Among second-generation biofuels, scientists consider algae a promising source for producing biofuel. Therefore, it’s no surprise that many biofuel researchers are rigorously trying to find new methods to maximize algae’s potential. In fact, a group of scientists led by Professor Zimmerman at...
Last year, biofuels consisted of only 2.7 % of the world’s transportation fuel. This astoundingly low percentage is due high costs of biofuels. Researchers at the Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley, have found a new way to decrease the costs. Their method involves reducing...
A new study by the University of British Columbia predicts that wood will become a competitive commercial source for fuel by 2020. Although wood-based bio fuels are considered more sustainable than corn, they are not widely used due to high costs. Ethanol produced from corn is more commonly used...
Scientists at the BioEnergy Science Center have discovered a new way to improve biofuel production. Their study involves taking advantage of a natural phenomenon in trees called tension wood. Tension wood forms when hardwood trees undergo bending stress. Properties of tension wood have been studied...
“When we began this study, we started with the assumption that every year we advanced in the twentieth century there would be fewer and fewer varieties offered for sale commercially.” So confesses Paul Heald, law professor and co-author of a recent article debunking one of our most widely circulated,...
How can we minimize the carbon output in the bio fuel making process itself? This question addresses a major problem that all second generation bio fuels face. In a previous article, “Conservation Reserve Policy Reduces Bio fuel’s Carbon Debt,” we discussed how producing biofuels requires energy...
Ethanol fuel is a major source of renewable energy and can be made from various cellulosic feedstocks, such as corn stover, grasses, wood, and the non-edible parts of plants. Corn stover, with its extreme abundance, makes it a chief leader in the production of biomass ethanol. Recently, researchers...
The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) research team believes that they have found a great biosynthetic substitute for Number2 (D2) diesel fuel: bisabolane. A member of the terpene class, bisabolane is a chemical found in plants commonly used for fragrances. This is the first time bisabolane is being...
Everything that uses fossil fuels contributes to carbon emissions and, unfortunately, this includes biofuel production. In fact, researchers at Michigan State University showed that the carbon cost of converting land use to corn and soybean is equivalent to burning fuel.
In order for biofuels...
This week we dig deeper into last week’s topic: how to produce bioethanol sustainably. Recent research reveals that a pretreatment step could increase the amount of ethanol derived for switchgrass.
Why use switchgrass for ethanol? This warm seasoned grass can be easily produced in high yield...
An international team of researchers have developed a new method for converting the world’s most abundant organic compound, cellulose, into bioethanol.
Scientists at the University of York identified GH61, an enzyme in a fungus that converts cellulose to smaller sugars. This enzyme has the...
A new strain of yeast engineered by the scientists at the University of Illinois improves seaweeds conversion into biofuel substantially. The increase efficiency makes seaweed an ever better candidate as a useful marine biofuel.
Why seaweed? Typically, marine biofuels produce more biomass...
Scientific discoveries can be made anywhere, but it’s probably safe to say that the last place one would think to look is in animal feces. Yes, I am talking about poop and not just any poop, great panda poop. In research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, bacteria...
[This is the third in a series of articles about lignin, a molecule of singular importance in the field of biofuels.]
While one approach to solving the lignin problem is to identify unique, lignin-defeating enzymes such as those found in the Rhodoccocus jostii bacteria (see...
[This is the second in a series of articles about lignin, a molecule of singular importance in the field of biofuels.]
Lignin puts up one heck of a fight when we try to break it down or separate it from its neighboring molecules, and if we were in the game of personifying inanimate...
[This is the first in a series of articles about lignin, a molecule of singular importance in the field of biofuels.]
At the risk of offending any literati amongst our readers, I’ll introduce the focus of this series with an adaptation (more like an adulteration) of a fine quote...
Last week we looked at research being done within the field of genetic engineering that has had direct benefits for the biofuel industry (“Genetically Engineered Enzymes Offer Help...
Many biofuel production processes currently in use pivot on the conversion of cellulose into ethanol. The main function of a typical biofuel feedstock is to simply provide cellulosic biomass that can be broken down and utilized for this purpose. This process sounds easier in principle than it is in...
Those of us who have only been following biofuels in the past couple of years probably have never heard of a plant called jatropha. Once an industry favorite, this hardy shrub has now largely seen its day in the world of biofuels. Jatropha’s prominence as a potential biofuel feedstock rose fast,...
While past articles in the biofuels section of Greenseedling have suggested that corn might not be the most ideal crop for biofuel production, research that has been conducted by Rice University postdoctoral fellow Morgan Gallagher and colleagues has revealed information that might alleviate some...
Algae have been shown to be a likely prospect for biofuel production for myriad reasons, as we explored in an article highlighting algae production and its relationship to the burgeoning biofuel industry. One of the primary benefits of algae is their ability to grow in a variety of conditions so long...
With experts telling us that the world’s viable reserves of oil are on track to run out in 50 years, the race is on to discover new processes for producing alternative fuels that can be used to power our vehicles. The fuels that have received most of the attention in this hunt for an alternative...
As was discussed in last week’s biofuels article, the Agave plant has appeared as a very strong candidate for biofuel production because it solves many problems and controversies raised by biofuel crop production. Not only can the plant be produced in regions that are unusable for large-scale food...
While most of us probably know that the Agave plant is good for making tequila, many of us might not be aware of is that this plant is also useful for making another “powerful” liquid, and I wouldn’t recommend drinking this one: Biofuel. Researchers in the bioenergy field have recently identified...
