Plant gene mapping may lead to better biofuel production

UPTON, NY -- By creating a "family tree" of genes expressed in one form of woody plant and a less woody, herbaceous species, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered clues that may help them engineer plants more amenable to biofuel production. The...

Nanofarming technology harvest biofuel oils without harming algae

AMES, Iowa Algae is widely touted as the next best source for fueling the world's energy needs. But one of the greatest challenges in creating biofuels from algae is that when you extract the oil from the algae, it kills the organisms, dramatically raising production costs. Now researchers at ...

Cellulosic biofuel technology will generate low-cost green fuel, says major study

Cellulosic biofuels offer similar, if not lower, costs and very large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to petroleum-derived fuels. That's one of the key take-home messages from a series of expert papers on "The Role of Biomass in America's Energy Future (RBAEF)" in a special issue o...

Commercial yeasts upgraded with an enzyme for biofuel production

This release is available in German . Eckhard Boles, co-founder of the Swiss biofuel company Butalco GmbH and a professor at Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany, has discovered a new enzyme which teaches yeast cells to ferment xylose into ethanol. Xylose is an unused waste sugar in the...

Novel technology could produce biofuel for around 0.50 a liter ($2.49 a gallon)

A novel technology for synthesising chemicals from plant material could produce liquid fuel for just over 0.50 a litre, say German scientists. But only if the infrastructure is set up in the right way, states the research published in this month's issue of Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining . ...

Novel technology could produce biofuel for around €0.50 a liter ($2.49 a gallon)

A novel technology for synthesising chemicals from plant material could produce liquid fuel for just over 0.50 a litre, say German scientists. But only if the infrastructure is set up in the right way, states the research published in this month's issue of Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining . ...

Diverse landscapes are better: Policymakers urged to think broadly about biofuel crops

EAST LANSING, Mich. Diversity is valuable socially, economically and now environmentally. Research by Michigan State University scientists has found that growing more corn to produce ethanol creating less diverse landscapes reduces the ability of beneficial insects to control pests, a loss v...

Diverse landscapes are better: Policymakers urged to think broadly about biofuel crops

EAST LANSING, Mich. Diversity is valuable socially, economically and now environmentally. Research by Michigan State University scientists has found that growing more corn to produce ethanol creating less diverse landscapes reduces the ability of beneficial insects to control pests, a loss v...

Experts agree: to protect the environment, biofuel standards are needed

Millbrook, NY October 9th, 2008 The United States lacks the policies needed to ensure that cellulosic biofuel production will not cause environmental harm, says a distinguished group of international scientists. The paper, published in the October 3rd issue of the journal Science, urges decisio...

More research needed to make good on biofuel promise, experts say

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - While cellulosic biofuels derived from grasses, crop residues and inedible plant parts have real potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than grain-based biofuels like corn ethanol, more research and science-based policies are needed to reap these benefit...

MSU technology that converts plant fibers to biofuel commercialized

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- A Kansas company has licensed Michigan State University technology that uses enzymes from a microbe in a cow's stomach to create plants that can be more efficiently turned into biofuel. Enzymes that allow a cow to digest grasses and other plant fibers can be used to turn...

MSU to create genomic clearinghouse for biofuel crops

EAST LANSING, Mich. Michigan State University scientists, armed with a half-million-dollar federal grant, are creating an easily accessible, Web-based genomic database of information on crops that can be used to make ethanol. "Ultimately this will allow us to create better biofuel crops," said...

MSU's discovery of plant protein holds promise for biofuel production

EAST LANSING, Mich. Scientists at Michigan State University have identified a new protein necessary for chloroplast development. The discovery could ultimately lead to plant varieties tailored specifically for biofuel production. Chloroplasts, which are specialized compartments in plant cells,...

A green solution to biofuel production

With the current drive towards production of alternative fuels from plant material, enzymes which can break down this material into useable compounds are required in industrial quantities and at a low cost. One group of scientists from Texas A&M University have come up with a solution: using plan...

Lean and mean biomass-degrading fungus reveals capabilities for improved biofuel production

WALNUT CREEK, CAThe bane of military quartermasters may soon be a boon to biofuels producers. The genome analysis of a champion biomass-degrading fungus has revealed a surprisingly minimal repertoire of genes that it employs to break down plant cell walls, highlighting opportunities for further im...

Newly defined signaling pathway could mean better biofuel sources

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A newly defined biochemical pathway in plants may provide the scientific tools to design plants that will yield larger quantities of alternative transportation fuels than currently can be produced, according to Purdue University researchers. The pathway moves materials th...

New research suggests biofuel blending is often inaccurate

While sampling blended biodiesel fuels purchased from small-scale retailers, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that many of the blends do not contain the advertised amount of biofuel. Marine chemist Chris Reddy and colleagues sampled pure biodiesel and blends from m...

Limited biofuel feedstock supply?

The United States has embarked on an ambitious program to develop technology and infrastructure to economically and sustainably produce ethanol from biomass. Corn stover, the above-ground material left in fields after corn grain harvest, has been identified as a primary feedstock. Stover and other...

Cornell will host the Northeast Biofuel Summit, Nov. 11-13

ITHACA, N.Y. Cornell University will host the Northeast Biofuel Summit, Nov. 11-13, at the Statler Hotel on the Cornell campus. The summit will assess the regions current biomass inventory, including agricultural feedstock designated for fuel. The conference also will develop strategies to di...

Arizona State University launches biofuel initiative with BP and Science Foundation Arizona

TEMPE, Ariz.- Arizona State University has announced a significant research partnership with energy company BP and Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) to develop a renewable source of biofuel. The research effort focuses on using a specially optimized photosynthetic bacterium to produce biodiese...

