Natural beauty recreation a source of lumber wood pulp for paper products raw material for biofuels. They also generate jobs
#Climate benefit of biofuels from corn residue: Researchers cast doubtusing corn crop residue to make ethanol
and other biofuels reduces soil carbon and can generate more greenhouse gases than gasoline according to a study published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The U s. Department of energy has provided more than $1 billion in federal funds to support research to develop cellulosic biofuels including ethanol made from corn stover.
While the cellulosic biofuel production process has yet to be commercialized extensively several private companies are specialized developing biorefineries capable of converting tough corn fibers into fuel.
The team found that removing crop residue from cornfields generates an additional 50 to 70 grams of carbon dioxide per megajoule of biofuel energy produced (a joule is a measure of energy
but it results in a smaller biofuel energy yield Liska said. To mitigate increased carbon dioxide emissions
or wood residue or export electricity from biofuel production facilities to offset emissions from coal-fueled power plants.
However if the plants are used for producing biofuels the researchers go for a higher-density crop similar to that of forage crops:
The researchers consider that one of the alternatives to the traditional use of tobacco could be to produce biofuel.
but also to produce crops for biofuels according to new computer models by Stanford scientists. This co-location approach could prove especially useful in sunny arid regions such as the southwestern United states where water is said scarce Sujith Ravi who is conducting postdoctoral research with professors David Lobell and Chris Field both
Co-located solar-biofuel systems could be a novel strategy for generating two forms of energy from uncultivable lands:
electricity from solar infrastructure and easily transportable liquid fuel from biofuel cultivation said Ravi the lead author of a new study published in a recent issue of the journal Environmental science & Technology that details the idea.
Native to North and South america the prickly plant can be used to produce liquid ethanol a biofuel that can be mixed with gasoline
But growing crops for biofuel requires thousands of acres of land and vast quantities of fertilizer and water.
because stems represent the bulk of the biomass that we can harvest for biofuels. Understanding the factors that influence branching in the pea plants used in this study may offer valuable insights to help optimize the growth of bioenergy grasses such as switchgrass
and biofuel a breakthrough that will mean using fewer chemicals less energy and creating fewer environmental pollutants.
One of the largest impediments for the pulp and paper industry as well as the emerging biofuel industry is a polymer found in wood known as lignin says Shawn Mansfield a professor of Wood Science at the University of British columbia.
and is a processing impediment for pulp paper and biofuel. Currently the lignin must be removed a process that requires significant chemicals and energy and causes undesirable waste.
Poplar is a potential energy crop for the biofuel industry because the tree grows quickly and on marginal farmland.
The EU is planning to extend its specific sustainability criteria based on greenhouse gas emissions for biofuels to renewable energy produced from solid biomass.
The tree is also being developed as a feedstock for biofuel. The genome sequence will help scientists breed improved varieties
and to improve plants'productivity and biofuel potential. Two articles published March 11 in The Plant Cell offer a step-by-step approach for studying plant traits drawing on comprehensive quantitative research on lignin formation in black cottonwood.
However lignin must be removed for biofuel pulp and paper production-a process that involves harsh chemicals and expensive treatments.
#Biofuel-to-hydrocarbon conversion technology licensedvertimass LLC a California-based start-up company has licensed an Oak ridge National Laboratory technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels.
poplar wood and corn stover into biofuels. The technology could also supply a source of renewable jet fuel required by recent European union aviation emission regulations.
Biogas technology has been used successfully for decades and it can produce renewable electricity at a cost that's competitive with traditional fuels the authors said.
The amount of methane biogas that went uncollected from palm oil wastewater lagoons last year alone could have met a quarter of Malaysia's electricity needs.
Once it has been harvested rapeseed can be used as a biofuel and added to diesel in varying proportions after simple cold pressing.
#New technique promises cheaper second-generation biofuel for carsproducing second-generation biofuel from dead plant tissue is environmetally friendly
The production of second generation biofuels thus becomes cheaper probably attracting many more producers and competition and this may finally bring the price down.
and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production. These are only the first steps in a bigger initiative that will turn sugarcane
The team will present its latest findings Tuesday (Feb 25) at the U s. Department of energy's ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington D c. Biodiesel is attractive
#Pond-dwelling powerhouses genome points to biofuel potentialduckweed is a tiny floating plant that's been known to drive people daffy.
Now the genome of Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) has given this miniscule plant's potential as a biofuel source a big boost.
