plants are producing and marketing biofuels yet, the large-scale, industrial feasibility of second-generation biofuel production at
December 30, 2011 Read Full Article
Vertis Signed up as Agent for BioMCN in Central Europe
(BioMCN) Environmental commodity broker Vertis Environmental Finance have signed an agency agreement with BioMCN for the representation and sales of bio-methanol in Central Europe. BioMCN is the largest 2nd generation biofuels producer in the world, producing high quality bio-methanol from
December 23, 2011 Read Full Article
Mid-South Community College’s Renewable Energy Facility Named after Marion Berry
by Michael Sheffield (Memphis Business Journal) Mid-South Community Collegewill name its $9 million renewable energy facility after retired Congressman Marion Berry. The 35,000-square-foot Marion Berry Renewable Energy Center will provide a learning facility for the school’s green jobs training, which includes processing of organic
November 29, 2011 Read Full Article
Study: Meeting Green Transport Targets May Need £895m Biofuels Spend
by Will Nichols (Business Green) Government research body says next generation biofuels made from waste are a feasible low carbon option The UK could miss its renewable transport targets unless it spends £900m over the next 20 years on advanced biofuels,
November 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Solar Energy Consultant Partners with Advanced Biofuel Developer
by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine) Australia’s Sunshine Coast could be home to an energy park that combines solar energy and a biomass-to-energy process developed by Aquaflow Bionomic Corp. The future energy facility will hinge on the recently formed partnership between
November 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Process Engineering: From Beakers to Barrels
by Roman Wolff (Biorefining Magazine/Enhanced Biofuels) There has been a great deal of effort in recent years to develop algae growth technology; and for good reason, since some algae can produce biomass (and in particular lipids) at rates 10 times
November 10, 2011 Read Full Article
How Waste Management Treats Waste as Resource
by Tilde Herrera (GreenBiz.com) ...That's because for Waste Management, garbage isn't just garbage anymore. "You can begin to extrapolate some pretty interesting business models when you think of waste as a resource," said Tim Cesarek, managing director of Waste Management's Organic
October 12, 2011 Read Full Article
Iowa State Researchers Produce Cheap Sugars for Sustainable Biofuel Production
(Iowa State University) Iowa State University's Robert C. Brown keeps a small vial of brown, sweet-smelling liquid on his office table. "It looks like something you could pour on your pancakes," he said. "In many respects, it is similar to molasses." Brown,
October 03, 2011 Read Full Article
Memo to Microalgae, Frankencritters and Biovarmints: Aloha Means I Love You
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Hawaii goes all in on microalgae to provide fuel, food, fiber and power to grow its energy-starved Mid-Pacific economy and fit its environmental values ...Hawaii has no fossil fuel resources of its own. Not to mention
September 16, 2011 Read Full Article
Dynamotive Announces that GE Joined Consortium Established to Develop Australian Biofuel
(MarketWatch/Dynamotive) GE today (September 1, 12011) announced that it has joined Virgin Australia and a consortium of other partners to research and develop commercial biofuel for the aviation industry. The consortium will focus on pyrolytic conversion of biomass from mallee eucalypt
September 06, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuel Firm's US Deal Paves Way for Major Plant
by Bill Moore (Stuff.co.nz) Nelson-based biofuel company Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has announced a deal with a Texas-based renewable fuel company that paves the way for the building of a multimillion-dollar biofuels plant. Its agreement is with CRI Catalyst Company, a provider
August 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Biomass 2011: Replace the Whole Barrel, Supply the Whole Market Presentations Posted
(US Department of Energy) ...More than 600 speakers, moderators, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees were able to listen to discussions about the ongoing challenges and achievements in the bioenergy industry. Biomass 2011 addressed key issues in important areas, such as feedstock supply, conversion pathways,
August 15, 2011 Read Full Article
Report Compares Pyrolysis Techniques
by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine) The Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands recently published a thesis on pyrolysis research written by ERC researcher Paul de Wild. According to de Wild, while many renewable resources, such as wind, solar, water and
August 11, 2011 Read Full Article
Phase Shift: 12 Hot Gas-Based Biofuels Technologies
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...But a new generation of technologies is coming along fast, primarily in advanced biofuels, which is gasifying biomass at the front end along its path towards making fuels, chemicals or other biomaterials – or in
August 09, 2011 Read Full Article
SynTerra Energy Eyes Ohio for New Biorefinery
by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine) After nearly five years of research and development, the work of Pacific Renewable Fuels and Chemicals, and Red Lion Bio-Energy, has turned into a new biorefining company: SynTerra Energy Inc. SynTerra Energy combines pyrolysis and
August 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Greenhouse Packs A Power Punch
by Joan Melcher (BioCycle) Closed loop system utilizes gasification, algae ponds and anaerobic digestion to convert wood waste to a variety of products, including biofuel, biogas and a soil amendment. Michael Smith is supervising the first commercial-scaleGreen Power House at the
July 19, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuels 2.0
Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The rise of themochemical biofuels, the power of markets, and the anarchic essence of energy development ...The “failure” of cellulosic ethanol is a failure of the policy framework, I said. It was suicidal to pass legislation that
July 15, 2011 Read Full Article
Virgin Australia Partners to Develop Unique Australian Bio-Fuel
(Virgin Australia) Virgin Australia today announced that it has partnered with Renewable Oil Corporation (ROC), Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation (DYMTF) and Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre (FFI CRC) to develop a sustainable aviation biofuel that also has benefits for the Australian farming
July 07, 2011 Read Full Article
How Much Mileage Do You Get from Sawdust?