CAST rolls out biofuel commentaries in New Orleans

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) will make three presentations in New Orleans on Monday Nov. 5 as part of the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The presentations i...

To maximize biofuel potential, researchers look for sorghum's 'sweet spot'

BEAUMONT - Picture this - IV (intravenous) lines in a sorghum field. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. It's one way that scientists at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station are researching crops that may contribute to the biofuel revolution. In Beaumont, Dr. Lee Tarpley, plant physiolog...

UCI and CODA Genomics collaborate to re-engineer yeast for biofuel production

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 4, 2007 Scientists from UC Irvine and CODA Genomics are partnering on new research aimed at turning a common strain of yeast used in the production of beer, wine and bread into an efficient producer of ethanol. Researchers at UCIs Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatic...

Modified plants may yield more biofuel

Plants, genetically modified to ease the breaking down of their woody material, could be the key to a cheaper and greener way of making ethanol, according to researchers who add that the approach could also help turn agricultural waste into food for livestock. Lignin, a major component of wood...

Montana State researchers receive grant to study algae as a source of biofuel

BOZEMAN -- Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Montana State University and Utah State University a three-year, $900,000 grant to study the oil produced by algae, which could be a renewable source of biodiesel. The two universities will split the money more or less down the middle, ...

Cow stomach holds key to turning corn into biofuel

An enzyme from a microbe that lives inside a cows stomach is the key to turning corn plants into fuel, according to Michigan State University scientists. The enzyme that allows a cow to digest grasses and other plant fibers can be used to turn other plant fibers into simple sugars. These simple...

Biodiversity key to sustainable biofuel according to University of Minn. researcher's findings

Ecosystems containing many different plant species are not only more productive, they are also better able to withstand and recover from climate extremes, pests and disease over long periods of time. These findings, published in the June 1 issue of Nature, are the culmination of 12 years of exper...

Bioethanol's impact on water supply 3 times higher than once thought

...f ethanol, making them better suited for ethanol production. "The results highlight the need to take regional specifics into account when implementing biofuel mandates," the article notes. ...

Plankton Power and RTDC announce proposed algae-to-biofuels pilot facility on Cape Cod

...als and government objectivesin this case, the federal mandate to quadruple biofuel use by 2020," said Robert A. Curtis, CEO of RTDC. "By joining forces, this ...to address the challenges of efficiently producing commercial quantities of biofuel from algae. "The Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery provides an excellent op...

Forest fire prevention efforts will lessen carbon sequestration, add to greenhouse warming

... these fast-growing forests and at the same time maximize protection against catastrophic fire. "It had been thought for some time that if you used biofuel treatments to produce energy, you could offset the carbon emissions from this process," said Mark Harmon, holder of the Richardson Chair in the OSU De...

Sustainable bioenergy project has global launch

...hieved via complementary changes fostering graceful coexistence of food and biofuel production." The second stage of the project will address whether it is p...Bay Commission have championed the production of next-generation cellulosic biofuel crops as a way to improve soil and water quality and enhance rural developm...

GEN reports on alternative feedstocks for ethanol production

... that a range of current and novel methodologies will contribute to meeting biofuel needs, according to the June 15 issue of GEN ( http://www.genengnews.com/ar... of ethanol per ton of dry biomass. Also discussed in the GEN article is biofuel research taking place at ICM, Qteros, Synthetic Genomics, Solazyme, and the...

Rice University researchers ask if biofuels will lead to a 'drink or drive'

...e biofuels and noted that certain crops yield more biofuel energy while using less land, fertilizer and water...l as water consumption," the authors said. Raising biofuel crops in some areas will require greater use of fe...o, it warned. The report acknowledged that some biofuel sources, like switchgrass and other lignocellulosi...

DOE JGI releases expanded version of Phytozome.net

...ilable in Phytozome, defined at several evolutionarily significant epochs, provide a framework for the transfer of functional information to important biofuel and agricultural crops from model plant systems, as well as allowing users to explore land plant evolution. The 4.0 release of Phytozome now spans ...

The coming of biofuels: Study shows reducing gasoline emissions will benefit human health

...a switch to biofuels. Although there are a number of uncertainties that must be addressed for a more accurate picture, these early results show that a biofuel eliminating even 10-percent of current gasoline pollutant emissions would have a substantial impact on human health in this country, especially in urb...

Jungle yeast

...ves diminish, the race is on to find novel varieties for use in sustainable biofuel production. Dr Steve James said "It's a race against time. We know that m...eking novel yeast properties to confer advantages both in second generation biofuel production and in a range of other industrial fermentations ". ...

DOE makes largest Danforth Campus research award in history

...ology. The objective of the Center for Advanced biofuel Systems is to increase the thermodynamic and kinet...ogies to bear on complex problems and will improve biofuel production and product development. "The EFRC a...transition basic research on algal and plant-based biofuel systems into sustainable energy production systems...

Regional partnership to develop algal biofuels gets backing of San Diego leaders

...portation fuel," said Mayor Sanders. "As the algal biofuel industry develops, we are confident that San Diego...ted $175.9 million in the United States to develop biofuel from microalgae, according to Biofuels Digest. The...ng to convert algae to an environmentally friendly biofuel for use in automobiles and airliners. In the Im...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- April 22, 2009

... highly publicized efforts to produce ethanol fuel from wheat straw, corn cobs, and other crop waste rather than food crops appear to be stalling as biofuel companies face mounting difficulties bringing it to the marketplace. That's according to an article scheduled for the April 27 issue of Chemical & En...

Breaking the ties that bind: New hope for biomass fuels

...nipulated via temperature differences to potentially make the material more susceptible to attack by enzymes that can crack the fibers into sugars for biofuel production. "We have been able to identify a chink in the armor of a very tough and worthy adversarythe cellulose fiber," said Gnanakaran, who lead...