These and other properties make it an ideal candidate as a biofuel feedstock--a raw source for biofuel production.
Removing these woody materials from feedstock has been a major challenge in biofuel production. Also although they are small enough to grow in many environments unlike biofuel-producing microbes duckweed plants are large enough to harvest easily.
S. polyrhiza turns out to have one of the smallest known plant genomes at about 158 million base pairs and fewer than 20000 protein-encoding genes.
A thorough understanding of the genome and cellular mechanisms of S. polyrhiza could greatly enhance current efforts to recruit duckweed as a biofuel source.
Messing estimates that duckweed will be a viable biofuel source within the next five years and points to Ceres Energy Group in New jersey
which traits will allow researchers to create new varieties of duckweed with enhanced biofuel traits such as increased reduction of cellulose or increased starch or even higher lipid production.
Starch can be used directly as a biofuel source and it can be converted to ethanol the way corn is converted currently to ethanol fuel
The study of how enzymes break down plant matter is also of direct relevance to the development of processes for environmentally-friendly energy solutions such as biofuels.
***Seaweed could be next new biofuelnew research to turn seaweed into liquid biofuel aims to overcome two main barriers to the plant becoming a major source of renewable energy.
Current biofuels may not be sustainable says Dr John Milledge Research Fellow at Greenwich and an expert in the commercialisation of algae.
and corn or biodiesel from rapeseed and palm oil are in direct competition with food for arable land and water.
therefore a very attractive proposition as an alternative biofuel if we can overcome the challenges. Dr Milledge is working closely with group coordinator Professor Pat Harvey at Greenwich
whether UK's coasts can sustain large-scale biofuel production. The consortium is led by Durham University and builds on a range of the university's previous collaborative projects which span its departments of Chemistry Biology Earth sciences and the Durham Business school.**
#More to biofuel production than yieldwhen it comes to biofuels corn leads the all-important category of biomass yield.
In the current issue of the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences Michigan State university researchers show that looking at the big picture allows other biofuel crops such as native perennial grasses to score higher
Landis and a team of researchers from the Great lakes Bioenergy Research center compared three potential biofuel crops:
although the total number of honeybee colonies increased in some European countries the demands for the pollination services supplied by these pollinators has increased much faster due to the increasing demand for biofuel feedstocks.
Dr Tom Breeze who conducted the research said This study has shown that EU biofuel policy has had an unforeseen consequence in making us more reliant upon wild pollinators like bumblebees and hoverflies to meet demands forthis
and other renewable technologies for the business before opting for biogas. No numbers were given on just how high the emissions for the $6. 5 billion whisky industry are.
Just Tuesday, the U s. Geological Survey released a report saying government programs encouraging biofuel production caused corn acreage in the Mississippi Delta to grow 288 percent in 2007,
Due to its policy of producing ethanol biofuel from the crop, there is evidence that this is contributory to cereal tripling in price over the last decade.
This mobile biofuel processor looks promisingpurdue University researchers developed a new biofuel processing center that can be built on a mobile platform.
The new process could turn agricultural waste and biomass into biofuel, which would cut down the cost of transporting the biomass back to a central refinery.
But in this case, the mobile unit would turn the biomass into liquid biofuel before transporting it back to the main processing facility.
The researchers anticipate that it will be much cheaper to transport liquid biofuel than biomass in bulk.
and biochemical and biofuel company Virent Energy have developed successfully a drop in gasoline and jet fuel made from pine trees in a $900,
New enzyme cuts cost of next-gen biofuels USDA bets (again) on advanced biofuels Poet s cellulosic ethanol strategy:
We have collaborations with the Doe in our challenge of producing an appropriate biomass that can be converted to biofuels.
However, only the ROI, in the form of increased energy independence, was taken into consideration in the politically-motivated push for biofuels.
Biofuels can't do it; tar sands can't do it; oil shale (with an EROI between 1 and 2. 5) can't do it.
At 80 percent diesel and 20 percent biofuel, the blend, called B20, burns cleaner than the standard#2 diesel.
