News tagged with plant biomass

New research may improve the efficiency of the biofuel production cycle

(Phys.org) -- Using new experimental methods and computational analysis, a team of scientists from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Lawrence Livermore's Michael Thelen, discovered how certain bacteria ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Researchers advance next generation biofuels by turning up the heat on biomass pretreatment processes

The nation's Renewable Fuels Standard calls for annual production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022. One of the biggest hurdles to achieving this goal lies in optimizing the multistep process involved ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 02, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Taking biofuel from forest to highway

The world is moving from a hydrocarbon economy to a carbohydrate economy, according to University of British Columbia biofuel expert Jack Saddler. He is presenting his work at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 18, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 27 | with audio podcast

Virdia gets $100 million to start cellulose ethanol plant

(PhysOrg.com) -- Despite calls for finding alternatives to using corn to make biofuel, the United States currently has no such commercial biomass-to-sugar processing plants able to do so. That may soon change ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Mar 09, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 8 | with audio podcast report

Study offers insight into delicate biochemical balance required for plant growth

(PhysOrg.com) -- In an ongoing effort to understand how modifying plant cell walls might affect the production of biomass and its breakdown for use in biofuels, scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New studies sully reputation of biomass as clean and green

Simpson Tacoma Kraft would seem like one of the greener power plants. It boils water by burning sawdust, bark and wood shavings from saw mills and pulp mills, funneling the resulting high-pressure steam into a turbine to ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 28, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 11

New approach challenges old ideas about plant species and biomass

For decades, scientists have believed that a relationship exists between how much biomass plant species produce and how many species can coexist.

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

First renewable energy exchange opens in Amsterdam

Dutch-Belgian energy market provider APX-Endex launched a "biomass exchange" Thursday specialising in trading wood pellets as a source of renewable energy, a venture it said was a world first.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Nov 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

Could lemmings be involved in regulating our climate?

The mention of lemmings usually evokes images of small rodents throwing themselves off the top of cliffs in acts of mass suicide; however, their reputations might no longer be determined by hearsay as a new ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (4) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

A corny turn for biofuels from switchgrass

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Scientists genetically increase algae biomass by more than 50 percent

Research at Iowa State University has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 to 80 percent.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Formidable fungal force counters biofuel plant pathogens

Fungi play significant ecological and economic roles. They can break down organic matter, cause devastating agricultural blights, enter into symbiotic relationships to protect and nourish plants, or offer ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 03, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reforestation's cooling influence -- a result of farmer's past choices

Decisions by farmers to plant on productive land with little snow enhances the potential for reforestation to counteract global warming, concludes new research from Carnegie's Julia Pongratz and Ken Caldeira. Previous research ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 26, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Oxygen levels in the air do not limit plant productivity

There have been concerns that present oxygen levels may limit plant productivity. Swedish researchers at Umea University show that this is not the case in a new study published in the journal The Proceedings of the National Ac ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Gardening in Space with HydroTropi

(PhysOrg.com) -- Plants are fundamental to life on Earth, converting light and carbon dioxide into food and oxygen. Plant growth may be an important part of human survival in exploring space, as well. Gardening ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 19, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast