At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison, Wis., researchers are looking to leafcutter ants for new enzymatic processes that will further progress to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Leafcutter ants, which are found in tropical climates and live in enormous colonies that can number in the millions, have evolved several features over time that make their particular cocktail of enzymes attractive to researchers.

Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy talked about the direction the DOE is taking to accelerate the development of algae-based biofuels at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy held this week in Honolulu, Hawaii. She said the agency intends to develop advanced biofuels — hydrocarbons and other high-density fuels that can be drop in replacements for diesel and gasoline — in a more accelerated fashion than cellulosic ethanol.

Western Kentucky University is expanding its energy consciousness.

For years, the Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology has worked on trying to make coal-burning power plants more efficient; the university has attempted and mostly accomplished making its campus more energy efficient and soon ICSET will study how best to convert agriculture products into fuel.

A $500,000 federal budget line item will be used to establish a “theoretical framework” to use a chemical reaction to turn ag products into biofuels, said Buddy Steen, director of the WKU Center for Research and Development.

A team of University of Minnesota researchers and BioCee, a university start-up company, have been awarded $2.2 million from the Department of Energy for a research proposal using bacteria to produce biofuel.

Lead investigator Larry Wackett, University Distinguished McKnight Professor in the College of Biological Sciences, is working with faculty from the BioTechnology Institute; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics; Department of Microbiology; and the Institute of Technology’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

The university’s project was one of three featured in Monday’s New York Times. In essence, the team proposes to develop a bioreactor using bacteria embedded in a thin latex coating to produce hydrocarbon fuel. They are one of the only groups in the world with the ability to make biohydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon fuel has many advantages because society has invested trillions of dollars in the infrastructure to produce, transport and use it.

International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, United Nations Environment Programme
http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/pdf/Assessing_Biofuels_Full_Report.pdf

A far more sophisticated approach needs to be taken when developing biofuels as an environmentally-friendly energy option a new report concludes. Governments should fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.

As currently practiced in a country such as Brazil, it can lead to emissions reductions of between 70 percent and well over 100 percent when substituted for petrol.  However, the way in which biofuels are produced matters in determining whether they are leading to more or less greenhouse gas emissions. Conditions under which production of biofuels does lead to higher emissions have been identified in the report.

The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics is cited. It can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions-up to 2,000 percent or more when compared with fossil fuels.  This is mainly as a result of carbon releases from the soils and land. However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.

At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison, Wis., researchers are looking to leafcutter ants for new enzymatic processes that will further progress to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Leafcutter ants, which are found in tropical climates and live in enormous colonies that can number in the millions, have evolved several features over time that make their particular cocktail of enzymes attractive to researchers.

Thirteen scientists and land use experts conclude in a new paper that an important but fixable error in legal accounting rules used to measure compliance with carbon limits for bioenergy could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging deforestation. Their paper is published in the 23 Oct. issue of the journal Science.

A separate paper published online in Science Express by researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole and MIT concludes that indirect land use change associated with global biofuels programs will be responsible for substantially more carbon loss (up to twice as much) than direct land use. Their model also predicts that because of predicted increases in fertilizer use, nitrous oxide emissions will be more important than carbon losses themselves in terms of warming potential.

A team at China’s Southeast University in Nanjing is developing a process to improve the thermal stability and heating value of bio-oil produced using catalytic fast pyrolysis. A paper on their work was published online in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels on 19 October.

For teacher Bob Smith, there’s no reason why his students’ brain power can’t help move them forward — literally.

Students at the small East Burke High School in rural Connelly Springs, North Carolina, are taking the chemistry lesson out of the lab by turning used cooking oil into bio-diesel.

In the past year, the students have made over 90 gallons of fuel from the used food product, which the local school district uses to power school buses.

As frugal consumers demand more from their vehicles, and bailed-out car companies scramble to manufacture affordable yet eco-friendly models, some drivers are turning to an alternative to the gas-guzzling status quo: vegetable oil.