The cows came from Texas. The P32-8 engine did need not much modification to accept the biofuel
He also called on the European union to support genetically modified crops and for the United states to kill domestic subsidies for biofuel.
biofuel subsidies are absurd, not least because they drive up food prices, siphoning grains from the bowls of the poorest into the gas-tanks of the richest--with limited environmental gains, at best.
which is important in the development of biofuel, looking at how you could grow this plant in areas that are not usually hospitable for agricultural plants,
should we worry about engineering algae for biofuels? The Great American Algae Rush is in full swing.
or the soybeans used to make biodiesel. Better still, you can grow algae on arid land and in brackish water,
Turning algae into oil the NASA way Scientists create high-capacity batteries from algae Pressure-cooking method makes an algae-based biofuel Plane takes first flight on 100
%biofuel Can algae-based plastics reduce our plastic footprint? Green algae used to make plastics that dont contain petroleum The algae bloom of alternative energy Video:
Cleanstar's plan to use ethanol to clean up cookingcleanstar  Mozambique has opened a biofuel plant to produce cassava-based ethanol fuel in an effort to replace charcoal,
New enzyme cuts cost of next-gen biofuels
Climateminder helps farms be smarter about water usagecalifornia start-up Climateminder, which is selling technology that its founder first put to the test in Turkish greenhouses,
Can biofuels make a comeback? To be sure, biofuels have been around a long time--almost a century. At the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, a clever engineer named Rudolf Diesel demonstrated his namesake engine with peanut oil.
The rest, they say, is history.)But in the age of cheap petroleum, biofuels could never really overtake gasoline as the fuel of choice.
And now, the popularity of solar and wind power suggest that the entire discussion is moot.
The CEO of Silicon valley startup Cobalt Technologies says ethanol fuel has given biofuels a bad rap
We are emerging to be one of the successes. The original concept was that we really need a better biofuel than ethanol.
How did you convince them that biofuels could be done? RW: You put a slide pack together
You're keen on biofuels; that much is clear. What's the potential market? RW: It's huge.
Nobody's been successful in the biofuels business because it's really hard. From a volume perspective, the fuels market is much better than the chemicals market.
A new drop in biofuel replacement for gasoline, backed by BP and Dupont, is set to begin commercial production in 2014.
Biofuels and renewables can play a bigger role in terms of contribution towards the fuel supply in the USA, which at the moment,
Today, it announced that a new biofuel refinery has joined its early adopters program. The program has a total capacity of 900 million gallons per year,
Ethanol subsidies skate past budget battle Dupont's big bioscience bets Next-gen biofuel in 2012:
another mandate missed USDA bets (again) on advanced biofuels BP, Shell score high on biofuel assessment Fuel to Byrne Cleanstar's plan to use ethanol to clean up cooking
Could cities rely 100%on urban agriculture for their food? While urban agriculture has gained in popularity throughout U s. cities,
it will have the capacity to generate 30 million gallons annually of cellulosic biofuel produced from corn stover residues,
and biofuels, which includesã Â cellulosic ethanol and biobutanol. BIOTECHNOLOGY The biomaterials group expects to see an estimated $1 billion in revenue by 2015.
BIOFUELS On the biofuels side, Dupont is working simultaneously on cellulosic ethanol--for which it has opened a demonstration plant--and biobutanol, for
To begin, Binetti offered a look at the global biofuels market. A quick summary of his points:
Biofuels are growing rapidly thanks to a large service economy. 2010 was a $50 billion marke. 2015 prediction:
The projected outlook for biofuels as a whole: Ã Â $100 to 200 million in pretax earnings by 2015,
when that rapid growth in biofuels takes place in the next decade. Photo: Anthony Masterson/Getty More from the 2011 Jefferies cleantech conference:
In January we are going to be announcing an oil collection service to work with a local producer of biofuels, DC Biofuels.
or it will be converted to biofuels or chemicals. The pilot-scale tests will determine the quality of syngas that can be produced from the Green Mountain waste.
White Castle vs biofuelstaking a bite out of biofuels. White Castle and other chains say that corn-based biofuels are driving up food prices.
--U s. chain restaurants and a group of congressmen are launching an assault against biofuels on the grounds that fuel produced from crops like corn are pushing up food prices.
At a press conference on Capitol hill this Thursday, the president of burger chain White Castle will join the owner of a Wendy's franchise and other meat movers to demand theã Â repeal of the federal Renewable
Bamboo is the next wonder material Friends of Earth rain on Lufthansa biofuels parade Biofuels fly mainstream:
Lufthansa passenger flights taking off Airbus and Europe map jet biofuel goal Will the real biofuel Lindbergh please stand up?
