(Tokyo Tech News) Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kyoto University, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, and Tohoku University have identified a protein, Lipid Remodeling reguLator 1 (LRL1), in microscopic algae that is involved in the production of triacylglycerol, a biofuel
Yields
Back TO HOMEGeneration Start-up: UAE's Homegrown Biofuels Firm to Expand to India and Bahrain
(The National Business) Neutral Fuels powers the entirety of McDonald's fleet in the emirates -- ... Mr (Karl) Feilder is behind the UAE’s first homegrown initiative to turn waste cooking oil into biofuel, on which the entirety of the country’s fleet of
July 23, 2019 Read Full Article
Demise of the Diva: The New Organisms Are Workhorses Not Show Ponies, but They Do the Most Amazing Tricks.
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... What we would like to train our focus on is two-fold, the advances in systems biology — elsewhere, you’ve heard it described as synthetic biology, but it’s really all a part of systems biology, which
June 13, 2019 Read Full Article
Lallemand’s Biofuels Division Surpasses Ethanol Production Milestone
(Biofuels International) Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits (LBDS), part of Lallemand, has announced that the company’s TransFerm platform has surpassed over 25 billion gallons of ethanol production. The TransFerm platform comprises yeast strains that produce glucoamylase within fermentation, which reduces the need
June 13, 2019 Read Full Article
Strategy for Growth: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Pacific Ethanol
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Digest’s new “Stocks Worth Tracking” Multi-Slide Guide Series highlights hot companies that are making strides in the bioeconomy. Today’s “Stock Worth Tracking” is Pacific Ethanol. Pacific Ethanol was originally founded in 2003 as the first
May 31, 2019 Read Full Article
Mobilizing for a Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to SEforALL and below50
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sustainable Energy for All was created to drive the energy transition, particularly in developing countries. below50 is a global campaign that brings together companies and organizations who commit to growing the global market for the world’s
May 28, 2019 Read Full Article
MicroNiche Engineering: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Microvi
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Microvi has a vision of safe water, sustainable chemicals and a clean environment for all. How they do this is through their exclusive MicroNiche Engineering platform which combines material science and microbiology to provide novel, fit-for-process biocatalyst
May 28, 2019 Read Full Article
Bolivia Allows Planting of GM Soy to Make Biodiesel
(Los Angeles Times) Soy producers in eastern Bolivia's Santa Cruz region welcome the government's decision to allow cultivation of genetically modified soy, albeit only for the purpose of producing biodiesel. President Evo Morales ' administration, which has been skeptical about GM
March 22, 2019 Read Full Article
Potential Trade‐Offs of Employing Perennial Biomass Crops for the Bioeconomy in the EU by 2050: Impacts on Agricultural Markets in the EU and the World
(ResearchGate) Perennial biomass crops (PBC) are considered a crucial feedstock for sustainable biomass supply to the bioeconomy that compete less with food production compared to traditional crops. However, large‐scale development of PBC as a means to reach greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation
February 05, 2019 Read Full Article
Empirical Evidence Suggests Negligible Indirect Land Use Effect of Corn Ethanol in the U.S.
(Agriculture & Applied Ecoomics Association/CISION/PR Web) AAEA Members release research that finds corn ethanol production and crop price changes had negligible impact on cropland -- Since 2007 corn ethanol production has doubled and there was also a sharp upturn in corn prices
January 29, 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
Advancements in Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis Give Biofuels a Boost
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory) National laboratory researchers demonstrate improvements in bio-oil yield through catalyst and process development. -- Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have identified an approach to improve
January 10, 2019 Read Full Article
Cellulosic Ethanol and DDGS: The Digest’s Multi-Slide Guide to D3MAX
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) D3MAX is a corn fiber-to-ethanol technology provider. Mark Yancey, D3MAX’s CTO, gave this illuminating overview of the technology and process behind the cellulosic ethanol and high protein DDGS from corn kernel fiber with D3MAX at ABLC Global
January 10, 2019 Read Full Article
Top 10 Bioeconomy Markets and Predictions for 2019
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A mere “The Year in Rewind” as we sail into 2019? Not the good ship Digest! Instead, we dust off our crystal ball and offer our predictions for the year ahead. As the sunset of 2018 gives way
January 08, 2019 Read Full Article
Corn Ethanol Production Has Minimal Effect on Cropland Use, Study Shows
by Madhu Khanna (Farms.com) Ethanol production has increased sharply in the United States in the past 10 years, leading to concerns about the expansion of demand for corn resulting in conversion of non-cropland to crop production and the environmental effects of
December 28, 2018 Read Full Article
New Study Shows that Corn Acreage and Total Crop Acreage Are Not Very Responsive to Local Ethanol Production and Crop Prices
by Ruiqing Miao, Yijia Li and Madhu Khanna (FarmDocDaily) Land-use change is in the forefront of human-nature interaction and is the nexus of food security, farm economy, greenhouse gas emission, and ecosystem services. How the development of corn-based biofuel affects land-use change, particularly
December 21, 2018 Read Full Article
Biofuels Lead Efforts to Protect the Climate
by Craig Willis (EurActiv/Growth Energy) With every passing year, the pathway to a stable climate gets narrower and more difficult to navigate. Meanwhile, the reports from our planet’s top scientists paint an increasingly grim picture of what to expect if the
December 13, 2018 Read Full Article
To Fulfill Biofuels’ Promise, Scientists Boost Plant Oils with Gene Editing
by Cici Zhang (Chemical and Engineering News) Increasing the fatty acids in crops’ seeds, leaves, and stems could make biofuels more economically viable -- ... Plant scientist Heike Sederoff of North Carolina State University, however, is very familiar with the oils
December 05, 2018 Read Full Article
Enogen® Corn from Syngenta Combined with SMT™ and FST™ Technologies from ICM Help to Provide Added Value to Ethanol Production at Minnesota Plant
(Syngenta) Significant reduction in corn mash viscosity seen to add significant value at Minnesota-based Corn Plus dry grind ethanol facility; Breakthroughs in viscosity reduction directly contribute to increased throughput and yield; SMT and FST are two of ICM’s value-added, patented technology platforms READ
