(University of Minnesota) For University of Minnesota (UMN) researchers, scum is a word packed with profitable promise. College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) professor and Center for Biorefining director R. Roger Ruan and doctoral candidate Erik Anderson
water treatment
Back TO HOMEProgress on Transport Biofuels in Korea
by Jin-Suk Lee and Kyu-Young Kang (IEA Bioenergy Task 39) Since Korea imports over 95% of its energy demand, thus energy security has always been an important driver in the national agenda. In addition, CO2 mitigation has become another important driver as
May 09, 2017 Read Full Article
PHYCO2, MSU Make Wastewater Reusable through Pure Algae Growth
(PHYCO2/Biodiesel Magazine) PHYCO2 LLC, an emerging algae production, waste water treatment and carbon dioxide sequestration company, announced the successful treatment of wastewater from breweries to comply with state water discharge limits for nitrates and phosphates. During Phase 4 of the multiyear trial
February 14, 2017 Read Full Article
A Proven Biodiesel Process Technology Track Record
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) On BDI-BioEnergy International's 20-year anniversary, Biodiesel Magazine takes a look back at the company's beginnings, accomplishments and biodiesel production technology. -- In September, dozens of biodiesel producers from around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria,
January 23, 2017 Read Full Article
BETO Publishes Analysis of Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams
(U.S. Department of Energy) Today (January 10, 2017) the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and Opportunities. The report is the
January 16, 2017 Read Full Article
Council Approves Funding for Biofuel Plan at Wastewater Treatment Facility -- $1.3 Milllion OKed for Engineering
by Elisa Raffa (Sioux Land Matters) Sioux city is moving ahead with plans to sell a methane product similar to what big ox produces, but city leaders contend that's where the similarities end. Methane is a biofuel byproduct produced at the
January 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Scientific Research Work for Treatment of Water from Oil Field Production
by Youssef Boudlal (ZAWYA/Reuters) The Tunisian Company of Petroleum Activities and the Borj Cedria Technology Management Corporation Park (TBC) initiated Tuesday research work to identify water treatment processes from the production of an oil field and their desalination for irrigation
December 30, 2016 Read Full Article
Biofuel Made from Human Excrement Has Become Easier to Produce
by Megan Geuss (Ars Technica) Wastewater treatment plants rejoice—you may have a hot commodity on your hands. -- Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) have developed a new method for treating human sewage to create a biocrude oil product
December 07, 2016 Read Full Article
There Is a Cornucopia of Feedstock Options for Making Biofuels
by Mark Elless (U.S. Department of Energy) Switchgrass, algae, forest trimmings, corn husks and corn stalks you can't eat these crops, and you would never put them on your table for Thanksgiving; however, together they make up a bountiful harvest
November 28, 2016 Read Full Article
U.S. Navy Using Biofuels to Power Fighter Jet Fleet
(CBS) Some of America's best fighter jets can soar without using a drop of oil for fuel. New technology is helping the U.S. Navy power its fleet with cooking grease and plant seeds. Don Dahler reports. READ MORE WATCH VIDEO and
November 18, 2016 Read Full Article
SabrTech’s RiverBox Algal Biomass Platform
(Algae Industry Magazine) Halifax, Nova Scotia’s clean-tech company SabrTech describes its main product, The RiverBox™, as “the world’s first modular, scalable and rapidly deployable biofilm platform for the production of algal biomass,” writes Peter Moreira, in thechronicleherald.ca. The system of growing
November 14, 2016 Read Full Article
Fuel from Sewage Is the Future – and It's Closer than You Think
(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Technology converts human waste into bio-based fuel -- It may sound like science fiction, but wastewater treatment plants across the United States may one day turn ordinary sewage into biocrude oil, thanks to new research at
November 04, 2016 Read Full Article
A Bridge from City to Country Made of Algae: An Algae Biomass Summit Preview
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... As algae developers struggled to bring down costs within venture timelines, and then as global commodity prices plunged — algae companies began a steady re-focusing on the higher prices available from nutraceuticals and, in the
