The commencement of regular output…
A desert succulent known as…
Algae cells make fat quickly, a finding that means they could hold promise as a sustainable, environmentally sound source of oil.Algal lipids from microalgae are one of the…
By throwing together a common fungus and a common bacterium, researchers are producing isobutanol — a biofuel that gallon-for-gallon delivers 82 percent of gasoline’s heat energy. The more common…
Right now algae is simply too expensive to produce—and the process uses more energy than we get back. But by around 2017, with more money being dumped into research, we…
The heat is on for ethanol, as the oil industry lobbies the Obama administration to lower the ethanol-gas mandate for 2014, but the folks in Iowa, for one, want to…
For the past decade, commercial production of jet biofuel has become of major interest to international airlines.Renewable Jet A-1 biofuel has two alluring aspects.First, it is…
Scientists have identified the first step toward engineering a more drought-resistant variety of Jatropha, a potential biofuel plant.Jatropha has seeds with high oil content. But the oil’s potential…
In a new concept for biofuel cells Sabine Sané, doctoral candidate in the research training group Micro Energy Harvesting at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University…
Researchers at the University of Bergen and Uni Research of Norway hatched an idea that sounds too good to be true: a common marine species that consumes microorganisms and…
I just finished reading a story that made my blood boil. It was about how the oil industry is using dirty tricks to keep the ethanol industry in check. I…
A new enzyme technology allowing the corn ethanol biofuels industry to produce more ethanol with less corn while saving energy and improving profits was announced yesterday. The technology is…
The ethanol debacle heats up ahead of summer; mini nuclear reactors get a boost; Urgent Note for subscribers: Sorry for butting in at the start of…
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is cutting its losses on algae biofuels after investing over $100 million only to find that it couldn’t achieve commercial viability. Earlier this…
Japanese-based Itochu Corp., Texas-based Benefuel, and Flint Hills Resources Renewable LLC have launched a joint venture to produce biodiesel fuel from inedible feedstocks in Nebraska, targeting production of 50 million…
Norwegian senior scientist Øyvind Skreiberg is transforming the chopped-off branches and tops of felled spruce trees into a fine powder that is then pressed into high-energy pellets. The transformation…
A team from the University of Exeter, with support from Shell, has developed a method to make bacteria produce diesel on demand. Sounding a bit like science fiction the…
I got a laugh reading this one from the CBO (Link).The cost of the…
Renewable energy credits, or RINs, are one of the hottest things on the energy market right now because they are making up for a shortfall of refining capacity to blend…
March was a challenging month for refiners. Three weeks ago I discussed the issue of the looming ethanol blend wall, which is leading to soaring costs for refiners as they…
Fast growing trees, especially the poplars are being studied as they produce a large body of biomass per area. Poplars and willows are leading candidates as biofuel crops that are…
US consumers aren’t sure the ethanol math is adding up here as they prepare for this year’s new federal mandate—they’re also not sure whether it’s good for their car engines.