December 03, 2018 Read Full Article
Part of the Answer to Climate Change May Be America’s Trees and Dirt, Scientists Say
by Brad Plumer (New York Times) ... A new study published on Wednesday, however, found that better management of forests, grasslands and soils in the United States could offset as much as 21 percent of the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. At
November 19, 2018 Read Full Article
Diverse Biofeedstocks Have High Ethanol Yields and Offer Biorefineries Flexibility
(U.S. Department of Energy/Phys.Org) ... Researchers processed and experimentally measured ethanol production from five different herbaceous feedstocks. They examined two annuals (corn stover and energy sorghum) along with three perennials (switchgrass, miscanthus, and restored prairie). They determined that a lignocellulosic ethanol
November 12, 2018 Read Full Article
Seed Yield, Oil Content: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Yield10 Bioscience
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yield10 Bioscience is an agricultural bioscience company focusing on the development of disruptive technologies to produce step-change improvements in crop yield for food and feed crops to enhance global food security. Experts forecast that food production must be increased
November 05, 2018 Read Full Article
Designing a More Productive Corn Able to Cope with Future Climates
(North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance) An international research team has found they can increase corn productivity by targeting the enzyme in charge of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. In a report published in the journal Nature Plants, researchers note that corn
November 02, 2018 Read Full Article
Boosting Crop Yields
(Algae Industry Magazine) Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have engineered tiny carbon-capturing engines from blue-green algae into plants, in an innovation that can help boost the yields of important food crops such as wheat, cowpeas and cassava. READ MORE/WATCH
October 20, 2018 Read Full Article
Sustainable Intensification: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to More Biomass for Bioenergy without Imposing iLUC
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems in combination with biorefinery processing can produce more biomass for bioenergy without imposing iLUC. That’s the topic of this illuminating overview from Poul Erik Laerke and Uffe Jørgensen of Aarhus University
October 10, 2018 Read Full Article
New Algae/Fungi Biofuels System, Breakthru on Sugar Yields, Biodegradable Clothes, Beyond Burger’s monster GHG Benefit, Indigo Ag’s $250M, Robotic Precision Harvest: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of October 3rd
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The pace of bioeconomy invention and change continues at a frenetic pace. In today’s Digest, a new algae/fungi biofuels system, breakthru on sugar yields, biodegradable clothes, Beyond Burger’s monster GHG benefit revealed, Indigo Ag raises $250M, robotic
October 02, 2018 Read Full Article
NUI Galway Scientists Identify Genetic Plant Breeding Strategies to Develop Better Sugar Beet Varieties
(NUI Galway) Plant biotechnologists from the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway have identified genetic breeding strategies to develop bigger and better sugar beet. Sustainable intensification of agriculture to meet rapidly growing global demand for food and non-food products produced by
August 30, 2018 Read Full Article
We Can Feed the World if We Change Our Ways
(Lancaster University) Current crop yields could provide nutritious food for the projected 2050 global population, but only if we make radical changes to our dietary choices, a new study shows. Researchers from Lancaster University have analysed global and regional food supplies to
August 01, 2018 Read Full Article
“There’s No Place Like Home” Grown Sorghum
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Sorghum sights are set high with EPA approval and recent genetic improvements -- ... U.S. EPA opened up pathways for sorghum oil to become renewable fuels. ... Sorghum is a grass grown in many places and regions around
July 30, 2018 Read Full Article
Computational Predictive Biology: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Evogene
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Evogene develops novel products for life science markets through the use of a unique computational predictive biology platform. Currently, the Company focuses on three key target markets: Seeds – addressing essential seed traits such as: yield,
June 25, 2018 Read Full Article
Researcher Wins DOE Grant to Study Sustainability of Biofuels
(University of Idaho/Ethanol Producer Magazine) University of Idaho College of Natural Resources Assistant Professor Tara Hudiburg was awarded $750,000 to study the sustainability of biofuels. The grant, award by the Department of Energy, is part of a $104 million project to create a new
June 12, 2018 Read Full Article
Maximizing Crop Yield: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Yield10 Bioscience
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yield10 Bioscience is an agricultural bioscience company focusing on the development of disruptive technologies to produce step-change improvements in crop yield for food and feed crops to enhance global food security. Experts forecast that food production must be increased
June 06, 2018 Read Full Article
A Yield Revolution in Row Crops Cometh
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yield10’s Brave New World of Metabolic Engineering, Benson Hill’s cloud biology and CRISPR/Cas9 from Purdue and the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Crop yield may never be the same. And developers using crops for bioindustrials or nutrition stand
May 24, 2018 Read Full Article
Accelerating Ag Innovation: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to the USDA Agricultural Research Service
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. ARS conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access and dissemination to:
May 08, 2018 Read Full Article
The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of April 18th, 2018
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The pace of invention and change is just too strong, we’ve realized, to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries of significant product and service advances. For now, we’re going to be tracking
April 19, 2018 Read Full Article
Australian Vine Can Boost Soybean Yield, Study Says
by Lauren Quinn (University of Illinois) Growing in its native Australia, the unobtrusive perennial vine Glycine tomentella could easily be overlooked. But the distant relative of soybean contains genetic resources that can substantially increase soybean yield, according to a new study from the