October 24, 2016 Read Full Article
A.I.M. Interview: Dr. Tom Dempster Taking ATP3 Workshops on the Road
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) Dr. Tom Dempster works as a research professor – focusing on strain selection and development, biomass production, algal biofuels and high-value products, and air and wastewater bioremediation – at the Arizona Center for Algae
October 19, 2016 Read Full Article
DOE Awards Microvi Grant for Innovative Biogas Conversion Technology
(Microvi) Microvi has been awarded a grant from the US Department of Energy for a new groundbreaking biocatalytic technology that converts methane and carbon dioxide in biogas into valuable liquid chemicals, the company announced today. The new technology, based on Microvi’s
October 18, 2016 Read Full Article
Turning Brewery Wastewater into Battery Power
(University of Colorado Boulder) CU Boulder engineers have developed an innovative bio-manufacturing process that uses a biological organism cultivated in brewery wastewater to create the carbon-based materials needed to make energy storage cells. This unique pairing of breweries and batteries could
October 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Know Your Cyanobacteria
(Algae Industry Magazine/Water Research Foundation) Water Research Foundation prepared this video for those wanting to know more about the science behind cyanobacteria, and get a utility perspective on the latest in source water protection, monitoring, detection, and treatment. Experts from Metropolitan
September 18, 2016 Read Full Article
Get Algae Biodiesel
by Felipe Sanchez (Conacyt (Google Translation)) The Department of Biotechnology of the School of Chemistry (FCQ) of the Autonomous University of Coahuila (UAdeC) develops a project of biodiesel production from algal biomass generated during the process wastewater treatment. "During the wastewater
August 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Turn and Face the Strange: The New Algae Makes a Bowiesque Pivot into New Markets
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... But the RE in algae these days has been, more or less, REposition. Possibly REthink. Certainly not much REfinance, or REcommit to the original targets. The algae business models of 2009 burst up in a
July 01, 2016 Read Full Article
The Problem and Promise of Ethanol
by Art Cullen (Storm Lake Times) ... So how can we produce ethanol sustainably — that is, a scheme under which farmers can make money without releasing nitrate to the river and help power America while emitting less carbon? First, the federal
June 20, 2016 Read Full Article
RIT Partners with Synergy Biogas on Algae Project
(Algae Industry Magazine) Rochester Institute of Technology and Synergy Biogas are exploring the environmental benefits of microalgae to clean agricultural wastewater and make biofuels. Jeff Lodge, associate professor in RIT’s Thomas Gosnell School of Life Sciences, is running the three-month
June 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Of Sausage-Making, DC and Bioenergy Budgets
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The signals coming out of Washington DC are so confusing, you might be wondering if there’s going to be a budget for the US Department of Energy for the fiscal year starting this October. ... Meanwhile, the DOE’s
June 02, 2016 Read Full Article
From Poo to Public Transit, Plan Would Make Gas from Treatment Plant
by Nancy Hicks (Lincoln Journal Star) The city’s public works staff members have a picture they like to point to when explaining their latest project. It shows city bus riders in the UK -- sitting on toilets. It’s a fun, visual
June 01, 2016 Read Full Article
Efficient Utilization of Volatile Waste Nutrients
by Everett Eustance, Joshua T. Wray, Shahrzad Badvipour and Milton R Sommerfeld (Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation, Arizona State University/Algae Industry Magazine) Algaculture, or algae farming, like any form of agriculture, is highly sensitive to fertilizer costs. A
May 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Double-Win “Algal Turf Scrubbers” Help to Clean Up Baltimore Harbor and Fuel Cars
(U.S. Department of Energy) Algae absorb nutrients and produce oxygen—ecosystem services that are vital to the health of impaired water bodies like the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Energy Department-funded researchers are investigating how to mimic these natural services,
