Tag Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
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.
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.
‘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.'
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."
UW-Madison seeks to capitalize on push to harness helpful microbes
The federal government has launched the National Microbiome Initiative to “foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems.”
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.
Bioenergy Center, collaborators report 500th invention
The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and two partners reported significant progress in their mission to develop technologies that will bring advanced biofuels to the marketplace.
Engineered softwood could transform pulp, paper and biofuel industries
Scientists have demonstrated the potential for softwoods to process more easily into pulp and paper if engineered to incorporate a key feature of hardwoods. The finding, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could improve the economics of the pulp, paper and biofuels industries and reduce those industries' environmental impact.
Mining bacterial blueprints yields novel process for creation of fuel and chemical compounds
A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has identified the genes and enzymes that create a promising compound — the 19 carbon furan-containing fatty acid (19Fu-FA). The compound has a variety of potential uses as a biological alternative for compounds currently derived from fossil fuels.
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.
Renewable chemical ready for biofuels scale-up
Using a plant-derived chemical, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have developed a process for creating a concentrated stream of sugars that’s ripe with possibility for biofuels.
Perennial energy crops could provide environmental benefits
Rows of corn and soybeans cover rolling hills, stitched together by creeks and woodlands that compose southwest Wisconsin's agricultural patchwork. These complex landscapes provide clean water, wildlife habitat and climate benefits, yet, historically their value has been measured in just one way: bushels per acre.
Marginal land in demand: researchers explore farmer willingness to grow energy crops
In their quest to make cellulosic biofuel a viable energy option, many researchers are looking to marginal lands - those unsuitable for growing food - as potential real estate for bioenergy crops. However, few people have asked: how do farmers feel about using their marginal lands for fuel production?