April 09, 2018 Read Full Article
Algility: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Algae as a New Crop and Technology Platform
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Algae has been reinvented in recent years as a Sustainable New Crop for Food, Feed, Fuel and other products. Part of an international effort to expand Agricultural Production and productive land, and keeping key nutrients on the farm
March 16, 2018 Read Full Article
A Straighter, Shorter Pathway
by Sue Retka Schill (Biomass Magazine) Seven years after the U.S. EPA published the final rule for administering the Renewable Fuel Standard, the path to getting corn kernel fiber-to-cellulosic ethanol approvals appears to be getting much shorter. Edeniq CEO Brian Thome reports
March 09, 2018 Read Full Article
ICM, The Andersons to Develop 70 MMgy Ethanol Plant in Kansas
(ICM/Ethanol Producer Magazine) ICM Inc., a global leading biofuels process technology provider, and The Andersons Inc., a publicly-traded company with diverse interests encompassing a variety of agribusinesses, announced today that they are partnering to own and construct Element LLC, a 70
March 06, 2018 Read Full Article
Study Says CRP Mixes Don't Live up to Biofuel Potential
by Julie Harker (Brownfield Ag News) Mixed prairie grasses that are used in Conservation Reserve Program lands did not live up to their potential as biomass crops for cellulosic biofuel production, in an eight-year study. D.K. Lee, associate crop science professor at
February 21, 2018 Read Full Article
A Sit Down with Conrad Rautenbach from Green Fuel
(The Herald) Fuel prices shot up recently before Government intervened by reducing import duty on fuel to stem the price madness that rose as a result. Questions have been raised as to the contribution of the multi-million dollar investment by Green
February 19, 2018 Read Full Article
Husker Researchers Explore Economic Potential for Sweet Sorghum Ethanol in Western Nebraska
by Richard Perrin (University of Nebraska IANR News) A team at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is exploring sweet sorghum ethanol as a future income source for dryland agriculture in western Nebraska. Sweet sorghum is a cultivar of sorghum primarily developed for the
January 26, 2018 Read Full Article
Updated UFOP Report on Global Market Supply Published
(Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants, UFOP)) Strong global harvest yields mean that supply on international markets is more than sufficient. The figures indicate that there is enough to meet worldwide
January 22, 2018 Read Full Article
Research Finds Land Management Practices Matter in Cellulosic Biofuels Production
by Jessie Stolark (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) New research from Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago at Illinois and the International Food Policy Research Institute shows that incorporating conservation practices can both increase soil organic content and improve the
January 22, 2018 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to the SPARC Regional Biojet Fuel Consortium
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sometimes, what an engine needs to roar to life is a spark. Or a SPARC, as in this case. As in the Southeastern Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC), a consortium consisting of the University of Florida (lead),
January 19, 2018 Read Full Article
New Study Shows Producers Where and How to Grow Cellulosic Biofuel Crops
(University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences/Science Daily) A new report provides practical agronomic data for five cellulosic feedstocks, which could improve adoption and increase production across the country. -- ... "Early yield estimates were based on data from
January 17, 2018 Read Full Article
Ontario Proposal Aims to Double Ethanol Blend in Fuel
by John Greig (Manitoba Co-operator) An Ontario government proposal could dramatically increase the amount of Ontario corn going into ethanol production and help bring consistency to the basis price for corn in the province. The government has posted its proposal to increase
January 04, 2018 Read Full Article
Top 10 Bioeconomy Predictions for 2018
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A mere “The Year in Rewind” as we sail into 2018? Not the good ship Digest! Instead, we dust off our crystal ball and offer our predictions for the year ahead. As the sunset of 2017 gives
January 03, 2018 Read Full Article
Avoiding GMOs Isn’t Just Anti-Science. It’s Immoral.
by Mitch Daniels (The Washington Post) Of the several claims of “anti-science” that clutter our national debates these days, none can be more flagrantly clear than the campaign against modern agricultural technology, most specifically the use of molecular techniques to create
December 28, 2017 Read Full Article
Editorial: Keep Biofuel Benefits Flowing
(Wisconsin State Journal) ... A study conducted for the U.S. Agriculture Department found corn ethanol’s life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, by 2022, will be 43 percent lower than gasoline baseline emissions if ethanol plants continue as usual. If ethanol production makes improvements with available
December 27, 2017 Read Full Article
Results of UW-Madison Study on Carbon Emissions Disputed
by Carol Spaeth-Bauer (Wisconsin State Farmer) A University of Wisconsin-Madison study released on Nov. 15 has officials in the ethanol industry frustrated, disputing the methodology of the study saying the claims of the study are not supported by fact. The study showed a shift of
November 29, 2017 Read Full Article
RFA: Record Corn Yield Underscores RFS Success
by Emily Druckman (Renewable Fuels Association) Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its average corn yield estimate to 175.4 bushels per acre, which if holds, would be a new record. The November World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report raised the
November 15, 2017 Read Full Article
Ending Food Waste Not Biofuels Should Be Food Security Priority
by Alex Brinkley (National Newswatch) Groups concerned that using grains to make biofuels threatens food security should be paying more attention to the impact of waste on the food supply, says Andrea Kent, Vice-President of Government and Public Relations at Greenfields
October 30, 2017 Read Full Article
NREL Selected to Spearhead $3.5 Million DOE Project to Advance Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts
by Kathy Cisar (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the selection of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to lead a new project, for up to $3.5 million, with the goal of reducing the production
October 04, 2017 Read Full Article
Engineering and Evolution in Biotechnology
by Lisa Gibson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Advancements in yeast optimization are gaining momentum. New companies are entering the space and veterans are improving their processes. -- Yeast strains used in the ethanol industry have remained largely static — even genetic
