Category: Research
BYU students win auto endurance race with E-85 hybrid
Share In Utah, students at Brigham Young University have won first place at the SAE Formula Hybrid competition using their E-85 electric hybrid race car that they designed. The car, called the Hybrid Blue, can reach 60mph in 3 seconds. After a 14 mile endurance race, the car still had a 75% charge in its [...]
India to build 13 biofuels information centers
Share In India, Bangalore University of Agricultural Sciences is home to the first of 13 biofuel information centers being built around the state of Karnataka by the state’s biofuel development board as a way to promote local biofuel production. Each center will also have the capacity to crush up to 100 or 150 metric tons [...]
UCD researchers say that GHG forest emissions must take into account forest history
Share In California, researchers from the University of California at Davis say that the GHG emissions from cutting down forests can vary depending on how the trees were used in the past and where they were grown. Emissions can vary significantly if the forest was used to produce wood for construction or if it was [...]
Princeton makes biobutanol from bamboo
Share In New Jersey, a student is creating a biobutanol out of bamboo at Princeton University. While the process is far from being commercially viable, Amanda Rees was able to treat bamboo sawdust acid with enzymes to produce a small amount of fuel. Rees has hopes for the project, as bamboo’s resilience and status as [...]
Maine researchers chase three paths towards wood-based, drop-in biofuels
Share In Maine, the Farm Press is reporting that three pathways for wood-based aviation biofuels are being pursued at the University of Maine’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. The focus is drop-in biofuels, and there is a video available of the researchers work.
Researchers mark milestone in pursuit of switchgrass genome
Share In Washington, in an attempt to piece together the switchgrass genome, the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in an international partnership with includes the DOE BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) and the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has sequenced plant genomes of related candidate bioenergy crops such as sorghum and the model grass Brachypodium but [...]
Researchers develop pathway to produce power from proteins
Share In the UK, researchers at the University of Leeds have developed an electrode capable of controlling the biochemical reactions needed for biofuel cells to produce large amounts of electricity and are now applying the same technique to a catalytic membrane. The hope is that the membrane may be capable of converting proteins into electricity [...]
Researchers uncover proteins that regulate seed oil production
Share In California, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Iowa State University discovered a family of plant proteins that play a role in the production of seed oils, substances important for animal and human nutrition, biorenewable chemicals and biofuels. Scoring a rare scientific hat trick, the researchers identified three related proteins in [...]
Directed evolution: the third wave in biocatalysis for advanced biofuels?
Share In California, Nature published a paper that evaluated recent advances in biocatalysis and their impacts on commercial development of biofuels. The paper, coauthored by Dr Gjalt Huisman of Codexis Pharmaceuticals, stresses the importance of directed evolution in the third wave in biocatalysis, which is a foundation of Codexis’ technology platform. The paper specifically highlights [...]
International Algae Competition: Green Loop
Share The Abundance Prize and Best Video Green Loop: Marina City Global Algae Retrofitting, Chicago by Influx_Studio, Mario Caceres and Christian Canonico. This is an algae based strategy for a new sustainable model in urban areas, revisioning one of the most iconic buildings in the Loop of Chicago: Marina City Towers. This environmental vision is [...]
