Alternative Energy / Biofuels

• Major Breakthrough for Seaweed Biofuel

  Getting biofuel supplies from seaweed has taken a giant leap forward from work by Yong-Su Jin, a University of Illinois Assistant Professor of Microbial Genomics and a faculty member in the university’s Institute for Genomic Biology. Jin and his large international team have developed a strain of yeast that can make short work of fermenting galactose using red seaweed for the feedstock. Jin points out galactose is one of the most abundant sugars in marine biomass so its enhanced fermentation will be  industrially very useful for seaweed biofuel producers. Marine biomass is a high potential renewable source for the production…

• Why Sugar Beets are Preferable to Corn for Ethanol Production

  focusing on beet ethanol makes sense for a number of reasons. Green Vision’s figures show that beets produce twice as much ethanol per acre as corn and require about 40 percent less water per gallon of ethanol produced. Using beets instead of corn also sidesteps the controversy associated with using a food product for fuel. “This is probably the most efficient use for an acre of land for biofuel as there is,” Helgaas said. _CheckBiotechIn the higher latitudes where air temperatures dip far below sugar cane growing levels, sugar beets thrive. Fargo, North Dakota's, Green Vision Group aims to turn…

• Could the Farmland Bubble be about to Burst? What Will this Mean for Corn Ethanol

  There’s another bubble blown up and ready to pop. Its farmland all across the U.S. priced off the chart.  For the alternative fuel future this is an extreme danger moment, the prime driver for alternative fuels for decades in the U.S. has come from corn based ethanol, thus what happens to corn based ethanol will have an impact on everything else.  The trailblazer market is in danger from the basics – land. The world corn market is not abundant right now – the U.S crop came up short – although there is no danger of a shortage.  The price for…

• Biofuel News: Research Moving away from Algae to Seaweed

  It’s coming – research interest is moving toward seaweed from algae.  For algae enthusiasts, keep in mind that technically speaking common algae is micro algae and seaweed is macro algae.  They both offer a huge advantage to other plants in line for fuel production. These two life forms offer efficiency; they grow without using energy to make cellulose, the land plant’s answer to structure for gravity, wind and animal assaults.  For comparison algae are thought to produce 50% of the O2 while they’re less than 1% of the total plant biomass on Earth.  That said, adding seaweed or macro algae…

• Biofuels and Sugar Production – The cure for Petroleum Addiction

  So far the best use of CO2 whether as a fuel use byproduct or already in the atmosphere is get it back to a simple sugar.  From there the sugar’s carbon and hydrogen content can be used to make fuels and other products.  Coming up with useable sugars is the devil in foundation of alternative fuels.  Mastering the carbon cycle with recycling CO2 would solve the fuel as a crisis issue.  Until the process is developed that goes from CO2 directly to fuel is worked out competitive to oil, gas and coal, coming up with a cheap sugar feed stock…

• Are Ethanol Producers Exporting Taxpayer Subsidized Ethanol

  Ulterior Motives Behind the Ethanol Pipeline? Ethanol producers in the Midwest have lobbied for support to build a pipeline to ship their ethanol to the East Coast. As I have argued, given that the market for ethanol is nowhere close to being saturated in the Midwest (a large E85 market in the Midwest could consume all of the ethanol produced there), it would seem to be a better allocation of resources to build up the E85 market rather than try to export ethanol from the Midwest. However, some have claimed that the real reason ethanol producers want the pipeline is…

• Reality Check for the Miracle Biofuel Crop Jatropha

  The hardy jatropha tree as a biofuel source may not be the panacea for smallholders that some have claimed, say Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku. It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders. That is what some are claiming for Jatropha curcas, the 'miracle' biofuel crop. But studies on the ground suggest a lot more research and development (R&D) is needed before farmers can come close to seeing any of the promised benefits. So what…

• New Generation Biofuels in India

  Sustainable biofuel production strategies and second-generation options involving woody biomass and tall grasses that do not need additional land can help India realise its green targets, a review says. India needs to minimise any adverse impact and promote potential synergies with respect to reclamation of degraded lands, creation of rural livelihoods and promotion of energy security, the review by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) said. First-generation biofuel crops include sugarcane, grains and vegetable crops, while examples of second-generation feedstock are biomass, tall grasses and crop residues such as bagasse from sugarcane, straw, leaves, and nut shells. India imports over three-quarters of its petroleum…

• Gasoline from Corn Cobs for $1 a Gallon?

  GE Energy, a GE subsidiary, has jumped into the advanced biofuels race by throwing in $8 million with the startup CoolPlanetBiofuels. The startup claims to be able to produce a bio-gasoline from rough biomass for about $1 a gallon. Here is more from GreenCarCongress: $8-million funding round for CoolPlanetBioFuels, a start-up company developing a technology that converts low-grade biomass into high-grade fuels, including gasoline, and carbon that can be sequestered. This venture capital investment was led by North Bridge Venture Partners, which had also led CoolPlanet’s financing round last year. Additional financial details were not disclosed. CoolPlanet’s research and development…

• U.S. Ethanol Production Nearing One Million Barrels Per Day

  The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports for August that U.S. ethanol production rose in August to an all-time high, production averaged more than 869,000 barrels per day (b/d).  The Renewable Fuels Association who also collects data calculated ethanol demand at all-time high as well at 911,000 b/d in August, up from 734,000 b/d a year ago. The U.S. is closing in on the million barrel per day milestone.  Cheers in some sections, groans in others, but for America, slashing off the equivalent of 750,000 b/d of imported oil is a good thing. Most groans come from the odd couple of…