Tag Bioenergy
Better solvents = better biomass conversion for biofuels and bioproducts
UW-Madison researchers are pushing for a broader understanding of solvents used to convert non-food biomass to biofuels and bioproducts, which would help them to optimize biomass conversion reactions.
Bio-renewable process could help ‘green’ plastic
Plastics are often derived from petroleum, but Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center scientists at UW–Madison are developing new and renewable ways of creating them from biomass.
UW entrepreneurial pipeline lands Lactic Solutions in biofuels marketplace
When Jim Steele thinks back over the last seven years, from the early research on biofuels, followed by a dream of moving Lactic Solutions technology to the marketplace, he is thankful for the network of UW–Madison entrepreneurial experts.
DOE selects Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center for next-phase funding
Research at the UW-based center will shift to bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, poplar trees and sorghum that will be grown on non-agricultural land.
Newly identified gene helps time spring flowering in vital grass crops
The discovery may help plant breeders and engineers get more from food and energy crops.
Renewable plastic precursor could grow cellulosic biofuel industry
A team of chemical and biological engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has found a way to produce from biomass a valuable compound used in plastic production that they estimate could lower the cost of ethanol produced from plant material by more than two dollars per gallon.
Food scientist aiding fuel ethanol with new engineered bacteria
James Steele’s new company, Lactic Solutions, is advancing a judo-like remedy: using genetic engineering to transform enemy into friend.
‘Super yeast’ has the power to improve economics of biofuels
Scientists have found a way to nearly double the efficiency with which a commonly used industrial yeast strain converts plant sugars to biofuel.
With designer lignin, biofuels researchers reproduced evolutionary path
As one of the researchers put it, 'Nature was already doing what we thought we’d laboriously taught her to do.'
Lessons of lager: Yeast origin becomes a complex tale
The findings are important as yeasts are critical to many industries — brewing, fermenting other foods, making drugs like human insulin, and producing new biofuels.
Fundamental discovery slashes energy cost of chemical reactions
"We get two for the price of one," says researcher Shannon Stahl, "and we can save half a volt ... In a fuel cell, that is significant saving of energy."
Chemistry lessons from bacteria may improve biofuel production
Enzymes are one of the most expensive parts of making biofuels. UW researchers say if they can identify enzymes that work better, it could lead to cheaper energy.
Biomass blues: Breaking up not so hard to do
A UW spinoff is advancing an audacious effort to convert biomass into three profitable streams of industrial chemicals.
New method for bio-designing yeast could improve biofuel production
Both the yeast strain and the method of its design could help overcome a significant bottleneck in the biofuels pipeline.
New process transforms wood, crop waste into valuable chemicals
Scientists today disclosed a new method to convert lignin, a biomass waste product, into simple chemicals. The innovation is an important step toward replacing petroleum-based fuels and chemicals with biorenewable materials, says Shannon Stahl, an expert in "green chemistry" at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Balancing birds and biofuels: Grasslands support more species than cornfields
In Wisconsin, bioenergy is for the birds. Really. In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists examined whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat. The research team found that where there are grasslands, there are birds. Grass-and-wildflower-dominated fields supported more than three times as many bird species as cornfields, including 10 imperiled species found only in the grasslands.
Scientists firm up origin of cold-adapted yeasts that make cold beer
As one of the most widely consumed and commercially important beverages on the planet, one would expect the experts to know everything there is to know about lager beer.
Poplars designed for deconstruction: A major boon to biofuels
What began 20 years ago as an innovation to improve paper industry processes and dairy forage digestibility may now open the door to a much more energy- and cost-efficient way to convert biomass into fuel.
Wisconsin engineer honored for ongoing innovation
Corn may be a dietary staple for humans and animals around the world, but in Jim Dumesic's eyes, the plant "waste" left after the harvest holds even more potential as a renewable bio-based source of fuels and important chemicals. On Dec. 10, the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) named Dumesic, the Steenbock professor and Michel Boudart professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, among 143 leading innovators elected to its 2013 class of fellows.