September 26, 2017 Read Full Article
Crossing the Valley of NLACM with Alcohol-to-Hydrocarbon Technology
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) There’s one crossing worse than the Valley of Death and that is the Valley of NLACM. Although it sounds more like a goose trying to say “You’ll like him” — it’s the Natural Law of Alternative Commodity
September 26, 2017 Read Full Article
$10M DOE Grant to Help Boost Camelina Oilseed Yield
(Michgan State Univesity) Both civil airlines and the military have successfully used camelina oil blends to fly airplanes. Camelina is not a significant food crop. So why doesn’t the oilseed plant compete with petroleum products? Small yields. Michigan State University will lead
September 21, 2017 Read Full Article
Molasses Would Be the Preferred Raw Material for Ethanol Production in Guyana
by Audreyanna Thomas (Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc./Stabroek News) The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) would like to provide some information which it is hoped would add to the current debate on ethanol production as a viable business activity for the corporation. ... It
August 14, 2017 Read Full Article
Processing Pathways
by Lisa Gibson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Interest in cellulosic ethanol from corn fiber is piqued, as technology providers improve on their processes, increasing revenue stream possibilities for producers. -- Some producers and technology developers in the ethanol industry say cellulosic ethanol
August 04, 2017 Read Full Article
Biofuel Potential in Southeast Asia: Raising Food Yields, Reducing Food Waste and Utilising Residues
(International Renewable Energy Agency) Southeast Asia has considerable resources to produce liquid biofuels sustainably, using biomass feedstocks that would not cause carbon-dioxide emissions or interfere with food supply. Fulfilling the region’s biofuel potential would depend on increased residue collection from food
July 25, 2017 Read Full Article
MYOB – The New Ethanol Mantra: Modularity, Yield, Octane, Bolt-Ons
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Minnesota, the US ethanol industry is descending upon Minneapolis this week for the annual Fuel Ethanol Workshops, and the theme is efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. You can feel the “get back to business” vibe, a
June 19, 2017 Read Full Article
Driving GHG Down, Bringing Capacity Up
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Increasing efficiency is the ethanol industry’s top goal, and proving it to the U.S. EPA opens the way for expanded ethanol production. -- The number to beat to be named an efficient ethanol
May 22, 2017 Read Full Article
GUEST COLUMN: Corn Farmers Deserve to Be a Part of Earth Day's Celebrations
by Mike Lefever (The Gazette) ... Corn producers belong at the table of these discussions and have much to be proud of, in that they - along with the rest of agriculture - are continually meeting the world's demands for more food,
April 25, 2017 Read Full Article
Let’s Not Forget Carbon Just Yet
by Ron Alverson (Ethanol Producer Magazine/American Coalition for Ethanol) Life-cycle modeling for ethanol needs to be updated to reflect big improvements in corn's GHG emissions profile -- ... Fuels that help automakers achieve efficiency standards are going to be important. California and the
April 24, 2017 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Advanced Fermentation 3.0 – The Must Knows
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Now on the one hand you have the theory of alternative fuels, chemicals and materials, then there is the actual making of them — often aiming for exotically high rates, titers and yields in order
April 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Pacific Ethanol To Produce Cellulosic Ethanol at Its Madera Plant
(Pacific Ethanol/Globenews) Edeniq’s yield-enhancing Pathway Technology will now be installed at two Pacific Ethanol plants -- Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEIX), a leading producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the United States, and Edeniq, Inc., a biorefining and cellulosic
February 16, 2017 Read Full Article
Biodiesel Benefits 'Global Food System' as GHG Profile Improves
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) The food and livestock industries have railed against biofuels for years, based on the argument that corn ethanol and soy biodiesel raise food prices. More recently, some have suggested that soy biodiesel emits more greenhouse
February 08, 2017 Read Full Article
Switchcraft: Metabolix Bioconverts Itself into Yield10, Focuses on Crop Yields
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts we have had more signs of the pivoting underway in the advanced bioeconomy with the news that Metabolix is changing its name to Yield10 Bioscience and will focus on developing disruptive technologies for
January 09, 2017 Read Full Article
The AirCarbon Methane-to-Plastics Technology: The Digest’s 20-16 Multi-Slide Guide to Newlight Technologies
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Newlight, founded in 2003, is harnessing methane-based carbon emissions as a resource to replace oil and reduce the cost of plastics production–fundamentally changing both the economics and environmental impact of the plastics industry. The AirCarbon production
December 29, 2016 Read Full Article
Regional Feedstock Partnership Report Highlights Work to Enable the Billion-Ton Vision
(U.S. Department of Energy) The Regional Feedstock Partnership (the Partnership)—a multi-institutional collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, representatives from land-grant universities, and industry—was first established to address issues associated with the development of
December 27, 2016 Read Full Article
KiOR: The Inside True Story of a Company Gone Wrong. Part 5, The Collapse
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In 2011, KiOR raised $150 million in its June IPO, claiming that it was generating yields of 67 gallons per ton in its Demo unit operations. But it was miles short of that. In our previous
November 25, 2016 Read Full Article
Ethanol Use Can Reduce India’s Fuel Imports, Says PM Modi
(PTI/The Indian Express) "Ethanol production and sale has tripled in the last two years," Modi said, adding that "ethanol can be a balancing power in the economy." -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the use of ethanol can
November 14, 2016 Read Full Article
Biofuels versus Gasoline: The Emissions Gap Is Widening
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) ... Many respected laboratories, agencies, and researchers have used a lifecycle analysis to show that biofuels, particularly advanced biofuels, provide significant carbon benefits compared to gasoline. These benefits have increased in recent years, as biofuels have
September 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Switching to Switchgrass? Study Models Soil Impact of Biofuel Crops
