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New Way to Make Bio-Based Plastics Using Plant Oils

Researchers have developed a new way to use plant oils like olive and linseed oil to create polyurethane, a plastic material used in everything from foam insulation panels to tires, hoses and sealants.

17 Apr 2015

North Fork Community Power's Project Awarded $4.9 Million Grant to Construct Forest-Sourced Biomass Gasification Plant

Phoenix Energy's joint venture, North Fork Community Power's project was awarded a $4.9 million grant announced at today's California Energy Commission Business Meeting. The award will be used to construct one of the first forest-sourced biomass gasification plants, as well as research into the emerging field of forest biomass utilization.

9 Apr 2015

Innovative Biological Method Uses Abundantly Available Corn Stover to Create Hydrogen Fuel

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to create hydrogen fuel using a biological method that greatly reduces the time and money it takes to produce the zero-emissions fuel. This method uses abundantly available corn stover - the stalks, cobs, and husks - to produce the hydrogen.

7 Apr 2015

Researchers Combine Solar Energy Conversion and Biomass Conversion

In a study published March 9 in Nature Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry Professor Kyoung-Shin Choi presents a new approach to combine solar energy conversion and biomass conversion, two important research areas for renewable energy.

12 Mar 2015

New Method to Improve Fuel Production from Biomass Fermented by Yeast

Researchers with the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), a partnership that includes the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, have found a way to increase the production of fuels and other chemicals from biomass fermented by yeast. By introducing new metabolic pathways into the yeast, they enable the microbes to efficiently ferment cellulose and hemicellulose, the two major families of sugar found in the plant cell wall, without the need of environmentally harsh pre-treatments or expensive enzyme cocktails.

6 Mar 2015

Biomass Electricity Production Combined with Carbon Capture and Sequestration Could Contribute to Zero-Carbon Future

Generating electricity from biomass, such as urban waste and sustainably-sourced forest and crop residues, is one strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, because it is carbon-neutral: it produces as much carbon as the plants suck out of the atmosphere.

10 Feb 2015

DEINOVE Reaches First Milestone in ADEME-Funded DEINOCHEM Green Chemistry Program

DEINOVE, an industrial biotech company developing innovative processes for producing biofuels and bio-based compounds from Deinococcus bacteria, today announced it has reached the first milestone of its DEINOCHEM green chemistry program, funded by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) in the framework of the French government initiative "Investing for the Future".

22 Jan 2015

Reliable Methane Production Feasible from Fluctuating Amounts of Green Electricity

Pilot Plant Demonstrates that Fluctuating Amounts of Green Electricity Can Be Used Reliably by the Methanation of Biogenous Gases

12 Jan 2015

Genetic Advance May Help Manipulate Polymer-Forming Processes to Improve Biofuel Production

Plant geneticists including Sam Hazen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Siobhan Brady at the University of California, Davis, have sorted out the gene regulatory networks that control cell wall thickening by the synthesis of the three polymers, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.

5 Jan 2015

Novel Catalytic Process Converts Biomass Waste into High-Value Chemical Products

A new catalytic process is able to convert what was once considered biomass waste into lucrative chemical products that can be used in fragrances, flavorings or to create high-octane fuel for racecars and jets.

19 Dec 2014