The pursuit of new feedstocks for next generation ethanol has gone underwater. Seaweed has been getting quite a bit of attention for its potential in ethanol production, especially in Asia. Most recently, scientists from Tohoku University and Tohoku Electric Power announced they have developed a technology to efficiently generate ethanol from seaweed such as sea tangle and sea grape, according …
FAO: Japtropha Promising Rural Crop for Biodiesel
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recently released a new report that champions jatropha as a promising biodiesel crop especially for global rural farmers. The report, “Jatropha: A Smallholder Bioenergy Crop, the Potential for Pro-Poor Development,” set out to examine the potential for jatropha as a sustainable biodiesel crop and has been in development since …
ISU Testing Biomass/Coal Blend to Reduce Emissions
In a recent article published in Inside Iowa State (ISU), researchers are looking into the replacement of some coal with wood pellets. The biomass is being studied as an additive to coal, to reduce it’s carbon footprint. Beginning on July 15, 2010, two coal-fired boilers located on the ISU campus, began to burn wood pellets as part of a series …
Green Scissors 2010 Calls for Cut in Wasteful Spending
At the helm of Friends of the Earth, a new report was released today highlighting government programs and subsidies that are wasteful to taxpayers, harmful to the environment and bad for consumers. The Green Scissors 2010 report targeted four major areas for budget cuts including energy, agriculture and biofuels, infrastructure, and public lands. Many of the recommendations of this report …
Energy Crop Production Looks Good in Tennessee
The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative (UTBI) is closely watching how more than 1,000 acres of newly planted varieties of switchgrass will compare to current varieties. This project is part of a U.S. DOE project that was developed to study improved efficiencies in bioenergy production from biomass. The scale of the acreage will allow for assessment of the environmental and …
Indirect GHGs of Petroleum Worse Than Thought
Environment Magazine has published new research today that finds that the greenhouse gas emissions derived from military use of oil is worse than previously thought. University of Nebraska professors, Adam Liska and Richard Perrin write in the article, Securing Foreign Oil: A Case for Including Military Operations in the Climate Change Impact of Fuels, “we assert that military activity to …
Purdue Develops Mobile Biofuels Processing Method
Mobile processing plants might hold the key to harvesting agricultural waste on the farm for biofuels production. Chemical engineers at Purdue University have come up with the concept and developed a new method to process agricultural waste and other biomass into biofuels. The method would utilize various types of biomass, including wood chips, switch grass, corn stover, rice husks, and …
Green Process for Fuel Additive Could Help Ethanol Production
An Iowa State University researcher has developed a new green, bio-based process for producing the fuel additive isobutene that could help ethanol production. ISU biochemistry professor Thomas Bobik invented a process for manufacturing the much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the fuel organically. Isobutene is a …
Biodiesel Catalyst Nominated for R&D Award
A catalyst for biodiesel production has been nominated for an award that represents the most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year. FavStocks.com reports that Idaho National Laboratory’s supercritical/solid catalyst that turns waste fats, oils and greases into biodiesel production is up for one of R&D Magazine’s 100 Awards: The Supercritical/Solid Catalyst (SSC) can handle waste …
Ethanol & Biodiesel Add $2B to Canadian Economy
“The grand total of the annual positive economic impact of renewable fuels is $2.013 billion.” This according to a new biofuels economic report, “Total Economic Impact Assessment of Biofuels Plants in Canada,” released today. The report was commissioned by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA) and conducted by econometric firm Doyletech Corporation. The report studied 28 ethanol and biodiesel plants …