USDA’s Agricultural Research Service is studying the use of plant residues for biofuels. At the University of Minnesota-Morris Biomass Gasification Facility, for example, gasification researcher Jim Barbour and ARS soil scientist Jane Johnson (pictured) are evaluating potential biomass feedstocks, including pressed corn stover. The Agricultural Research Service has scientists in 18 states involved in the Renewable Energy Assessment Project (REAP) …
Register Now For Advanced BioEnergy 2009
The first annual Advanced BioEnergy 2009 Conference & Trade Show is set to happen in Sacramento, California on November 11-13, 2009. The focal point of the event is to explore emerging policies, business strategies and technologies driving the bioenergy industry. In addition, the conference will promote cooperation between this advanced bioenergy industry and traditional energy producers as well as offer …
University of Georgia to Make Biodiesel from Biomass
Researchers at University of Georgia will be turning forest and agricultural waste into biodiesel. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the school has licensed technology to Sacramento, Calif.-based Tolero Energy LLC to turn the waste into the green fuel: The process turned waste biomass — dead trees, agricultural waste and lumber byproducts — into a liquid fuel to power conventional …
Studying New Feedstocks for Biofuels
The “World’s Largest Urban Farm and Research Test Facility” is studying a wide variety of new feedstocks that hold promise for future sources of both ethanol and biodiesel. Agricenter International recently offered a closer look at the new crops being grown there by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation AgBioworks program and BioDimensions, Inc. Among the crops that were planted this season …
Biotricity Turning Waste into Fuel
Saying it is on a path less taken, a Houston, Texas company is looking for alternatives to alternative energy. To that end, Biotricity Corporation has announced through this press release poster on Reuters.com that it is pursuing a strategy to make energy out of biomass: Biotricity’s technology can take raw waste products such as sawdust, wood chips, corn stover or …
Missouri Facility Gets First Biomass Assistance Payment
A Missouri plant that turns agricultural waste products into fuel pellets is the first to receive a payment from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency’s new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). This USDA press release says the Show Me Energy Cooperative of Missouri conversion facility will get the funds aimed at paying producers for biomass materials for collection, harvest, storage and …
USDA Hands Out $4.2 Mil for Woody Biomass Projects
Federal officials have handed out $4.2 million in grants for projects that will reduce the fuel for forest fires, while creating a green fuel source. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the grants to 17 small businesses and community groups will encourage development of woody biomass into fuel: “By harnessing the full potential of woody biomass, America’s forests can produce renewable …
USDA Highlights Missouri Biomass Plant
The Obama administration’s Rural Tour last week highlighted the Show Me Energy Cooperative in Missouri as an example of how crop residue can be used to create energy. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the biomass facility is taking wood, corn stalks and other crop residue and converting it into pellets that can be used to produce energy or a substitute …
Solar Generated Ethanol
Bioengineering firm Joule Biotechnologies of Massachusetts recently unveiled a new technology that uses sunlight to directly convert carbon dioxide into ethanol. The process, called Helioculture™, produces what the company is calling SolarFuel™ liquid energy. According to Joule, the conversion requires no agricultural land or fresh water, and leverages a highly scalable system capable of producing more than 20,000 gallons of …
Biofuel System Follows the Crop
A Maryland-based biotech/biofuel company is working on the development of a portable biofuel production system called “Follow the Crop.” Atlantic Biomass Conversions president Bob Kozak recently explained the concept to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD 6th) at his Go Green Energy Expo in Frederick, Maryland. According to Kozak, instead of bringing biomass to biorefineries, the bioconversion technology will go to the …