The Obama Administration today announced a partnership between the private sector and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. President Obama made the announcement during a stop in Iowa, at the same time the three department secretaries held a telephone conference call with the press. …
Speeding Up Butanol Production
Last week, several researchers from Rice University unveiled a new method for converting simple glucose (sugar) into biofuels and petrochemicals 10 times faster than any method previously reported. The research was published in Nature online and details how the team reversed one of the most efficient of all metabolic pathway, the beta oxidation cycle, to engineer bacteria that quickly produce …
Level the Playing Field for Biofuels
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) announced this week his intent to introduce bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that would help level the playing field for advanced biofuels such as algae. He wants to accomplish this by reforming the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to make it technology agnostic. Of the 36 billion gallons required by the RFS, up to 15 billion …
Bharat & SG Biofuels Create Jatropha Partnership
India’s second largest petroleum company, Bharat Renewable Energy (BREL), has partnered with SG Biofuels (SGB) to develop sell jatropha hybrids modified for the production of biodiesel in India. The first phase of the program will focus on crop development aimed at creating oil-rich jatropha hybrids suited to growing conditions throughout India. The next phase will consist of deploying more than …
New Biofuels Projects Funded
Ten new government-funded research projects were announced today to help accelerate bioenergy feedstock production. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a waste-to-energy bioprocessing facility under construction in Florida today to announce that the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Energy (DOE) have awarded 10 grants totaling $12.2 million to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy …
DOE Updates Billion Ton Study
The Department of Energy (DOE) has concluded its Billion Ton Study that was first conducted in 2005. This new version of the report confirms that America has ample biomass resources including grasses, ag wastes, and wood wastes among others to meet America’s national renewable fuel goals. One goal of the study was to assess the amount of biomass available that …
Senator Harkin to Speak at Ethanol Conference
U.S. Senator Harkin (D-IA) will be speaking at the 24th Annual Ethanol Conference hosted by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). The event will be taking place on August 22-24 in Des Moines with Harkin presenting on Wednesday, August 24th. “We are honored that Senator Harkin will be joining us for our 24th annual ethanol conference,” said Brian Jennings, Executive …
Butamax Awarded Patent
Butamax has been granted another patent – number 7,993,889. This patent protects foundational methods for low-cost production of biobutanol. Currently, Butamax has over a hundred patent applications pending in addition to those already granted and several of the applications are under accelerated review in the USPTO Green Technology Pilot Program. The company says its intellectual property encompasses advances in technology …
2011 Florida Energy Summit Dates Set
The 2011 Florida Energy Summit has been moved to October 26-28 in Orlando, Florida. The official announcement came today from the Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam who made the announcement during a visit to the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa where he learned about the research and development of energy technologies to advanced the production of hydrogen, fuel cell, …
JBI Partners to Produce Waste Into Fuel
Thorold, Ontario – based JBI has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Rock-Tenn Company to covert mill by-product waste into fuel. The process will feature JBI’s Plastic2Oil technology. As part of the agreement, JBI has an exclusive 10 year license with a renewal option to build and operate Plastic2Oil processors at RockTenn’s facilities. The plan is to …