In an effort to reduce its waste streams, Albertsons Companies is converting used cooking oil, created at its grocery stores, into biodiesel. The biodiesel is then used to fuel its trucking fleets. Since 2010, several of its brands in California, including Safeway, Vons and Pavilions have been fueling their fleets with biodiesel. The program is part of Albertson’s goal of …
Turning CO2 Into #Biofuels
Scientists from the University of Toronto (U of T) have discovered a way to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into renewable fuels and chemicals through nanoengineering. Led by Professional Ted Sargent, Min Liu, PhD. and Yuanjie Pang, PhD, along with a team of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in U of T Engineering, have developed a technique powered by renewable energies …
Better Cold Weather #Biodiesel Performance
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has announced new certified reference material (CRM) for cold filter plugging (CFPP) and cloud point (CP) temperatures of biodiesel. This material helps laboratories accurately establish the lowest temperature at which biodiesel can be used. According to JRC, the CP and CFPP of a fuel are temperatures where upon cooling the first precipitates become …
#Corn, Baseball & #RFS- AutoChannel’s Rauch Clues Us in to their Commonality
A recent article published online in Bloomberg Politics by Jennifer A Dlouhy, “As Corn Devours U.S. Prairies, Greens Reconsider Biofuel Mandate,” calls into question the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). She writes, “More than a decade after conservationists helped persuade Congress to require adding corn-based ethanol and other biofuels to gasoline, some groups regret the resulting agricultural runoff in waterways and …
#Biodiesel Growth Discussed During #AgMedia Summit
Did you know that in the past 10 years, the biodiesel industry has grown from a few million gallons of biodiesel production per year to over 2 billion gallons of biodiesel production last year? And did you know that the three leading feedstocks for biodiesel are soybean oil, animal fats and corn oil? Well, now you do thanks to Kaleb …
AI Bio Funds $13M for #Biomass-Based Bioproducts
Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI Bio) has announced the funding for 61 projects to develop bioproducts from biomass resources. Totaling nearly $13 million, the monies will help support Alberta agriculture through the development of local feedstocks, such as forestry waste, to develop renewable products including replacements for fossil-fuel derived materials. The funds are also helping to diversify and strengthen the …
CYCLALG to Develop Algal Biorefinery
A European research and development (R&D) consortium is seeking to develop an algal biorefinery. The three-year project, estimated to cost 1.4 million euros, of which 65 percent is being provided by ERDF funds, is a partnership of six organizations in the Basque Autonomous Community including Navarre and France -NEIKER-Tecnalia, National Centre of Renewable Energies (CENER), Tecnalia Research & Innovation, Association …
Texas A&M AgriLife Receives $2.5M DOE Grant
Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife Research have received a $2.5 million grant to conduct a three-year study to find ways to use a biorefinery waste to make new products. Dr. Joshua Yuan, a biotechnologist, is the lead scientist on the project that will primarily focus on ways to make plastic materials from the lignin waste. “In the biorefinery field, we …
Cologne Scientists Cultivate #Algae for Less
One of barriers that keep the cost of algal products from being competitive is cultivation. But in the near future, these costs could go down with research from scientists in at the University of Cologne. Professor Michael Melkonian, an algae specialist, along with his team have developed a new method that could make harvesting algae easier and thus reduce the …
IIT Researchers Receive #Bioethanol Patent
Two scientists from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Ben Stark and Tony Sanny, have received a patent for a method to genetically engineer bacteria and yeast to increase bioethanol production. During the development process, the team focused on cellulosic biomass from twigs, branches, plant stalks, husks and woodschips. This patent is Stark’s, who is a professor of biology, and Sanny’s, …