(University of Calgary) Biofuel from non-edible parts of plants getting more efficient ...Researchers at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering are developing new ways to produce biofuel from organic waste in a sustainable and affordable way. “Our goal is to
July 01, 2011 Read Full Article
Iowa State Hybrid Lab Combines Technologies to Make Biorenewable Fuels and Products
(Iowa State University) Laura Jarboe pointed to a collection of test tubes in her Iowa State University laboratory. Some of the tubes looked like they were holding very weak coffee. That meant microorganisms - in this case, Shewanella bacteria - were
June 24, 2011 Read Full Article
National Advanced Biofuels Consortium: How Biomass Fits into the Petroleum Infrastructure
(National Advanced Biofuels Consortium) This 55-slide presentation from a National Advanced Biofuels Consortium Webinar describes the organization and work of the consortium using many valuable charts, graphs and illustrations, including those that depict existing infrastructure. One of the most useful illustrations
May 19, 2011 Read Full Article
Iowa State's Role in the Future of Biofuels
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) Prototypes of the biofuels refinery of the future sit in a 19,000-square-foot complex on the Iowa State Research Farm west of Ames. Two experimental plants, whose network of pipes and containers looks to the lay
May 09, 2011 Read Full Article
$1.6 Million in Biofuels Center Grants to Accelerate Commercialization of Renewable Fuels
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has awarded $1.6 million for 15 projects statewide to accelerate the commercialization of renewable liquid fuels. Awards are made through the 2011 Statewide Biofuels Development Grants Program. Biofuels Center president
May 02, 2011 Read Full Article
Fuel and Animal Feed Both Produced from Advanced Biofuel Biomass: The New Biofuel Paradigm
By Robert Kozak (Atlantic Biomass Conversions, Inc.) Worldwide Importance of Protein Animal Feed When I began working with sugar beet processors on our beet pulp biofuel sugar process, one of their first questions was, “Will there still be pulp available to
April 17, 2011 Read Full Article
KiOR Files $100M IPO – The Complete Digest Analysis
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Khosla-backed pyrolysis venture heads for the public markets. Is the IPO window still open? Will this one fly? Should it? The Digest looks at the technology, the team, the progress, the economics, the proof, and
April 13, 2011 Read Full Article
DOE Announces $12 Million in Available Funding to Support Advanced Biofuels Development
(US Department of Energy) To support the goal announced by President Obama today to reduce America’s oil imports by one-third by 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will be accepting applications for $12 million in funding for
March 31, 2011 Read Full Article
Foster Wheeler Provides Engineering Services to Cynar for Conversion of Waste Plastics into Liquid Fuels in Ireland
Foster Wheeler AG announced that its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Cynar Plc to provide basic process engineering design services for a 6,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) plant to convert non-recyclable waste plastics into
March 18, 2011 Read Full Article
Bracketology: Which 3 of 6 Will Win in NABC Drop-In Fuels Consortium Cut-Off?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Amongst the various projects that received support under the 2009 Recovery Act were an algal R&D consortium called the NAABB, and a drop-in biofuels R&D consortium called the NABC, of the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium. ...Within
March 18, 2011 Read Full Article
GTI and CRI/Criterion Inc. Sign Licensing Agreement for IH2 Process Technology to Produce Cellulosic Gasoline and Diesel Hydrocarbon Blendstock
GTI announced it has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with CRI/Criterion Inc., for its Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion (IH2) technology, which converts biomass directly into cellulosic gasoline and diesel hydrocarbon blendstocks. This licensing agreement will expedite the realization of
January 14, 2011 Read Full Article
The New Economics of Next-Gen Gasification: ClearFuels Technology
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...(S)team reformation, a process by which gasified biomass is converted into a useful balance of hydrogen and carbon monoxide ... itself has struggled with high costs associated with the high temperatures at which the system operates.