by Kari Lydersen (Midwest Energy News) ... The Argonne modeling shows that when grassland, cropland and pasture in the Midwest are converted to corn for biofuels, the level of carbon sequestration in the soil stays roughly the same, with variation by
August 30, 2016 Read Full Article
Where’s Butanol, or Other Substitutes for Gasoline besides Ethanol?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Is there some fundamental reason that the automotive biofuels people haven’t shifted to butanol or iso-butanol or some other compound that would be more compatible with gasoline and the present highly evolved gasoline engines? Is
August 26, 2016 Read Full Article
Boom in Oil Production Causes Bust in Prairie Sod
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) ... Mr. (Mark) Perry suggests (without any scientific support or a single citation) that ethanol expansion has somehow led to “destruction” of prairie in the Great Plains, but says not a word about the land
August 25, 2016 Read Full Article
Big Oil's Glass House
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/U.S. News and World Report) ... Indeed, it's fairly obvious that (Mark) Perry's yarn is simply intended to shift attention away from the real culprit behind destruction of prairie in the Great Plains – oil and natural
August 25, 2016 Read Full Article
RFA: Record Corn, Ethanol Production Underscore Need for RFS
(Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) America’s farmers are poised to harvest a record corn crop this fall and achieve the highest yield per acre in U.S. history, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates released today. Meanwhile, the U.S. ethanol
August 15, 2016 Read Full Article
In Pitting Biofuels against the Environment, Only Clear Winner Is Oil
by Jessie Stolark (The Hill/Environmental and Energy Study Institute) ... The total amount of U.S. land under production by American farmers is down-- not just over the last 50 or 100 years, but also over the last decade according to the U.S. Department of
August 11, 2016 Read Full Article
Feedstocks for the Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Behind the Scenes look at the Billion Ton Report
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Last month, the DOE released the first volume of its monumental two-volume update of the Billion Ton report, looking not only at the economics of biomass but also the environmental trade-offs associated with various approaches
August 09, 2016 Read Full Article
Bloomberg Gets Duped by Anti-RFS Crowd
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) Here we go again. We didn’t think it could get much worse than the Associated Press hit piece on ethanol in late 2013. But an ethanol hatchet job by Bloomberg published this week actually
August 01, 2016 Read Full Article
Technology Quarterly: The Future of Agriculture
by Geoffrey Carr (The Economist) If agriculture is to continue to feed the world, it needs to become more like manufacturing, says Geoffrey Carr. Fortunately, that is already beginning to happen -- Tom Rogers is an almond farmer in Madera County,
June 17, 2016 Read Full Article
How Do You Generate $2B in Cellulosic Ethanol, with No Upfront Investment?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Siouxland Energy Cooperative has licensed the Edeniq’s Cellunator and Pathway technologies for its 60 million gallon per year ethanol plant located in Sioux Center. Production will start by Q4 2016. Meaning that Edeniq is shifting
June 14, 2016 Read Full Article
50% Yield Boost for Ethanol? No CO2? What?! White Dog Labs Comes out of Stealth
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In what might become the most transformative development in fermentation yields since Noah debuted winemaking technology in the Book of Genesis, US-based White Dog Labs have unveiled a new process that eliminates the emission of CO2, a
June 13, 2016 Read Full Article
Cooper: Don't Reverse Course on Ethanol
by Tom Thoma (Globe Gazette) Alan Guebert’s recent column (“The ethanol trap”) asks, “Where would the nation, its farmers, livestock growers, and rural America be today had ethanol not been given … a role in U.S. farm and energy policy
April 14, 2016 Read Full Article
Urban Air Initiative, Energy Future Coalition Challenge EPA Data on Ethanol’s Lifecycle Emissions
(Urban Air Initiative) Urban Air Initiative joined the Energy Future Coalition and the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition (GBC) in calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recognize an overwhelming body of new evidence showing fuel ethanol can reduce carbon
April 11, 2016 Read Full Article
The Yield Dividend: 5-10X Increase in Sorghum Opening New Options for Africa?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... In South Africa,, Chromatin and Zaad Holdings have entered into an alliance to produce and distribute planting seed for grain and forage sorghum throughout the African continent. In Africa, sorghum is used in the food and
April 01, 2016 Read Full Article
Vislack Defends Biofuels, Bioenergy during House Hearing
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) On Feb. 24, the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing on the state of the rural economy. Biofuels and bioenergy were among the topics discussed during the nearly three-hour event. When asked to characterize the
March 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Study: Eliminating GMOs Would Take Toll on Environment, Economies
(Purdue University) Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned, according
March 01, 2016 Read Full Article
TechStory: ZeaKal’s Series B Points the New Way of Accelerating Biotech Companies to Infinty and Beyond
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... It’s Toy Story all over again. You remember Woody’s struggle to avoid being tossed onto the shelf when Buzz Lightyear arrives. So it is with biotechnology. It takes years, and zillions of dollars, to
February 24, 2016 Read Full Article
How Can Higher-Yield Farming Help to Spare Nature?
by Ben Phalan, Rhys E. Green, Lynn V. Dicks, Graziela Dotta, Claire Feniuk, Anthony Lamb, Bernardo B. N. Strassburg, David R. Williams, Erasmus K. H. J. zu Ermgassen, Andrew Balmford (Science Magazine) Expansion of land area used for agriculture is a
January 29, 2016 Read Full Article
Biofuels Company Industrializes Photosynthesis
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) For eight years, Joule has been working under the radar to develop and commercialize its CO2-to-fuel technology. -- When it comes to ethanol production volumes per acre of land, Joule's Helioculture technology leaves all
January 18, 2016 Read Full Article
Engineers Are from Mars, Business Developers Are from Venus
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors LLC) ... In this case, we are substituting engineers and business developers, then focusing on the differences in how they view biotechnology commercialization and the resulting impact on their ability to successfully scale-up technology as a team.
