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Grow partnerships with industry and education to prepare work-force ready graduates with advanced renewable/bio-fuels skills for agriculture, food and natural resources industries.
Team Contacts
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New Biofuels Laboratory Opens |
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Berkeley Lab Opens Advanced Biofuels Facility
August 18, 2011
BERKELEY, CA – The ailing United States’ economy would receive a much needed boost with the commercial development of a domestic source of transportation fuel – especially if that fuel were to be clean, green and renewable, and could replace gasoline on a gallon-for gallon basis in today’s engines and infrastructures. Helping to make that dream come true is the mission of the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU), which officially opened for business by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
The ABPDU is a 15,000 square-foot state-of-the art facility, located in Emeryville, California, designed to help expedite the commercialization of advanced next-generation biofuels by providing industry-scale test beds for discoveries made in the laboratory. Derived from cellulosic biomass not used as a food or feed source, these advanced biofuels represent a job-creating industry that would significantly reduce our nation’s dependence on imported oil. As a further benefit, the combustion of these fuels is “carbon-neutral,” meaning their use does not contribute to an increase in greenhouse gases.
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Isobutanol Plant in Minnesota |
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Gevo, a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, signed definitive agreements Monday to acquire Agri-Energy's ethanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota where the company will start isobutanol production in 2012. Mechanical retrofitting of the plant will begin once the deal is closed. Gevo has developed a technology designed to retrofit into existing corn-ethanol plants. During most of the retrofit process, plant will continue to produce ethanol.
Isobutanol can be used directly as a solvent and converted to isobutylene, the raw material for plastics and fibers. Gevo believes isobutanol will lead to the renewable production of rubber, polypropylene, polystyrene, and PET. Isobutanol also can be used as a gasoline blendstock and as a building block in the production of hydrocarbons found in petroleum-derived gasoline, jet and diesel fuels.
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Technique improves efficiency of biofuel production |
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Researchers at North Carolina State Univ. have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional biofuel production techniques. The technique is a significant step toward creating a commercially viable new source of biofuels.
Researchers from NC State have developed a new way to free the carbohydrates from the lignin. By exposing the plant matter to gaseous ozone, with very little moisture, they are able to produce a carbohydrate-rich solid with no solid or liquid waste.
To learn more go to: http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/06/Energy-Biofuels-Technique-Improves-Efficiency-Of-Biofuel-Production/
Source: R&D Daily July 1, 2010 |
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New yeast can ferment more sugar, make more cellulosic ethanol |
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June 7, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University scientists have improved a strain of yeast that can produce more biofuel from cellulosic plant material by fermenting all five types of the plant's sugars.
Nathan Mosier, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Miroslav Sedlak, a research assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and Nancy Ho, a research professor of chemical engineering, used genes from a fungus to re-engineer a yeast strain Ho developed at Purdue. The new yeast can ferment the sugar arabinose in addition to the other sugars found in plant material such as corn stalks, straw, switchgrass and other crop residues.
"Natural yeast can ferment three sugars: galactose, manose and glucose," Ho said. "The original Ho yeast added xylose to that, and now the fifth, arabinose, has been added."
To learn more go to: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100607MosierYeast.html
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Celllulosic Biomass |
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Lignocellulosic biomass, or plant biomass, is an attractive source for biofuels. The public and researchers alike are intrigued by the idea of using readily available “plant waste,” such as corn stover, sawdust, or other agricultural residue, to create carbon-neutral transportation fuels.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are focusing on four main areas:
- Feedstocks
- Deconstruction.
- Fuels Synthesis
- Technologies.
To read more about this research go to: http://bio.sandia.gov/solutions/biofuels/cellulosic_biomass.html |
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