A 1963 Chrysler turbine car and GM’s 1950s Firebird jet cars inspired Jay Leno to build another high-tech supercar. This new turbine supercar runs on biodiesel and could theoretically top 245 MPH.

The $50 million program that allowed the U.S. EPA to the purchase or retrofit of 14,000 diesel-powered vehicles and pieces of equipment has seen some results. EPA told Congress — which allocates funding — in a report issued last week that its Diesel Emission Reduction Program resulted in reducing 46,000 tons of NOx, and 2,200 tons of particulate matter over a vehicle’s lifetime.

Assessing the energy balance of soy biodiesel is a continuous effort. The University of Idaho and the USDA have been involved with the project for years—they’ve found that biodiesel’s numbers keep improving. “New data becomes available as the industry evolves,” says Jon Van Gerpen, biological and agricultural engineering department head at UI. “Ag-production practices and energy efficiencies are getting better and better all the time.”

The collaborative report concludes that biodiesel returns 4.5 units of energy for every unit of fossil energy required for its production. The National Biodiesel Board used the circumstance of the report’s publication to criticize the U.S. EPA’s proposed rule to implement RFS2. “EPA used 2005 baseline numbers for petroleum and biodiesel to project carbon impact 22 years in the future,” NBB stated. “That stacks the deck in favor of petroleum.”

Engineers from the University of Kansas Biodiesel Initiative have teamed up with Kansas Athletics Inc. to power inflatables at the Hy-Vee Family Hawk Zone at Memorial Stadium with biofuel generators powered by used cooking oil from a campus dining facility.

A project in Pennsylvania seeks to determine if abandoned and active mine lands can be reclaimed and used to grow biofuel crops such as switchgrass and other warm-season grass species.

Pennsylvania has about 180,000 acres of abandoned mine land, plus active mine land, that is not being used currently for food, feed or fiber, according to Rick Stehouwer, Penn State professor of environmental and soil science. That degraded land can be used for biomass production, but it needs to be reclaimed first, he said. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of soil amendments, determine whether the land can support biomass crops, and if the crops are cost effective.

A shuttered ethanol production research facility is preparing to restart with a new focus of operation. Central Lakes College Ag Center director Bob Schafer said the 100,000-gallon capacity plant in Staples, Minn., began operating in 1980 as a corn ethanol production research facility and was one of the first stationary production facilities in Minnesota. But in 1983 the facility was abandoned by researchers because of operational difficulties with some of the equipment at the facility and poor ethanol economics. Ready-to-use biomass pellets were left in the biomass boiler, documents were left out on desks and pieces of operational equipment were simply shut off and left to rust. “It was just like somebody walked away from the dinner table,” Schafer said.

Slow and steady wins the race, according to Coskata Inc. CEO Bill Roe.

The company, along with strategic investor General Motors Corp. and plasma gasification veteran Alter NRG Corp., officially unveiled its semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol facility near Madison, Pa., on Oct. 15. Though slightly behind the start-up date announced initially, Roe attributed the company’s progress to a “hybrid approach” to cellulosic ethanol—a combination of biochemical and thermochemical technologies—and the significance of being truly feedstock flexible.

Proponents of jatropha, the plant once heralded as the future of biofuels, are running into some hurdles.

In a report leaked to The East African newspaper last week, Envirocare, an environmental and human rights organization, highlighted the impact of the jatropha trade in Tanzania — including concerns over the displacement of farmers, water consumption, and the substitution of food crops for biofuels.

The Renewable Fuels Association today released comments to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding proposed regulations to implement the expanded renewable fuel standard (RFS) program enacted by Congress in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) in 2007.

A study commissioned by the National Corn Growers Association finds that proposed regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard would cost the ethanol industry as much as $420 million a year.

The study found that the up-front cost to the ethanol industry for compliance with the new regulations could total $30 million, with annually recurring compliance costs reaching up to $420 million.

US Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from going ahead with regulations that would include indirect land use change (ILUC) effects in implementing the renewable fuel standard.