The Lindbergh of aviation biofuels
Food of the future: can'Frankenfish'survive politics? Sometime this summer or soon after, the federal Food and Drug Administration may finally approve the first-ever genetically modified animal for human consumption--a fast-growing Atlantic salmon that has taken 17 years to reach the threshold of American consensus. The man to thank
Spent grease is turning into biofuel. Excess food is donated now to shelters and soup kitchens. Used food is diverted to feedstock.
The effort has stimulated also a micro-economy of biofuel makers, compost haulers, urban farmers and recycling outfits.
and of a growing global population and of contributing to U s. biofuel production, under the constraints of rising production costs,
Forest biofuel increases emissions, study saysthe biofuel industry has been seeing the forest for its cellulose,
In the Pacific Northwest, forest biofuel has been touted as a potential job creator, a means for achieving renewable energy targets,
the researchers find that producing biofuel from forests would release 14 percent more greenhouse emissions than proceeding with current management practices.
Just last month, the USDA granted a total of $80 million to University of Washington and Washington state University for next-gen biofuel research.
Salvaging biofuel from West's pine beetle devastation Could biodiesel be worse for the environment than diesel?
How do you solve a problem like next-gen biofuels? Image: Flickr susan liepa, Flickr a75
Former NASA, Apple engineers unveil $11, 000 coffee makerah...what great lengths we wouldn't go through for the perfect cup of joe.
Friends of Earth rains on Lufthansa biofuel paradefriends of the Earth today condemned Lufthansa s use of biofuels on commercial flights as greenwashing that makes an environmentally destructive practice appear eco-friendly.
Lufthansa is painting itself green with biofuels ââ oe but these flights are anything
but environmentally friendly, said Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. Biofuels exacerbate poverty and hunger,
drive land grabbing and deforestation, push up food prices, and make climate change worse. He issued his statement prior to the scheduled 11:15 a m. take off of Lufthansa flight LH013 from Hamburg-to-Frankfurt.
The 244-mile trip marked the first ever use of jet biofuels on a regular commercial service.
and Paris using biofuels in September. Yesterday, Finnair announced that it plans to test biofuels on at least 3 passenger flights between Helsinki and Amsterdam.
Airlines say biofuels can shrink the industry s carbon footprint because they do not emit CO2 the way conventional hydrocarbon jet fuels ââ oetypically kerosene-do.
Lufthansa says the 1200 flights will save 1500 tons o CO2. But Foe points out that jet biofuels can actually increase carbon emissions
if planters of feedstocks like palm, jatropha and camelina eradicate forests and grasslands, thus releasing the CO2 stored in those natural sinks.
Scientific studies consistently show that most of the currently used biofuels are worse for the climate than fossil fuels, a Foe position paper states.
and producing biofuels. Plowing, fertilizing and harvesting emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases, it points out.
and other NGOS found that EU road biofuels are between 81%and 167%worse for the climate than the equivalent fossil fuels,
Biofuel plantations can also decimate biodiversity, and rob people of food and water as companies use land for biofuel feedstocks rather than for food crops,
it notes. Last month ten international organisations, including the World bank, WTO, UN and OECD called on G20 governments to scrap biofuel subsidies and mandates because of their impact on world poverty and food prices,
Foe said today. With partial funding from the German government, Lufthansa has purchased 800 tons of blend from Finland s Neste Oil for the 6-month, â 6. 6 million biofuel program.
Neste says the blend consists 80%of camelina 15%of jatropha and 5%of animal fat and as such is environmentally responsible.
Biofuel proponents say they can grow with relatively little water and in some cases on poor soil that would not sustain food crops.
Foe biofuel campaigner Kenneth Richter added that airlines overstate the environmental friendliness of jatropha. Although the crop can grow on degraded soil
By one estimate, jatropha would use up the equivalent of 35%of Germany s arable land to meet Lufthansa s 2025 biofuel target, Foe noted.
The controversy surrounding biofuel land use could settle down if researchers find more land-friendly sources. One such possible hope is algae.
Biofuels fly mainstream: Lufthansa passenger flights taking off Airbus and Europe map jet biofuel goal Will the real biofuel Lindbergh please stand up
Fruit-bat colony forces architects to change building designa v-shaped walkway was designed around the trees housing rare bats HONG KONG
Green algae, the photosynthetic organism used as a biofuel, has now been put to use as sustainable bioplastic.
as well as recent commitments by major players in the algae field, we believe that algae has the potential to become one of the most important green feedstocks for biofuels,
How do you solve a problem like next-gen biofuels? Next-generation biofuels are viewed often as a transportation fuel panacea.