January 11, 2016 Read Full Article
Six-Year Study Suggests Perennial Crop Yields Can Compete with Corn Stover
by Mark E. Griffin (Wisconsin Energy Institute/University of Wisconsin) A six-year Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) study on the viability of different bioenergy feedstocks recently demonstrated that perennial cropping systems such as switchgrass, giant miscanthus, poplar, native grasses, and
December 30, 2015 Read Full Article
UN Flags Biofuels Slowdown, as Food Prices Renew Decline
(Agrimoney.com) The United Nations highlighted a cooling in the competition by biofuels plants for crops as it revealed a return by food prices into decline, as cereals and meat values fell to five-year lows. The UN's food agency, the Food and
December 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Ethanol Production Hits Record as Distillers Are Flush with Corn
by Mario Parker (Bloomberg News/Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel) Flush with grain from the third-largest U.S. corn harvest, ethanol distilleries are cranking out unprecedented amounts of the biofuel. Ethanol production last week reached a record 1 million barrels a day, for an annualized
November 28, 2015 Read Full Article
11 Top Low-Carbon Fuel Players, WCSBD Publish COP 21 Guide to Slashing Transport-Based Greenhouse Gas Emissions
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Switzerland, 11 leading low carbon fuel companies present a comprehensive guide that identifies a variety of available and accessible low carbon fuel solutions. ... Today, only 3% of transportation fuels are low carbon. According to the International
November 24, 2015 Read Full Article
Debunking Biofuels: Do They Really Raise Food Prices?
by Melissa Pariettin(MSN.com) ... Many factors determine the price of food in the U.S. If the introduction of the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) had as significant an impact on food prices as certain outlets have suggested, then the increase would be
November 18, 2015 Read Full Article
University OF Illinois Research: Study Shows How Crop Prices and Climate Variables Affect Yield and Acreage
(University of Illinois/AgriMarketing) When corn prices increase farmers reap higher yields by making changes. According to a recent University of Illinois study, about one-third of the yield increase derives from more intensive management practices and two-thirds from cropping additional acreage.
November 18, 2015 Read Full Article
Genomics-Assisted Breeding for Leaf Rust (Melampsora) Resistance in Shrub Willow (Salix) Bioenergy Crops
by Larry Smart and Christine Smart (US Department of Energy Genomics Science Program) The generation of renewable energy and the manufacture of biobased products can significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and begin to limit the impacts of global climate
November 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Bumper Corn Crop Good for Ethanol Industry and RFS Argument
(WNAX) A near record corn crop in the U.S. and a record crop in Nebraska is good news for the ethanol industry. USDA recently projected U.S. corn yields at 168 bushels per acre, the second highest average yield on record,
October 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Multifunctional Landscapes: Site Characterization and Field-Scale Design to Incorporate Biomass Production into an Agricultural System
by Herbert Ssegane, M. Cristina Negri, John Quinn, Meltem Urgun-Demirtas (Biomass and Bioenergy) Design of a multifunctional landscape by integrating cellulosic biofuel production into an existing agricultural system. The design does not adversely offset current grain production for bioenergy crops. Maps of
October 28, 2015 Read Full Article
8 Ways around the Big, Bad Oxygen Problem in the Advanced Bioeconomy Parts 1 and 2
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In the terrestrial world, oxygen is colorless, odorless, and try to get through an hour without some. In the Bioeconomy Cinematic Universe, oxygen is harder than steel, heavier than a black hole, and higher than
October 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Trust Iowa farmers, Not Big Oil
by T.J. Page (Des Moines Register/Iowa Renewable Fuels Association) Letter to the Editor-- It’s disappointing, but not surprising to read a recent letter from a non-Iowan repeating discredited Environmental Working Group statistics to bash corn farmers and ethanol production [“Ethanol plays role
October 05, 2015 Read Full Article
Cellulosic Feedstocks of the Future
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Commercial-scale production and harvest of several annual and perennial biomass feedstocks is under way, paving the way for biofuels, biopower and biobased products. -- ... There are, however, a handful of other feedstocks that are
September 21, 2015 Read Full Article
Shedding Light on U.S. Biofuels: The 'Food versus Fuel' Debate
by Stephanie Mercier (Ag Web) The U.S. biofuels sector marks its birth back in 1979, when Congress established a blender’s credit for ethanol as the earliest piece of federal biofuel policy as part of the Energy Tax Act of 1978 as
August 17, 2015 Read Full Article
Celebrating a Decade of Success: The RFS Turns 10!