About one month ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for a job interview. Throughout my four days in this Emirate known for its ostentatious spending, I was able to witness the devastating effects of the international financial crisis firsthand.
This city,...
When I head back to Kansas in a few weeks for winter break, it looks like I will have something new to talk with my uncle about. He’s carried on the family farm in northern Kansas his whole life, and while our conversation usually centers on horses and pigs, this time it’ll be switchgrass and...
Miscanthus can’t seem to stay out of the spotlight in recent plant energy research—it and other perennials like switchgrass (pictured) were highlighted in a recent Bioscience article as potential reservoirs to take up and store excess CO2 in the environment.
The authors of the review examined...
…A Swedish study indicates there might be
A recent study performed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden has shown that the use of biofuels in Sweden has had positive environmental benefits overall, a conclusion that significantly confronts the widely held conception...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently determined the optimal protocol for planting winter canola, a crop that could serve northwestern farmers very well in the future. With the ability to control weeds, winter canola has always been an attractive option for farmers. However,...
Whether or not sweet potatoes are good for french fries and mashed potatoes is most definitely up for debate, but what is not so much a debate anymore is that they may also be highly useful for the production of fuel ethanol.
The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) spearheaded the...
Researchers from the University of Illinois published a study in The Journal of Environmental Quality this month on the environmental effects of Miscanthus giganteus, one of the top contender species in the search for biofuels. They found that, like switchgrass, another perennial grass and candidate...
Yellow and green streaks seen on the leaves of maize are not just unique; they’re “psychedelic.” The coloring is due to genes that are known as Psychedelic, and these genes may play a role in altering plant yields. Plants with a yellow- and green-streaked leaf phenotype have a mutation...
The Great Plains is known for the massive area it covers and the multitude of crops it produces. However, each individual lot of farmland may be limited in biodiversity. Currently, the Great Plains is slated to become the new home of a mixture of biofuel crops, such as switchgrass and prairie cordgrass....
A few weeks ago, we discussed a method for generating electricity by using a biofuel cell and the power of photosynthesis from a cactus plant; therefore, when selecting this week’s topic, I thought it only appropriate to elaborate on a less prickly approach at harnessing power from plants.
Researchers...
The American Association for the Advancement of Science conference wrapped up on the 22nd of February, and the topic of biofuels certainly did not go untouched.
Many scientists have been addressing the commercialization of the algal biofuel production process. Thus far, the obstacle has mainly...
The University of Central Florida has taken a leap through time and devised a method of harvesting ethanol from garbage items. Sound familiar? Yes, this scenario is not unlike the DeLorean in the popular science fiction movie, Back to the Future. It may be true that the future of clean ethanol lies...
You may have heard of solar power, but what about harnessing power via photosynthesis? Controlled by humans, solar panels can generate electrical power through photovoltaic cells. As opposed to solar panels, photosynthesis employs only the natural sources of plants and the sun to convert solar...
Recent findings at the University of Virginia’s department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have caused increased scrutiny of current alternative energy procurement processes concerning algae.
Exxon Mobile’s $600 million investment for the research and development of biofuel in addition...
The American industry has long dallied with the idea of using microalgae to produce the alternative fuel ethanol, but now a new approach has been proposed. The next stop in our quest to find the best and most efficient alternative fuel: Seaweed, a macroalgae.
Despite its promise as an alternative...
This month’s buzzword in the world of biofuel production is Caution. The United Nations Environment Programme’s most recent report covers the issue of alternative energy in the face of growing sustainability needs. The report is a compilation of a large number of recent studies on biofuels and...
In the October issue of the journal BioScience, David Flaspohler and Joseph Fargione published their analysis on the impact of biofuel-dedicated land consumption on various wildlife populations throughout the grasslands. The journal article addressed the long term effects of America’s focus on biofuel...
When an officer of a factory decides to buy a new, state-of-the-art machine that could double the productivity of the company, the officer understands that an initial investment must be made before actual profits are seen. The same concept can be applied to biofuels and the environment.
The...
Researchers at the University of Illinois have found a gene that could lead to a much larger biomass of corn. The gene involved in their huge (no pun intended) research is named Glossy 15. Glossy 15, as its name may suggest, gives corn seedlings a waxy coating to protect the seedling from the sun....
Commercially available green jet fuels are on the horizon. Professor David Shonnard, Robbins Chair Chemical Engineering professor, completed a thorough study on the use of the Camelina Sativa weed as a replacement for petroleum jet fuel.
This plant requires very little agricultural input to...
The banana peel seems to have universal “appeal” in cartoon episodes. Whether a character slips and skids across the sidewalk or falls into the nearest trash can or mud puddle, loose banana peels somehow always lead to a cartoon character’s slippery demise. So in reality, where do all of the...
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Colleen M. McMahan has begun using the desert shrub Guayule as a new source for ethanol biofuel at the ARS’s research center in Albany.
In the past, Guayule has been used in the production of latex gloves, medical devices and other “in-demand”...
Dennis Buckmaster, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University, recently published a study on maximizing the efficiency of biofuel production. This particular study focused on the efficient production of ethanol from the cellulose in corn stalks. The current...
What would you say if I told you that insects may help us break our dependence on oil products for fuel? Most people would probably laugh and say “Yeah right!” However, in an article soon to be published in Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, Assistant Professor of entomology at the University...