January 10, 2011 Read Full Article
Researchers Study Benefits of Barley as a Biofuel Crop
by Ann Perry (Hoosier Farms) The benefits of using barley for bioenergy production don't stop at the gas pump, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies. Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have found that barley grain can be used
December 23, 2010 Read Full Article
Ugandans Turn Kampala's Uncollected Garbage into Versatile Fuel
by Wambi Michael (The Guardian Weekly) Cement kilns are used to transform waste, which would otherwise pollute the city, into a fuel that suits petrol engines Fred Kyagulanyi and James Sendikwanawa used to get up in the dark to dump bags of
December 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Waste Plastics to Diesel Being Scaled up in the UK
by Al Fin (OilPrice.com) STA UK is gearing up to build 10 new waste plastic to diesel plants in the UK. The first plant is to be built in Port Laoighise, Ireland. The process utilises pyrolysis (heating in absence of oxygen)
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Feedstock-Conversion Interface Projects – Connecting Feedstock Resources to Conversion Processes
by Dr. J. Richard Hess (Biomass Program Technology Manager, Idaho National Laboratory) Dr. Hess details the biomass attributes that impact the nature of and cost of feedstock preparation, biochemical conversion, and thermochemcal conversion, along with general flow diagrams for each process.
October 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Dutch Researchers Use Modified Pyrolysis Technique to Produce Bio-oil
(TAPPI) Researchers at the University of Technology in Twente, the Netherlands, have reportedly developed a new technique that enables large-scale production of biofuels without adverse effects on food supplies. According to a report this past week by Radio Netherlands, an
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Hatcher Team Creates New Process to Boost Biofuel Production from Algae
(Old Dominion University) ...During the past five years, researchers at Old Dominion University have devised ways to cultivate and harvest microscopic algae, and then to convert them into a biodiesel fuel by a proprietary one-step process. Now they have discovered
September 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Sustainable Biochar to Mitigate Global Climate Change
by By Dominic Woolf, James E. Amonette, et al. (Nature Communications) Production of biochar (the carbon (C)-rich solid formed by pyrolysis of biomass) and its storage in soils have been suggested as a means of abating climate change by sequestering carbon,
September 14, 2010 Read Full Article
UMass Professor Develops Improved Biofuel Processing Method
by Matthew M. Robare (Daily Collegian) A chemical engineer at the University of Massachusetts developed an improved method of converting wood into synthetic fuels. “We’re focused on lignocellulosic biomass,” said Assistant Professor Paul Dauenhauer. “What I mean by that is trees and grasses
September 14, 2010 Read Full Article
DOE Announces Awards for up to $16.5 Million for Biomass Research and Development
(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 fuels production. The first initiative
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Barbour: Biofuel Project Tops Mississippi Session Agenda
by Emily Wagster Pettus (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Mississippi lawmakers on Friday (August 27, 2010) will consider $50 million in state incentives for research and production of renewable fuel made from timber, one of the state's most widely available natural resources. ...Barbour's office
August 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Hydrocarbon Fuels: Fractional Catalytic Pyrolysis of Biomass to Stable Bio-oils and Hydrocarbon Fuels
by Foster Agblevor (Associate Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)) Agblevor discusses the development of pyrolysis techniques for lignocellulosic biomass at relatively low temperatures to form stable pyrolysis oils. The process equipment is detailed, along with materials, methods,
August 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Hydrocarbon Fuels: Modern Catalytic Technologies for Converting Biomass to Fuels
by Dion Vlachos (Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor, University of Delaware / Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC)) Vlachos' research focuses on the development of heterogeneous catalysts to facilitate the thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels. The presentation describes research conducted at
August 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Hydrocarbon Fuels: National Advanced Biofuels Consortium
by Dr. Thomas D. Foust (Executive Director of the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium, National Renewable Energy Laboratory) The DOE created the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC) to help develop cost-effective technologies to develop advanced “drop-in” biofuels compatible with our current infrastructure,
August 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Hydrocarbon Fuels: Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion (IH2) Process for Direct Production of Gasoline and Diesel Fuel from Biomass