A magic elixir that will wean the U s. off of foreign oil without sending the economy into the dark ages.
Advocates have promised next-gen biofuels will reduce greenhouse emissions and end the use of food crops for fuel.
but said it's unlikely the U s. will be able to meet its own biofuel production mandates.
In other words, when it comes to solving a problem like next-gen biofuels it might be easier to catch a cloud and pin it down.
said it's unlikely the U s. will meet specific biofuel mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard by 2022
 Of that, 15 billion gallons must be conventional biofuels--aka corn-based ethanol --and 16 billion gallons must be produced cellulosic biofuels from wood,
grasses or non-edible plant parts including corn stalks and wheat straw. The remaining amount includes 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel fuel
and four billion gallons of advanced renewable biofuels other than ethanol from cornstarch and that achieve a lifecycle threshold of at least 50 percent.
The NRC expects the U s. to meet conventional biofuel and biomass-based diesel fuel production mandates.
The problem lies with advanced and cellulosic biofuels. Not a single commercially viable biorefinery exists for converting cellulosic biomass to fuel,
next-gen biofuels have struggled in part because the process of breaking down plant biomass and converting it into fermentable sugars so it can be refined into fuel is too expensive to be commercially viable.
It's why so much research centers on finding a technological breakthrough that will make biofuels cheaper to make.
either driving down the cost of cellulosic biofuels and/or increasing production. The NRC notes other difficulties with cellulosic biofuels including its reliance on subsidies to compete with fossil fuels
and the need to use more farmland to produce feedstocks like switchgrass and corn stovers.
The NRC warned the increased production of advanced biofuels could inadvertently push up food prices by competing with food crops for land.
Ironically, this is one problem cellulosic biofuels were supposed to solve. The solution The NRC report doesn't offer up any innovative solutions.
Scientists find fungi that could give next-gen biofuels a boost
How dubious are Snapple's bottle cap facts? For over decade, beverage maker Snapple has been printing Real Facts on the undersides of their bottle caps.
the city sells the crops to biofuel makers. It's an  endeavor  that's turned into a money maker for the city, The Kansas city Star reports:
Leaked EU documents rank biofuel emissions higher than crude oileuropean Union politics website Euractive has gotten its hands on official EU data reporting that many biofuel crops release
The numbers were intended for release in the spring when the EU presents new proposals on biofuels,
The European commission has defended long biofuels, despite dissent from Greenpeace and other environmental organizations. Its current biofuel roadmap demands that at least 5. 75%of all energy sold on the market of any member country be biofuel
boosted to 10%by 2020. However, also in the biofuel directive is that biofuel production should be sustainable,
and the new numbers suggest that it is not. The leaked data present higher carbon costs for biofuels because, for the first time,
the analysts incorporated the effects of indirect land use change (ILUC). ILUC is the rise in emissions
when forests and wetlands are destroyed to clear land to grow biofuel crops. And with ILUC added to the mix, it looks like some top biofuel crops are worse for the environment, in terms of carbon emissions, than crude oil.
The EU's default value for measuring carbon efficiency for oil from tar sands is 107g CO2 equivalent per megajoule of fuel (CO2/mj.
incorporating ILUC, for various biofuel crops, thanks to Euractive: Palm oil-105g Soybean â oe 103g Rapeseed â oe 95g Sunflower â oe 86g Palm oil with methane capture â oe 83g
36g Sugar beet â oe 34g Wheat (straw as process fuel in CHP plants) â oe 35g 2g Ethanol (land-using) â oe 32g 2g Biodiesel (land-using) â
oe 21g 2g Ethanol (non-land using) â oe 9g 2g Biodiesel (non-land using) â oe 9g
The top biodiesel crops--palm, soybean, and rapeseed oil--are all the least energy efficient. However, they are also the cheapest to produce,
Scientists find fungi that could give next-gen biofuels a boostthe formula to low-cost biofuel might be found within mushrooms.
and Myceliophthora thermophilia--two types of fungi that thrive in the hot environments necessary to speed up the biofuel refining process,
the development of so-called next-gen biofuels made from non-food crops (or cellulosic ethanol) has fallen flat.
Next-gen biofuels have struggled in part because the process of breaking down plant biomass and converting it into fermentable sugars so it can be refined into fuel is too expensive to be commercially viable.
Many cellulases used in biofuel production thrive at temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees C, according to the DOE's Joint Genome Institute.
A first look inside the biofuels company Related video on Smartplanet: video=6343051
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