Khanh-Quang Tran, an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Department of Energy and Process Engineering turns 79% of kelp into bio-oil. Kelp, also known as seaweed, offers all of the advantages of a biofuel feedstock with the additional benefit of growing, not surprisingly, in the ocean. Tran conducted preliminary studies […]

Researchers at the University of Twente have developed a simple new catalyst that improves the quality of bio oil. The bio oil they have in mind comes from wood chips or plant residues, which seldom has the same quality and energy content as fossil sourced crude oil. The new catalyst upgrades the bio oil closer […]

In a stunning development a multi-institutional team led from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reports that it can increase sugarcane’s geographic range, boost its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production. The team will present its latest findings today at the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E […]

Walter Rakitsky, Ph.D gave a keynote talk at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) yesterday, April 7th.  The presentation described technology that accelerates microalgae’s ability to produce many different types of renewable oils for fuels, chemicals, foods and personal-care products within days using standard industrial fermentation.  This is not […]

First up, biologists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have uncovered a mechanism for the production of hydrogen that has not been examined in depth before.  The team has found how green algae accomplish the unusual process of producing hydrogen in the dark. Professor Dr. Thomas Happe, head of the working group Photobiotechnology explains, “Hydrogen could […]

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