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May 05, 2008

Renewable Diesel Biofuel




Amyris and Crystalsev, a Brazilian ethanol distributor, will commercialize renewable fuels made from sugarcane. Diesel, jet fuel and gasoline will be formulated biologically through fermentation of sugar. The Amyris-Crystalsev partnership will distribute renewable fuels globally, but will initially focus on Brazil and the United States markets. ...
... "The first product, a renewable diesel that works in today's engines, is targeted for commercialization in 2010. Scale-up and testing work to date indicate that this fuel scales more quickly and economically than currently available biofuels, and reduces emissions by 80 percent over petroleum diesel. Using Amyris' breakthrough technology platform, the new joint venture, Amyris-Crystalsev Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Biocombustiveis Ltda, will work with Brazilian sugarcane mills and fuel producers to quickly scale production of the Amyris renewable diesel fuel. Amyris will hold the majority stake in the Amyris-Crystalsev venture, and Crystalsev will hold the remaining stake and contribute commercialization expertise. " ...
Via Amyris Biotechnologies: Innovative Renewable Diesel from Sugarcane by 2010

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February 13, 2008

Bio-Diesel Flight Around the World




 green flight international logo
Green Fuel for airplanes! 

Green Flight International has made history buy having "... completed the world's first Jet aircraft flight powered by 100% biofuel ..."Bio diesel jet

They are planning an around the world approx. 22,000 nautical mile flight to further demonstrate their capabilities.  The date has not yet been set but he flight will "... set an example to the International community that it is possible to implement Alternative energy into mainstream transportation sources."

Green Flight International is based in Apopka, Florida.

Via:  Green Flight International Link

 

Continue reading "Bio-Diesel Flight Around the World" »

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February 07, 2008

Saab 9-4X Optimized for Bio Fuels




Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept Car 

"... Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept demonstrates the potential ... a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbo engine optimized for bioethanol (E85) fuel to give 300 hp and 400 Nm (295 ft.lbs.) of torque - ..." saab logo

"... Its current BioPower models are the top-selling flex-fuel vehicles in Europe, ... offering both more power and producing less CO2 emissions when operating on E85 fuel compared to when fueled by only gasoline. ..."

"...  engine is optimized for E85 fuel (85% bioethanol, 15% gasoline) ..."

"Engine efficiency is also improved by the use of direct injection (DI) and continuously variable valve timing (VVT) on both the inlet and exhaust sides. ..."


Via:  SaabUSA.com  Link

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August 08, 2007

Bagasse as Biofuel Feedstock




Research study will evaluate the use of Florida bagasse as a feedstock for bioenergy manufacturing in Florida.  Via University of Florida: Bagasse is the fibrous plant material that remains once all of the juice has been squeezed from the sugarcane stalk. Bagasse consists mostly of stalk fibers but Bagassealso contains leaves and other biomass components that were brought to the mill by harvest trucks or railcars. Bagasse is about half water and half dry matter (plant material). In Florida, most bagasse is burned as fuel for the mills.  ...
... "Although bagasse is a valuable fuel, there is strong commercial interest in upgrading its value by converting it to ethanol. Demand for ethanol is driven by the President’s call to boost annual ethanol and other alternative fuel production to 35 billion gallons by 2017 and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. FIU and FCC will investigate promising pretreatment processes for bagasse conversion to sugars that can be readily fermented to ethanol and will scale up those findings to a pilot facility to assess the feasibility of commercialization of the bagasse-to-ethanol technology. Florida Crystals" ...

Via Florida International University: FIU and Florida Crystals to develop ethanol technology

 

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June 26, 2007

BioEnergy Research Initiative Funded




Bioenergy research center is establlished through DOE funding, with collaboration of leading University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, national laboratories, and industry. ... DOE BioEnergy Research Centers
... "The award, in the neighborhood of $125 million during five years, establishes the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), where scientists and engineers will conduct basic research toward a suite of new technologies to help convert cellulosic plant biomass - cornstalks, wood chips and perennial native grasses - to sources of energy for everything from cars to electrical power plants. The other two DOE Bioenergy Research Centers are the DOE BioEnergy Research Center, led by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. The research portfolio of the DOE GLBRC will focus on breeding new varieties of biomass plants, developing new processing techniques and agents from microbes for breaking down cellulose, improving the microbial and chemical processes that convert biomass to energy products, providing an environmental and economic framework for sustaining the biomass-to-fuel pipeline, and integrating new technologies - including genomics and new computational methods - into bioenergy research. " ...

