Researchers at North Carolina State University are re-engineering the traditional sweet potato to make it better suited for producing ethanol. According to a NCSU release, this industrial sweet potato doesn’t look, or taste, much like the Southern classic, but can produce twice the starch content of corn – the leading source of ethanol. More starch means more sugars that can …
Renewable Fuels Now Fights for Alternative Energies
The first “official” action of the Renewable Fuels Now coalition was to determine where Americans stand on developing and using alternative energies. The coalition is a new umbrella organization of different associations that are working to provide accurate information about renewable fuels. Greg Krissek with ICM says opponents of alternative energies have swamped the public with misinformation about renewable fuels, …
Biofuels Research at Arizona State
The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University is launching a Renewable Biofuel Research Initiative. Science Foundation Arizona and energy company BP are funding the initiative meant to propel the development of a renewable source of biofuel. The research effort focuses on using a specially optimized photosynthetic bacterium to produce biodiesel, a sustainable high-energy fuel that can be used in conventional …
U.S. Army Takes a Look at Hydrogen
The Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, a department of the U.S. Army, is working with executives from Chevron Technology Ventures and the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center to see how the military could use hydrogen fuel technology and how the technology operates in a real-world setting. The joint-project will take place at the Selfridge Air National Guard (SANG) …
Yellowstone Bacteria Could Be Hot for Ethanol
A heat-loving bacteria discovered in Yellowstone Park has potential for the ethanol industry. According to an article in the Jackson Hole News, Scientists found the bacteria, called Candidatus Chloracidobacterium termophilum, in Octopus and Mushroom springs and the Green Finger Pool, not far from Old Faithful. The bacterium grows best in temperatures between 120 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit and could help …
Ethanol Becomes Bigger Priority for Novozymes Inc.
An article from The Sacramento Business Journal has spotlighted a company that’s shifting some gears and making more room for research in ethanol production. Celia Lamb reports that Novozymes Inc., part of Davis biotechnology company – a company that focuses on industrial enzyme research – is investing in additional space and personnel to boost it’s resources for ethanol exploration. Here’s …
Sugarcane for the Midwest
Tropical maize could prove to be a very attractive dedicated energy crop with some very desirable characteristics, according to research being done at the University of Illinois. When University of Illinois crop scientist Fred Below began growing tropical maize, the form of corn grown in the tropics, he was looking for novel genes for the utilization of nitrogen fertilizer and …
Technology Key to Food and Fuel
The 2007 Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium held in Des Moines this week focused on “Biofuels and Biofoods: The Global Implications of Emerging Technologies.” At the event, more than 700 leading policymakers, industry executives, and agricultural and food science experts from over 65 countries, gathered to explore the international impact that biorenewable energy will have in the coming decades. One …
Technology Management Develops World’s First Soybean-Powered Fuel Cell
Ohio has a lot of it, and now, one company has a breakthrough way of using it. Technology Management Inc., based in Cleveland, Ohio, says it’s committed to “creating clean technology solutions for the emerging energy shortfalls of the 21st century.” That commitment has paid off as TMI offers a first in fuel cell systems technology worldwide, using Ohio’s largest …
Cows Are Like Ethanol Plants
Here is a riddle for you – “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” That question was posed at a booth manned by Nick Baker of the U. S. Dairy Forage Research Center at last week’s World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. Baker explained to expo visitors that basically the cow’s rumen uses microbes to break down forage …