Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed a method using microbes from wood biomass to produce butanol suitable for biofuel and other industrial chemicals. Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol. Until now, starch and cane sugar have been the most commonly used raw materials …
REPREVE Renewables Hosts Field Day
REPREVE Renewables, LLC, a leader in biomass energy solutions, will hold its second annual Freedom Giant Miscanthus Field Day, at their farm operations in Soperton, GA on Jan. 10-11, 2012. This year, it is a two-day event. With an exclusive license to commercialize Freedom giant miscanthus, the company will have live field demonstrations and presentations by industry experts for growers, …
USDA Announces Biomass to Energy Project Funding
USDA has announced funding for a series of projects to convert biomass to energy through USDA’s Rural Energy for America program (REAP). The announcement this week concludes 2011 biomass project funding assistance for a total of 52 projects with just over $31 million in grant and loan note guarantees through program. Among the companies receiving funding is NC-CHP Owner I, …
Ag Secretary Wants Biofuels Support in Farm Bill
Outlining his priorities for farm policy this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stressed the need for continued support of renewable fuels in the next farm bill. “Rural America has done a great job of helping to develop the domestically-produced renewable energy and fuel. That job must continue because when we create those opportunities, we create jobs, we reduce our reliance …
IT Management for Energy Crops
Farmers interested in producing and trading energy crops for feedstock could be helped by a new IT management platform. Ontario-based New Energy Farms, a developer of the energy crop Miscanthus in North America, has teamed up with Muddy Boots Software to provide this new service to the energy crop market. According to the companies, the platform will enable direct trading …
Proposed Farm Bill Includes Advanced Biofuels
Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R, IN-3rd) have introduced a farm bill that they say would save $40 billion and includes provisions that support the development of advanced biofuels. “We offer our bill as a thoughtful option for consideration by the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, as well as the Congressional Deficit Reduction ‘Super’ Committee charged with …
Southeast Partnership Formed for Biomass Development
Development of biomass for energy in the southeast was also included in the USDA grants announced this week in the Pacific Northwest. Among the grants is $15 million for research to be led by the University of Tennessee to develop sustainable feedstock production systems using switchgrass and woody biomass that will “produce low-cost, easily converted sugars for biochemical conversion to …
USDA Announces New Aviation Biofuels Projects
At the Seattle-Tacoma Airport on Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced five major agricultural research projects “aimed at developing regional, renewable energy markets, generating rural jobs, and decreasing America’s dependence on foreign oil.” Altogether, the five-year program will deliver more than $136 million in research and development grants to public and private sector partners in 22 states. University partners from …
Book Review – The Powers That Be
I felt like an academic when I read this week’s book, “The Powers That Be Global Energy For The Twenty-First Century And Beyond,” although author Scott L. Montgomery wanted the book to be “fun.” I sported my black geek glasses and curled up in a chair at a local coffee shop and attempted to give off the personae that I’m …
UOP Breaks Ground on Hawaii Cellulose Plant
UOP, a honeywell company, has broken ground on a biofuels demonstration plant in Hawaii that will convert forest waste, algae and other cellulosic biomass to fuel. The project is being helped along by a $25 million U.S. Department of Energy grant. The project will help meet federal biofuel mandates as well as help Hawaii reach its clean energy goals of …