April 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Algae Eat up Oilfield Byproducts
by Adam Wilmoth (The Oklahoman/Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise) An oil-field waste product that poses environmental challenges and is linked to earthquakes could become a valuable economic resource if the efforts of Oklahoma State University researchers are successful. Biosystems and agricultural engineering professor Nurhan
April 25, 2016 Read Full Article
Biodiesel Resource Maximised Using DAF Treatment System
(Water Online) Cheshire biofuel plant sources DAF wastewater treatment from WPL; DAF system captures more fats, oils and grease for recycling; Treatment process helps client meet discharge consent A new energy plant in Cheshire, which processes waste fats, oils and greases (FOG) for
April 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Make Haste with Waste
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... (W)hen you compare them to homogenized, uniform, high-yield, purpose-grown energy crops. residues may be queer, but they are here. Not only available, but reliable, you can count on the fact that they will not
April 08, 2016 Read Full Article
Market Study: Emerging Opportunities for Algae Biofuels to Supplement Fossil Fuels
(Biofuels International) Emerging opportunities for algal biofuels, particularly in the Persian Gulf region, may propel the success of the industry, a new market study by Future Market Insights finds. Algae was first discovered as a fuel alternative in 1978 under the
April 06, 2016 Read Full Article
Energy Department Charting New Future for Wastewater Treatment
by Valerie Sarisky-Reed (Department of Energy) ... Unfortunately, the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card gives the wastewater infrastructure in America a D-grade, and says “capital investment needs for the nation’s wastewater and stormwater systems are estimated to total $298
April 06, 2016 Read Full Article
Ultimate Review: The Unlimited Biotech Potential of Algae
(Labiotech.eu) Is the Future of Biotech…Green? The Algae Industry ranges from Biofuels to Nutrition to Fashion and Microalgae hold lots of potential for the industry to expand. But why? And do Venture Capitalists agree? Microalgae have already been established as incredibly valuable
February 08, 2016 Read Full Article
EPA Rulemaking Aims to Update GHG Reporting Requirements
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The U.S. EPA has published a proposed rule that aims to amend specific provisions in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, including some provisions related to biogas and ethanol. ... Regarding ethanol, the proposed rule aims to
February 08, 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
EWG Blasts Ethanol for Making Iowa’s Waterways Toxic
by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the Environmental Working Group has released a new blog alleging corn produced for ethanol is responsible for increased amounts of toxic water pollution due to runoff of fertilizers and manures into waterways. It
January 22, 2016 Read Full Article
Startup in Focus -- Israeli Startup Harnesses Algae to Treat Wastewater in Developing World
by Ruth Schuster and Noah Phillips (Haaretz.com) Aquanos' trick is to use algae to provide oxygen for the germs breaking down our waste to breathe, rather than break the bank pumping in the gas. -- ... That means 90% may have to
October 27, 2015 Read Full Article
Wastewater Treatment Facilities Turning to Anaerobic Digestion for Energy Uses
by Richard Lowrie (KROHNE/Biofuels Digest) Many US wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are beginning to use anaerobic digesters to produce biogas that can be used in their combined heat and power plants to generate electricity and heat. In addition, the plants
October 26, 2015 Read Full Article
Algenol CEO Exits; Staff Cut by 25%, Investors Re-Up for Two Years, New Direction Tipped
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sudden re-focusing and trimming of Algenol by its lead investors leads CEO Paul Woods to resign; new direction focused on carbon capture, fresh water production until oil prices recover. In Florida, the hammer dropped swiftly and without warning
October 26, 2015 Read Full Article
What I Can Do to Lessen Our Addiction to Oil? Advanced Biofuels USA Publishes Some Suggestions
What I Can Do to Lessen Our Addiction to Oil? George W. Bush urged the US to “get off our addiction to oil.” He talked about biofuels made from switchgrass as one solution. So, how are we doing? OK, but we