http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces energy more than 20 times higher than existing methods. http://phys.org/news261145083.html Technology Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:18:19 EST news261145083 Operating on the thought that, if it is not feasible, it's not going to be done, a group of Texas AgriLife Research scientists is studying the costs of getting potential bioenergy sources such as mesquite to the processed stage. http://phys.org/news260037749.html Biology Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:42:53 EST news260037749 When D.K. Lee and Lane Rayburn, faculty members in the crop sciences department at the University of Illinois, talk about prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) they have difficulty containing their enthusiasm. They are among the very few people doing research on this grass as a potential energy crop. http://phys.org/news259926909.html Biology Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:55:15 EST news259926909 (Phys.org) -- The term ethylene (ethene) generally brings to mind polyethylene plastics, not fruit. However, ethylene is more than just a feedstock for chemical industry, it is also the smallest plant hormone, and it controls physiological processes, such as the ripening of fruit, seed germination, and the blooming and wilting of blossoms. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American researchers have now introduced a highly sensitive ethylene sensor that could be used to determine the ripeness of fruit. http://phys.org/news256568986.html Chemistry Sat, 19 May 2012 10:10:01 EST news256568986 The world faces a major challenge in the coming decades as global food demand is poised for unprecedented growth. http://phys.org/news256382803.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 May 2012 10:27:04 EST news256382803 NASA recently showcased the latest research and technology development a method to grow algae, clean wastewater, capture carbon dioxide and ultimately produce feedstock for refining biofuels without competing with agriculture for water, fertilizer, or land. http://phys.org/news253965863.html Biology Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:04:41 EST news253965863 Harvard Medical School researchers have engineered a photosynthetic cyanobacterium to boost sugar production, as a first step towards potential commercial production of biofuels and other biotechnologically and industrially useful carbon compounds. As feedstock producers, cyanobacteria have advantages over plants, particularly land plants. They need little fertilizer. They don’t compete with food crops, because they can grow on marginal land. At commercial scale, the engineered cyanobacteria could potentially produce five times more sugar per acre than traditional crops, including sugarcane, says first author Daniel Ducat. The research is published in the April Applied and Environmental Microbiology. http://phys.org/news253873192.html Biology Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:20:39 EST news253873192 Mild mannered though they seem, plants are extremely competitive, especially when it comes to getting their fair share of sunlight. Whether a forest or a farm, where plants grow a battle wages for the sun's rays. http://phys.org/news253619833.html Biology Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:00:01 EST news253619833 Backyard gardeners who make their own charcoal soil additives, or biochar, should take care to heat their charcoal to at least 450 degrees Celsius to ensure that water and nutrients get to their plants, according to a new study by Rice University scientists. http://phys.org/news251638472.html Biology Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:34:49 EST news251638472 A team of scientists from Bio Architecture Lab (BAL), has developed breakthrough technology that expands the feedstocks for advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals production to include seaweed (macroalgae). The team engineered a microbe to extract the all the major sugars in seaweed and convert them into renewable fuels and chemicals, thus making seaweed a cost-effective, renewable source of biomass. http://phys.org/news246202884.html Biology Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:09 EST news246202884 Concerns about the worldwide energy supply and national, environmental and economic security have resulted in a search for alternative energy sources. A new University of Illinois study shows Miscanthus x giganteus (M. x giganteus) is a strong contender in the race to find the next source of ethanol if appropriate growing conditions are identified. http://phys.org/news246201865.html Biology Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:24:32 EST news246201865 Chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, using a catalytic fast pyrolysis process that transforms renewable non-food biomass into petrochemicals, have developed a new catalyst that boosts the yield for five key "building blocks of the chemical industry" by 40 percent compared to previous methods. This sustainable production process, which holds the promise of being competitive and compatible with the current petroleum refinery infrastructure, has been tested and proven in a laboratory reactor, using wood as the feedstock, the research team says. http://phys.org/news245521643.html Chemistry Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:27:46 EST news245521643 (PhysOrg.com) -- It's not every day that an element gets to celebrate a bicentennial, and a University of Delaware professor is pleased to have been invited to the "birthday party" for iodine, which was discovered in 1811. http://phys.org/news242382037.html Chemistry Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:00:01 EST news242382037 (PhysOrg.com) -- Our industrialized world is largely dependent on fossil resources, whether for the generation of energy, as a fuel, or as a feedstock for the chemical industry. The environmental problems related to this are known, and these resources will eventually run out. In addition to wind, water, geothermal, and solar energy, biomass is also drawing increasing attention as a renewable resource. http://phys.org/news240484326.html Chemistry Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:20:01 EST news240484326 A team