Via University of Wisconsin-Madison: Major bioenergy initiative takes flight in Midwest

Via DOE: DOE Bioenergy Research Centers: "The mission of the DOE Bioenergy Research Centers is to conduct systems biology research on microbes and plants, with the goal of harnessing nature’s own powerful mechanisms for producing energy from sunlight. A major focus will be on understanding how to reengineer biological processes for more efficient conversion of plant fiber, or cellulose, into ethanol, a substitute for gasoline. "

Via Oak Ridge National Laboratory: DOE bioenergy center: "Funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the DOE Bioenergy Science Center will be located on the ORNL campus in a new facility funded by the state and owned by the University of Tennessee. The center will employ the interdisciplinary expertise of the team's partners in biology, engineering and agricultural science and commercialization to develop processes for converting plants including switchgrass and poplar trees into fuels. "

Via Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: DOE Bioscience Center: "The DOE JBEI researchers will tackle key scientific problems that currently hinder the cost-effective conversion of lignocellulose into biofuels and other important chemicals. They will also develop the tools and infrastructure to accelerate future biofuel research and production efforts, and help transition new technologies into the commercial sector. The goal of the DOE JBEI is to achieve measurable success within the next five years. "

 

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April 30, 2007

Bioprocess For Monomer From Cellulosic Materials




Ceres and Rohm and Haas link up to research a cellulosic path to acrylic monomer that has synergy with biofuel production. This would enable traditional products, such as paint, to be derived from plant materials. ...
... "Funded by a $1.5 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the three-year project will determine if energy crops planted for cellulosic ethanol could simultaneously produce methacrylate monomers, a key raw material used in Bioprocess for monomer production to be researched by Ceresthe manufacture of many products including paint and coatings, building materials, and acrylic sheet and resins. The economics are attractive. More than 1.5 billion pounds of methacrylate monomers are produced annually in the United States, a market worth $780 million. Though in its early stages, the science looks promising. Molecular biologists and biochemistry experts at Ceres say that some plants naturally produce compounds similar to methacrylate monomers, but do not necessarily accumulate them in extractable forms or quantities. They believe it may be feasible to alter the way plants produce these compounds so that they can be extracted from the dried stalks, stems and leaves before these are fed into biorefineries producing ethanol from cellulose. " ...

Via Rohm and Haas: Bio-Products Research

 

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March 11, 2007

BioEnergy Fermentation Genome Sequenced




Fungus is efficient fermenter of wood sugar xylose, which is abundant in cellulosic materials. The genes can be engineering to increase biofuel production. ... Bioenergy conversion process
... "For cellulosic ethanol production, one major detour has being addressed with the characterization of the genetic blueprint of the fungus Pichia stipitis, by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) and collaborators at the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). The research, entailing the identification of numerous genes in P. stipitis responsible for its fermenting and cellulose-bioconverting prowess, and an analysis of these metabolic pathways ... " ...

Via DOE Joint Genome Institute: Genome Sequenced For Biofuel Production

 

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February 21, 2007

Biomass Ethanol Challenge: Conversation Continues




Ethanol conference attendees discuss challenges, such as efficient synthesis route, and opportunities confronting the cellulosic path to ethanol. ...
... "Although ethanol can be produced from virtually any plant substance, more intensive chemical processes are required to make the fuel from fibrous materials like grass or wood than from starch materials like corn or sugar cane ... " ...

Via Arizona Daily Star: Bioethanol Challenges

 

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February 18, 2007

Farm Waste Forms Fuel Tank: Corn Has Dual Role




Researchers have developed carbon briquettes with nanopores that store natural gas at a extremely high density, 180X, and at low pressure, 1/7th of conventional tanks.  This research effort is aimed at enabling automobiles to run on methane, an abundant domestic fuel, as a cost-effective alternative to gasoline.  National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Corn's role in alternative energyInnovation program funded the research project with a $600,000 grant.  Corn's role in the alternative fuel economy would range from bioethanol production from corn kernels and natural-gas tanks from corncobs.   ...

... "The carbon briquettes contain networks of pores and channels that can hold methane at a high density without the cost of extreme compression, ultimately storing the fuel at a pressure of only 500 pounds per square inch, the pressure found in natural gas pipelines.

In addition to efforts to commercialize the technology, the researchers are now focusing on the next generation briquette, one that will store more natural gas and cost less to produce. Pfeifer believes this next generation of briquette might even hold promise for storing hydrogen. " ...

Via US National Science Foundation, NSF: Farm Waste to Fuel Tanks

 

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