by Terry Marker (Bioenergy Initiatives Manager, Gas Technology Institute) Fuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass have the potential to fill a significant portion of the demand for transportation fuels, but simple pyrolysis of biomass requires expensive conversion to usable fuels from pyrolysis
August 04, 2010 Read Full Article
New Generation Biofuels Files Patent Application for Pyrolysis Oil Biofuel
(New Generation Biofuels) Renewable fuels provider New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc., July 21, 2010 announced that it has filed for a patent application for their new pyrolysis oil based biofuels. "I believe that this is truly a technical breakthrough to have a
July 23, 2010 Read Full Article
Mechanical Engineering Students Take Their Professor’s Advice and Start an Ames Bioenergy Company
(Iowa State University) ...Fast pyrolysis quickly heats biomass (such as corn stalks and leaves) in the absence of oxygen to produce a liquid product known as bio-oil that can be used to manufacture fuels and chemicals and a solid product
July 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Researchers Propose Movable Biofuel Center
(UPI) If agricultural waste can't go to a biofuel processing center, then the processing center should go to the agricultural waste, U.S. researchers theorized. Researchers at Purdue University propose creating mobile processing plants that would roam the Midwest to produce biofuels
July 09, 2010 Read Full Article
KiOR: Crunching Millions of Years of Carbonization Into Seconds
by Katie Fehrenbacher (Earth2Tech) ...The company, which was founded in 2007, has largely been in stealth. At the Khosla Ventures limited partner event on Monday, however (where the venture firm announced that it had signed on former UK Prime Minister
June 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Imperial Acquires E-Biofuels for $19.15 Million in Stock, Debt
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Wilson indicated in an exclusive Digest interview that the company intends to qualify its biodiesel under the current specifications for Jet A, based on proprietary technology that has reduced the cloud point of biodiesel, making
May 25, 2010 Read Full Article
UOP: An Unlikely Cleantech Leader
by Joshua Kagan (GreenTechMedia) The petro-chemical company uses its core competency to expand into biofuels. Unlikely as it may seem, UOP is leading the charge in developing catalysts required to transform feedstocks into "drop in" fuels like renewable diesel, jet fuel,
April 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Consortium Gets Government Backing to Turn Waste Biomass into Transport Biofuel
(Greenwise) A consortium of British businesses has netted £7 million of Government funding to develop a technology that could see mini refineries sited near landfill sites up and down the country producing cheap, carbon efficient biofuel for transport from waste. ...The
March 18, 2010 Read Full Article
Honeywell's UOP Awarded Funding for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Reuse Through Algae Growth and Biofuel Production
UOP, a Honeywell (NYSE:HON) company, announced today that it has been awarded a $1.5 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to demonstrate technology to capture carbon dioxide and produce algae for use in biofuel
March 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Key Metric Comparison of Five Cellulosic Biofuel Pathways
by Ben A. Thorp (TAPPI BioEnergy Technologies Quarterly) (T)he modern pathways for cellulose biofuels are pyrolysis, gasification, acid hydrolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis. … Commercial efforts in cellulosic biofuels are new and data to compare a specific offering with others within a
February 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Pyrolytic Bio-fuels Produced from Forestry and Agricultural Feedstocks
by Philip H. Steele (Mississippi State University) This presentation explains the work being done by the Forest Products Department, Forest and Wildlife Research Center at MSU to develop bio-oil and drop-in biofuels using a fast pyrolysis process. The PowerPoint provides
February 18, 2010 Read Full Article
Pyromaniax: Mississippi State’s SERC Group, among 18 Others, Developing Advanced Biofuels from Pyrolysis
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... A few years back, when reporting on field work at the Sustainable Power complex in Baytown, Texas — the hoots from a significant section of the Digest readership reverberated in skeptical comments on pyrolysis
February 16, 2010 Read Full Article
Honeywell's UOP Awarded U.S. Department Of Energy Grant For Conversion Of Waste Biomass To Green Transportation Fuels
UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced it has been selected for negotiation of a $25 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels. As part
January 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Fast Pyrolysis and Bio-Oil Upgrading
Robert C. Brown and Jennifer Holmgren (Iowa State University and UOP) This presentation describes the fast pyrolysis process and products. READ MORE
December 29, 2009 Read Full Article
Anellotech Launches; Latest Fast Pyrolysis Venture Expands Growing Field of Biocrude Companies
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst recently granted a biofuels startup company, Anellotech, exclusive global rights to the university’s catalytic fast pyrolysis technology developed by chemical engineer and UMass Amherst faculty member George