of Virginia Tech researchers is working to characterize the genes involved in wood formation in poplar trees with the goal of improving the quality and quantity of wood as a feedstock for biofuels production. http://phys.org/news239894545.html Biology Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:24:07 EST news239894545 Taking a cue from Mother Nature, researchers at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center have undertaken a first-of-its-kind study of a naturally occurring phenomenon in trees to spur the development of more efficient bioenergy crops. http://phys.org/news238776116.html Technology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:42:09 EST news238776116 Maryland's Eastern Shore is known for vast soybean and corn farms, but if Patrick Kangas had his way it would be covered in slime. http://phys.org/news238317707.html Biology Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:30:01 EST news238317707 The biofuel industry will not be able to meet the cellulosic production requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard without significant advancements in technology or investment, according to a National Academy of Sciences study prepared for Congress. http://phys.org/news237017564.html Technology Wed, 05 Oct 2011 07:12:53 EST news237017564 (PhysOrg.com) -- Converting agricultural waste into vehicle fuel has so far been an enticing yet elusive endeavor, at least on the industrial scale. But recently the Georgia-based company Renmatix has taken steps toward this goal by opening a research and development center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The company will attempt to produce an efficient and cost-effective method for extracting the sugars from cellulosic biomass, which can consist of wood chips, switchgrass, and other non-edible parts of crops. The sugars can then be converted into motor fuels such as ethanol or feedstock chemicals. http://phys.org/news236876920.html Technology Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:09:02 EST news236876920 Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study. http://phys.org/news234014482.html Biology Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:01:36 EST news234014482 Working with the Universities of East Anglia, York and Nottingham and using nanotechnology 100,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, the researchers are working on harnessing the vast energy of the Sun to produce clean fuel. http://phys.org/news229053757.html Chemistry Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:02:57 EST news229053757 Ionic liquids have emerged as promising new solvents capable of disrupting the cellulose crystalline structure in a wide range of biomass feedstocks. http://phys.org/news228122288.html Chemistry Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:20:00 EST news228122288 Natural gas is important in many sectors of the economy: for generating electricity, as a heat source for industry and buildings, and in chemical feedstock. Given the abundance of natural gas available through large global resources and the recent emergence of substantial unconventional supplies in the United States, worldwide usage of the fuel is likely to continue to grow considerably and contribute to significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, according to a comprehensive, multidisciplinary study carried out over the last three years by MIT researchers. http://phys.org/news226920651.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:31:05 EST news226920651 Biodiesel is a promising future fuel, particularly because it can be made from a wide variety of renewable sources such as crude vegetable oils and waste fats produced by commercial kitchens. Conventional chemical processes for producing biodiesel, however, require pure and refined feedstock oils, thus negating any potential advantages. To get around this problem, Md. Mahabubur Rahman Talukder and co-workers at the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences have developed a two-step biocatalytic process that works well on all sorts of oils -- whether they are refined or not. http://phys.org/news225971287.html Chemistry Mon, 30 May 2011 10:48:24 EST news225971287 (PhysOrg.com) -- Algae can seem quite stubborn and hardy when trying to rid them from your pool, but when it comes to mass producing algal feedstock to be used in the conversion to biofuel, more things can happen to destroy this type of crop than most realize. http://phys.org/news222524266.html Biology Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:17:57 EST news222524266 Finnish firm Neste Oil opened the world's biggest renewable diesel plant in Singapore on Tuesday, taking advantage of massive palm oil production in nearby Malaysia and Indonesia. http://phys.org/news218813113.html Technology Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:25:27 EST news218813113 An article in the current issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy reviews the suitability of Agave as a bioenergy feedstock that can sustain high productivity in spite of poor soil and stressful climatic conditions accompanying climate change. http://phys.org/news217168039.html Biology Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:27:58 EST news217168039 Bioethanol from new lines of native perennial prairie grass could become less costly because of plant engineering by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and fermentation research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. http://phys.org/news216921516.html Biology Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:58:53 EST news216921516 Scientists found that in 14 independent studies, the yields of two Agave species greatly exceeded the yields of other biofuel feedstocks, such as corn, soybean, sorghum, and wheat. Additionally, even more productive Agave species that have not yet been evaluated exist. http://phys.org/news215267196.html Biology Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:27:03 EST news215267196 University of Illinois research reports that several herbicides used on corn also have good selectivity to Miscanthus x giganteus (Giant Miscanthus), a potential bioenergy feedstock. http://phys.org/news213898343.html Biology Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:12:39 EST news213898343