The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of June 28th, 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 these on a weekly basis to keep pace with the changes. Here are the top innovations for the week of June 28th.
#1 Cali company launches compostable coffee cups …
#2 Textile recycling process gives used garments a second life …
#3 Nuvus releases grow.droid controlled environment agriculture factories …
#4 Essential oils evaluated for diesel blend stock
In Australia, researchers are using waste oil from oranges, tea trees, and eucalyptus as a diesel blend stock with comparable performance to all-diesel fuel. Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher Ashrafur Rahman tested each of the waste oils for performance and emissions as a 10% oil-90% diesel blend in a 6-cylinder diesel engine.
“As only therapeutic grade oil can be used, there is a substantial volume of low-value waste oil that currently is stored, awaiting a use,” Rahman tells Science Daily. “Our tests found essential oil blends produced almost the same power as neat diesel with a slight increase in fuel consumption.
Orange, eucalyptus and tea tree are either native or grown extensively in Australia for essential oil production, he added. “We see the main use for an essential oil/diesel blend would be in the agricultural sector, especially in the vehicles used by the producers of these oils.
#5 That’s the pits: Mexican company makes straws from avocado seeds …
#6 Jojoba, fruit kernels amid microbead alternatives in New Zealand …
#7 BlueNalu makes seafood with cellular aquaculture …
#8 Stine Seed invests in tractors without drivers …
#9 c-LEcta develops new process for a 100 percent plant-based sweetener …
#10 Textiles maker uses coffee grounds, castor beans READ MORE
