Alternative Energy / Biofuels

• Biofuel Breakthrough: Could the Energy Landscape be About to Change?

  A pioneer of liquid fuel from the sun proves to be more productive than all biofuels processes Joule Unlimited, a Massachusetts biotechnology company, claims it can now produce diesel fuel from the same ingredients that make plants grow. They have developed a genetically-engineered organism that secretes diesel or ethanol under conditions of sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. It can be manipulated to produce renewable fuels on demand in mass quantities in facilities of any size and at costs that are competitive with the cheapest fossil fuels. According to Joule, this could be a huge breakthrough in energy independence. “If we're…

• Biofuels: Not the Savior we Hoped For

  When we enter the decline phase of conventional oil—likely before 2020—we will scramble to fill the gap with alternative liquid fuels. The Hirsch Report of 2005, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, took a hard look at alternatives that could respond to the scale of the problem in time to have an impact. Not one of the approaches deemed to be currently viable in the report departs from fossil fuels. But what about biofuels? To what extent can they solve our problem? We’ll dip our toes into the math and see where a first-cut analysis leaves us. Photosynthetic Scale…

• China Completes First Biofuel Jet Test Flight

  On 28 October Air China conducted its first trial flight of a passenger jet powered by a mix of biofuel and traditional aviation fuel. The Jet A-1 biofuel kerosene used in the flight was derived from the seeds of tung trees, more commonly known as japtropha. Air China’s Boeing 747-400 landed safely at Beijing Capital International Airport at 9:30 a.m. after burning more than 10 tons of the biofuel, a 50-50 mixture of traditional Jet A-1 derived from oil and Jet A-1 processed from the japtropha seeds. The jatproha Jet A-1 is what’s known as a drop-in, simply being admixed…

• U.S. Biofuel Production Increase - Fact or Wishful Thinking?

  A recent study, released on 11 October, “Biofuel Markets and Technologies” released by Pike Research states that the global biofuel market will double within the next decade to $183.3 billion from its current level of $82.7 billion, with ethanol production accounting for $78 billion of future worldwide biofuel production, while predicting that biodiesel production will reach $25.5 billion. Perhaps not surprisingly, Pike Research predicts that the US will become the world’s leading biofuel producer, accounting for 71 percent of alternative fuel by 2021. Colorado-based Pike Research on its website defines itself as “a market research and consulting firm that provides…

• Biofuels False Promise: Breakthroughs May be Tougher Than Previously Thought

  In the August issue of Scientific American, David Beillo published an article called The False Promise Of Biofuels. I have a paper copy, but not an electronic copy ($ubscription), so I won't be quoting it extensively. Here's the summary, which is good enough for our purposes. Despite extensive research, biofuels are still not commercially competitive. The breakthroughs needed, revealed by recent science, may be tougher to realize than previously thought. Corn ethanol is widely produced because of subsidies, and it diverts massive tracts of farmland needed for food. Converting the cellulose in cornstalks, grasses and trees into biofuels is proving…

• European Union Biodiesel Production Slumps in 2011

  Greening the European Union has suffered a setback. The European Biodiesel Board is reporting that the European Union biodiesel industry production forecasts are noting a 2011 decrease in output, the first since data has been gathered, down from 2010 figures of 9.57 million tons. The European Biodiesel Board reported that biodiesel generation in Europe in 2010 grew by 5.5 percent over 2009 production figures, while in 2009 the European Union’s biodiesel industry grew by 17 percent. Recently the European Union’s best year for biodiesel output was 2008, when the growth rate surged 35 percent over 2007 levels. Germany and France…

• Virgin Atlantic to Use New Jet fuel Created from Industrial Waste Gases

  Waste gases emitted by blast furnaces, coke ovens and BOF (basic oxygen furnace) operations can now be converted into low-cost ethanol and high-value chemicals.  The new fuel production process recycles waste gases that would otherwise be oxidized further to carbon dioxide and released into the atmosphere. Britain’s Virgin Atlantic Airline announced the development of a low-carbon, synthetic jet fuel kerosene produced from industrial waste gases with half the carbon footprint of the standard fossil fuel alternative in partnership with New Zealand’s LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels of Stockholm. Virgin Atlantic will be the first airline to use the new fuel and…

• How Fungi Could Help Create the Next Generation of Biofuels

  The genetic make-up of heat-loving fungi could form the basis of better enzymes for use in the extraction of sugars from biomass for the next generation of biofuels. A team of researchers from the United States and Canada have decoded the complete genetic make-up of the fungi Myceliophthora thermophila and Thielavia terrestris. These fungi are classified as rare organisms known as thermophiles which thrive at temperatures between 45 and 122 degrees Celsius - temperature thought too high to support most life forms. A key component of these organisms' ability to survive is the fact that their enzymes - proteins that…

• New Biofuel Could Replace Today’s Standard Fuel for Diesel Engines

  From Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory comes the announcement that researchers with the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified a potential new advanced biofuel that could replace today’s standard fuel for diesel engines.  It would be clean, green, renewable and produced in the U.S. The full announcement can be found here. JBEI research team used synthetic biology tools to engineer strains of two microbes, a bacteria and yeast, to produce a precursor to bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds that are found in plants and used in fragrances and flavorings. Preliminary tests…

• Novozymes Looking to Displace Charcoal with Biofuel in Mozambique

  Novozymes is to help finance a novel integrated food and energy venture in Mozambique which aims to displace charcoal with biofuel – offering a more sustainable alternative, it says, with a view to opening a massive market. The Danish enzyme producer has made an undisclosed investment in CleanStar Mozambique, a joint venture between it and CleanStar Ventures, an Australian “venture development partnership”. The venture will work with farmers to improve their farming methods, help them diversify the crops they grow and buy surplus cassava from them to feed a 1.2 million litre/year ethanol plant, to start production early next year…