Not everyone is sold on alternative fuels as the solution to energy problems. Time magazine senior correspondent Michael Grunwald is a skeptic when it comes to renewable fuels. He tells Steve Inskeep instead of emphasizing alternative energy sources, the U.S. should focus on boosting efficiency and reducing consumption.

New research has come out that indicates watermelon could make a good biofuel additive.  Now, I know you’re immediately cringing because watermelon is a food crop and that spells disaster, but the good news is that no one is proposing that we start taking over arrable land with watermelon patches.

It turns out that 20 percent of every annual watermelon crop is unused because, well, it’s ugly.  Misshapen or bruised fruit doesn’t sell, so farmers leave them in the field and take a loss.  Those extra watermelons could be processed for their juice, which could then be made into biofuel.

In a decade, your gas might be made from switchgrass, and designer bacteria might well be involved. Ars takes a look at the various promising approaches to greening our gasoline.

Select from Six Presentation Categories:

• Crop Residues
• Dedicated Energy Crops
• Forest & Wood Processing Residues
• Livestock & Poultry Wastes
• MSW & Urban Wastes
• Food Processing Residues

Pulling up to the pump in a diesel car or rig? In Oregon from now on, a small portion of the fill-up will be soybean squeezings or recycled cooking grease.

Biodiesel production has reached a level in Oregon that triggered a mandate from the Legislature that requires a 2 percent blend with standard diesel fuel across the state.

The widespread introduction of bio-fuels in the aviation industry would result in carbon cuts worth billions to Europe, a think tank report says.

A New England startup claims it has found a way to make ethanol using solar power and carbon dioxide — without agricultural land or fresh water.

A type of fuel once used in Japanese aircraft during World War II is slowly making its way again toward the market, and its backers say that it will work better in automobiles than ethanol.

East Tennessee has officially welcomed a new alternative fuel production facility to the region, and enthusiasts from state and local government to local restaurateurs are poised to help biodiesel succeed.

On hand to open the facility were University of Tennessee President Jan Simek and UT Vice President for Agriculture Joseph DiPietro, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke, Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens, and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Executive Director Stephen A. Smith helped wield the oversized scissors that made short work of the ceremonial ribbon at the gathering of local business leaders.

Built with an Alternative Fuels Innovations Grant from TDEC in partnership with SACE, the community-based biodiesel production unit aims to convert waste fryer oil from local restaurants into useable fuel. The production unit, which is located on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus, will also be a research center for other ag fuels like soybean oil and oilseed crops.

Grassoline it ain’t. After a jury ordered a leading cellulosic biofuel company to pony up millions for defrauding investors, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely come in 60 million gallons shy of its 100 million gallon target next year.

The 2009 Collective Biodiesel Conference, dubbed “the national conference for home brewers,” will be held July 31 through Aug. 2 at American University in Washington, D.C.

Two reports issued from the United Kingdom’s Renewable Fuels Agency and the European Biodiesel Board this week give a snapshot of the European biofuels industry.

The Methanol Institute (MI) today released a Methanol Safe Handling Manual to be shared across the global methanol distribution chain to increase awareness of the chemical and promote safe handing in order to protect workers, consumers, and the environment. This manual will be accessible to everyone who comes into contact with methanol, from research engineers to shipping managers, from tank truck drivers to plant operators and will be available throughout the world. The manual will also be a valuable resource for emergency first responders looking for information on the physical properties of methanol and incident management. To ensure accessibility, the Methanol Safe Handling Manual has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic to reach the broadest possible international audience.

A small biodiesel refinery in Sedgwick, Kan., Healy Biodiesel Inc., has signed a letter of intent with Cetane Energy LLC to license its patent-pending hydroprocessed renewable diesel technology. Cetane Energy operates a standalone hydroprocessing plant in Carlsbad, N.M., which started operations late last year.

Biofuels are liquid energy Version 2.0. Unlike their fossil fuel counterparts — the cadaverous remains of plants that died hundreds of millions of years ago — biofuels come from vegetation grown in the here and now. So they should offer a carbon-neutral energy source: Plants that become biofuels ideally consume more carbon dioxide during photosynthesis than they emit when processed and burned for power. Biofuels make fossil fuels seem so last century, so quaintly carboniferous.

In a bid to take the lead in algae-based biofuels, ExxonMobil will plow $600 million into genome guru Craig Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics and plans to construct a pilot facility in San Diego, Calif.

A commercial shipment of biodiesel has moved through a pipeline in the United States for the first time, according to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a pipeline company.

Dozens and perhaps hundreds of companies are frantically searching for the perfect biofuel. One is Qteros, a Massachusetts-based startup, spun off from Umass-Amherst, that has discovered and refined a microbe called the Q Microbe that turns biomass — switchgrass, wood chips, grass, corn stover or even municipal liquid waste — into ethanol. Qteros’s CEO is Dr. William Frey, former global director of biofuels at Dupont, who recently told a reporter that the company is “basically trying to become the Microsoft of energy.

Farm state politicians, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have sold biofuels to rest of us as a way to revive rural America, attack the problem of global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

In response, investors and taxpayers have poured many millions of dollars into corn ethanol. The returns have been skimpy.

That, at least, is the conclusion of a new report from the Worldwatch Institute called Red, White, and Green: Transforming U.S. Biofuels. The unhappy news is that we don’t seem to have learned much from our dismal experience with corn ethanol, and unless things change in Washington, we’re going to burn a lot more of it.

Clean Air Act:  Preliminary Observations on the Effectiveness and Costs of Mercury Control Technologies at Coal-Fired Power Plants, by John B. Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  GAO-09-860T, July 9
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-860T
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09860thigh.pdf

With a $200 million plant due to open next year in Omaha, and American and European renewable fuel standards on the way, the Danish enzyme giant Novozymes A/S sees itself as well-positioned in the market for second-generation biofuels.

University of Illinois crop sciences professor Stephen Long spoke this May at the Vatican on the use of biological wastes and non-food crops to produce biofuels. His talk was part of a week of study at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) to address the needs of the poor. Professor Long spoke to News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about how new technologies are advancing the development of second-generation biofuels.

The biofuel lobby will win big by delaying rules on “indirect land-use change” for six years, but the National Academy of Sciences may now study the issue

Scientists are turning agricultural leftovers, wood and fast-growing grasses into a huge variety of biofuels—even jet fuel. But before these next-generation biofuels go mainstream, they have to compete with oil at $60 a barrel

Data on biofuel test flights than took place nearly six months ago (Continental Airlines’ flight took place in January and JAL’s a bit more recently) is resurfacing at the Paris Air Show.

The gist of it is something that has been repeatedly highlighted in the intervening months, that biofuels perform as well or slightly better than fossil fuels in jet engines, with Continental saying that their biofuel blend increased fuel efficiency by 1.1%. But that doesn’t mean that we’re really much closer to wide-scale use.

There’s one piece of America’s climate-change strategy that’s coming increasingly under fire: biofuels. Just a couple of years ago, ethanol and biodiesel were celebrated as homegrown alternatives to foreign oil. But now, not so much. Policymakers are starting to pay attention to long-standing criticisms of crop-based fuels, and even green-minded cities like Seattle are backing away.

A group of Virginia Tech students have produced more than 200 gallons of biodiesel as part of a senior design project for the department of mechanical engineering. The Virginia Tech Bio-Fuels group (http://www.vtbiofuels.com/) is putting the fuel to direct use, running two pickup trucks on the liquid in a bid to not only stave off the use of foreign-bought oil but also to be environmentally friendly.

The next time you see an Oberlin College grounds person mowing the lawn you may pick up the whiff of fried foods emanating from the tractor instead of diesel exhaust. That is because veggie-oil powered lawn mowing has come to campus.

The brainchild of Oberlin Grounds Services Manager Dennis Greive and his crew, the changeover was implemented by Sam Merrett of Full Circle Fuels, who converted the vehicle to run on 100% waste vegetable oil from campus dining halls. Greive believes it is one of the first such conversions by institutions of higher learning in the country.