(Renewable Fuels Association) This Saturday marks 10 years since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) containing the original Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The first RFS set America on a path
August 10, 2015 Read Full Article
COUNTERPOINT: Ethanol a Valuable Part of Energy Mix
by Barry Blitsteihn (Chronicle Herald) A corn field is harvested near Coy, Ark. in 2012. Three years later, “corn prices are in the basement, yet ethanol production is off the charts, so how can you blame ethanol for food shortages?,”
June 08, 2015 Read Full Article
Researchers Study Benefits of Double-Cropping Camelina, Soybeans
(The American Society of Agronomy/Biodiesel Magazine) In the U.S., federal mandates to produce more renewable fuels, especially biofuels, have led to a growing debate: Should fuel or food grow on arable land? Recent research shows farmers can successfully, and sustainably,
June 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Corn Ethanol Yields Continue to Improve
(US DOE Energy Information Administration) In 2014, U.S. fuel ethanol production reached 14.3 billion gallons of ethanol fuel, the highest level ever. The growth in U.S. fuel ethanol production has outpaced growth in corn consumed as feedstock—as the industry has
May 14, 2015 Read Full Article
5 Reasons to Plant Grain Sorghum This Year
by Kayla Wilkins (High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal) Strong demand from both domestic and international markets is sending strong signals to growers, indicating it is prime time to increase grain sorghum acres. This strong demand established by a number of market
May 11, 2015 Read Full Article
New RSB Standard Proposed to Certify Low-Risk ILUC Biomass
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) It may soon be possible to certify that biomass is not only sustainably sourced, but also considered low-risk for indirect land use change (ILUC). The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials released its draft standard
May 04, 2015 Read Full Article
New Study Highlights Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil Yields of 17-27% from Cellulosic Feedstocks
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington state, a new study released in the journal Energy & Fuels is providing the first, fully integrated assessment of common feedstocks from the field to refinery-ready crude fuel, based on hydrotreatment or fast
April 27, 2015 Read Full Article
AG Ventures Alliance, Cellulose Sciences Int'l form New JV Stover Ventures
(Ag Ventures Alliance Cooperative and Cellulose Sciences International/AgriMarketing.com) Ag Ventures Alliance Cooperative (AgVA) of Mason City, Iowa, and Cellulose Sciences International (CSI) of Madison, Wis., completed a financing agreement resulting in the formation of a new joint venture, Stover Ventures,
April 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Digital Soil: The Four Secrets of the New Agriculture
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) To make fuel, chemicals, fiber, food more productively than ever before — it starts in the field with the New Agriculture. Here’s what’s happening as Silicon Valley converges with Silicon Farm. ... Well, ultimately land productivity
March 10, 2015 Read Full Article
Vilsack Calls for Ethanol Industry Support of Trade Negotiations
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asked for the ethanol industry's support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in his keynote address at the 2015 Growth Energy Executive Leadership Conference held in Phoenix Feb. 26-27. The opponents
March 02, 2015 Read Full Article
USDA, DOE Farm and Fuels Funding Updates
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) USDA and DOE announced a raft of grant and loan opportunities and funded projects, many of them funded through the 2014 Farm Bill. On February 20, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO),
February 27, 2015 Read Full Article
OriginOil Joins Idaho National Laboratory In Project Proving Algae For Biofuels
(OriginOil) Disinfection capabilities of OriginOil technology may help make giant open-air ponds feasible for large-scale fuels production OriginOil Inc. (OTC/QB: OOIL), developer of Electro Water Separation™ (EWS), the high-speed, chemical-free process to clean up large quantities of water, announced today that it
February 06, 2015 Read Full Article
USDA Says Corn Acres to Decline, Yields Increase in Decade Ahead
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) USDA long-term projections call for slightly lower corn acres to be planted over the next decade while corn yields steadily climb. The USDA will release the complete long-term supply, use and prices projections
December 30, 2014 Read Full Article
Yield Quest for Cellulosic biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Could a new wave of cellulsoic processes find the key to capturing the carbon lost by today’s technologies — and providing a drive to lower costs that busts through infrastructure barriers? Iogen has been running its
November 13, 2014 Read Full Article
John Deere and Hillco Technologies Introduce Single Pass Round Bale System
(John Deere) Hillco Technologies, Inc., working in developmental partnership with John Deere, has developed a revolutionary new system for harvesting corn and baling corn stover in one simple step. The Hillco Single Pass Round Bale System delivers the next generation of
August 25, 2014 Read Full Article
One Man’s Trash Turns into Fuel
by Jeff DeYoung (Iowa Farmer Today) Mike Greenfield has more than 80 percent of his corn residue contracted to DuPont for use in the company’s cellulosic ethanol plant. If he had his way, all of it would be heading toward the plant
August 25, 2014 Read Full Article
That Dread US Ethanol Policy that Reduced Foreign Oil, Saved Consumers $800 P.A., and Produced More Food
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, USDA released its August World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. The 2014 corn crop is estimated at 14.032 billion bushels. That is 172 million bushels higher than the previous record established
August 15, 2014 Read Full Article
New Crops Get Green Thumbs Up
(GreenvilleOnline) Officials at Clemson have released 21 new crop varieties that will help meet the needs of farmers growing food, fiber and fuels needed by South Carolina’s economy. These varieties include four Roundup Ready varieties of soybeans approved by the S.C. Crop
July 09, 2014 Read Full Article
Study finds that increased corn yields and more efficient use of corn ethanol co-products will greatly decrease land needed for ethanol production
(PR NewsWire/Illinois Corn Marketing Board) Land attributable to ethanol will drop from current 25% to as little as 11% of U.S. corn acres A too common error made in reporting the amount of land used for U.S. ethanol production is to measure
June 04, 2014 Read Full Article
UC San Diego Takes Top Two Positions in National Rankings for Biofuel Research
(University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography) Department of Energy report rates Scripps Institution of Oceanography lab and UC San Diego consortium as country’s best in algae technology research A new report issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies
March 05, 2014 Read Full Article
Record Corn Crop Gets Little Reaction
by Tom Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine) For all the media melodrama displayed at this time last year when the USDA released its tally on the drought-suppressed 2012 corn crop, there’s been predictably little ado over last week’s news that the
January 14, 2014 Read Full Article
Monsanto and Novozymes Team Up to Provide Sustainable Bioagricultural Solutions
(Monsanto) The companies establish The BioAg Alliance to discover, develop and sell microbial solutions that enable farmers worldwide to increase crop yields with less input Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Novozymes (NASDAQ OMX: NZYM B) today announce a long-term strategic alliance to transform
December 11, 2013 Read Full Article
