In Tennessee, researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory used three pretreatment solvents to partially deconstruct and break away plant lignin from other cell wall components so the lignin modules can be extracted. The composition of the extracted lignin (and therefore its potential value) from wild type and genetic variants […]
In Tennessee, a team of researchers working within the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants that could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less costly. The researchers focused on […]
In Tennessee, a team of researchers working within the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants that could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less costly. The researchers focused on […]
In Tennessee, a team of scientists from LanzaTech, Northwestern University and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed carbon capture technology that harnesses emissions from industrial processes to produce acetone and isopropanol, known as IPA. These widely used chemicals serve as the basis of thousands of products, from fuels and solvents to […]
In Tennessee, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team has successfully introduced a poplar gene into switchgrass, an important biofuel source, that allows switchgrass to interact with a beneficial fungus, ultimately boosting the grass’ growth and viability in changing environments. Scientists observed the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor as it enveloped the plant’s roots. This behavior, not […]
In Tennessee, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team has successfully introduced a poplar gene into switchgrass, an important biofuel source, that allows switchgrass to interact with a beneficial fungus, ultimately boosting the grass’s growth and viability in changing environments. Scientists observed the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor as it enveloped the plant’s roots. This behavior, not […]
In Tennessee, for decades, biologists have believed a key enzyme in plants had one function—produce amino acids, which are vital to plant survival and also essential to human diets. But for researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this enzyme does more than advertised. They had run a series of experiments on poplar plants that […]
In Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a new catalyst for converting ethanol into C3+ olefins—the chemical building blocks for renewable jet fuel and diesel—that pushes the amount produced to a record-high 88%, a more than 10% gain over their previously developed catalyst. In the search for new catalysts, researchers achieved the record […]
In Tennessee, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered a single gene that simultaneously boosts plant growth and tolerance for stresses such as drought and salt, all while tackling the root cause of climate change by enabling plants to pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As climate change triggers more frequent and longer-lasting […]
In Tennessee, in the first step of a multi-step ethanol-to-jet-fuel process developed by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a catalyst is used to convert ethanol into butene-rich C3+ olefins, important intermediates that can then be processed into aviation fuels. Two more steps—oligomerization and hydrotreating—convert these intermediates into the liquid hydrocarbons used as fuels. A team […]