The First Decade: Team Reports on US Trials of Bioenergy Grasses
(E! Science News/Earth & Climate) The first long-term U.S. field trials of Miscanthus x giganteus, a towering perennial grass used in bioenergy production, reveal that its exceptional yields, though reduced somewhat after five years of growth, are still more than twice
December 06, 2013 Read Full Article
Nightmare Scenario: Renewable Fuels’ Defenders Pull out the Stops to Persuade EPA to Continue the War on Imported Oil
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Today, the EPA has scheduled a day of testimony on its proposed 2014 Renewable Fuel volume targets — and a proposed 40 percent slash in the advanced biofuels category to 2.2 billion (ethanol equivalent) gallons,
December 05, 2013 Read Full Article
Why Have Expectations for Sweet Sorghum Soured?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As Ceres points towards minimal plantings of its sweet sorghum hybrids in its key market of Brazil for next year, investors ask two questions. Will sweet sorghum realize its vast potential, and when? Just when many
November 26, 2013 Read Full Article
Arcadia Biosciences and DuPont Pioneer to Collaborate on Sorghum Technology Development
(Arcadia Biosciences) Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. and DuPont Pioneer today announced their intention to collaborate to develop enabling technology to help manage pollen flow in sorghum. This technology will help facilitate the development and deployment of agronomic and quality traits in
November 22, 2013 Read Full Article
Ethanol Industry Examines Implications of Record Corn Crop
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The record corn supply has multiple implications for the ethanol industry. The USDA’s Nov. 8 supply/demand report pegged the 2013 corn crop at 13.989 billion bushels, a new record at more than 700
November 21, 2013 Read Full Article
Peyton Pace: As a Soap Opera Bubbles over KiOR’s Speed-to-Profits, Revenues and Production Triple
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Slow pace, low yields have depressed KiOR’s share prices, but tripled production and revenue has recently delighted the markets. What’s up with the cellulosic biofuels leader? Good news, bad news? ... You have one of the first
November 13, 2013 Read Full Article
AP Investigation: Obama's Green Energy Drive Comes with an Unadvertised Environmental Cost
By Dina Cappiello (Associated Press/StarTribune) The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America's push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the
November 12, 2013 Read Full Article
Call Waiting, Biofuels, Genetics and You
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...The company (Kaiima) started up in 2006, and by 2009, the results were starting to show in castor beans. Castor oil is a good source for a variety of applications, including biofuels — but castor
September 04, 2013 Read Full Article
Maize Growers Form International Alliance
(U.S. Grains Council/Ethanol Producer Magazine) The U.S. Grains Council, along with the National Corn Growers Association, MAIZAR, representing Argentina producers and the maize supply chain and ABRAMILHO (Brazilian Association of Corn Producers) have signed a memorandum of understanding to form
May 28, 2013 Read Full Article
Heard it Through the Grapevine: Useful Facts and Scuttlebutt from the Algae Biomass Summit
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Jobs, global expansion, proteins vs fuels, new R&D funding – all the big issues are under debate both on and off the floor at the Algae Biomass Summit. ...Jobs Dr. John Benemann projected on stage that,
September 27, 2012 Read Full Article
Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Highlights Renewable Fuels Industry’s Top 10 Efficiency and Technology Innovations of the Past Decade
(Iowa Renewable Fuels Association) As a part of its 10th Anniversary celebration of progress and prosperity, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) today released a list of the ethanol and biodiesel industry’s Top 10 efficiency and technology innovations of the
September 05, 2012 Read Full Article
Dating Your Feedstock and Never Marrying: The 6 Hottest Ways to Alleviate Food vs Fuel
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) With the US drought, food vs fuel has returned as an issue. What alternatives are scientists, entrepreneurs developing to take us beyond the old debate? ...1. Feedstock diversification. In biofuels, it is more talked about –
August 21, 2012 Read Full Article
Growing Better Biofuel Crops
by Heather Youngs and Chris Somerville (The Scientist) Research is underway to reduce the use of food crops for biofuels by shifting to dedicated energy crops and agricultural residues. ...Conversion of biomass is currently the most cost-effective route to produce renewable
July 05, 2012 Read Full Article
High Corn Prices Minimize the Impact of Indirect Land Use from Biofuels
(IowaCorn.org) A new study conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago found a statistical correlation showing that as prices increase, farmers make changes that result in higher per acre yields. Farmers also
July 04, 2012 Read Full Article
To Strive, To Seek, to Find, and Max Out Yields
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yield unlocks value, and especially feedstock yield. What’s the latest? What feedstocks are reporting yields that could support 1000+ gallons per acre for terrestrial crops? ...Yield from the acre, yield from the ton, yield from the
March 22, 2012 Read Full Article
Ethanol Fuelling Growth
by Peter Hemphill (Weekly Times Now) ...While ethanol production has become the largest use of the corn crop, it has also developed a high protein byproduct - dried distillers grains with solubles - now highly prized around the world as
February 16, 2012 Read Full Article
Iowa State University Finds up to 10 Percent Corn Yield Increase with Cover Crops
by Iowa State University News Service (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The most recent annual results from a four-year Iowa State University study on using cover crops between rows of corn reveals that higher yields – by 5 to 10 percent
February 13, 2012 Read Full Article
Map Identifies Potential Areas for Boosting Biofuel Crop Yield
(EnvironmentalResearchWeb.org) A global map that identifies areas of low-yielding biofuel crops whose productivity could be increased through intensification has been produced by researchers in the US. ..."The US biofuels target for 2022 is 136 billion litres," Matt Johnston, from the University of
October 11, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol: One Market for a Growing Corn Supply
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) ...According to the USDA, corn farmers produced an average yield of 152.8 bushels of corn per acre in 2010, up 30 percent from the average 20 years ago. Most markets for corn, such as
September 29, 2011 Read Full Article
Brazil Sugar Industry Needs $490 Billion in Investments by 2030
by Tony C. Dreibus (Bloomberg) Brazil may need as much as $490 billion in investments to meet rising demand for sugar and ethanol, C. Czarnikow Sugar Futures Ltd. said in a report. Improved equipment and roads and increased growing area will be
September 16, 2011 Read Full Article
University of Minnesota Study Highlights Potential for Boosting Biofuel Crop Production
by Jeff Falk (University of Minnesota/Hutchinson Leader) New research published online this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, by a team from the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, shows that closing agricultural “yield gaps” around the world
September 16, 2011 Read Full Article
Pretreatment, Proper Harvest Time Boost Ethanol from Switchgrass
by Brian Wallheimer (Purdue University) Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study. Michael Ladisch, a distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Youngmi Kim,
September 01, 2011 Read Full Article
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