Archive for category Biodiesel

Honeywell to Test Jet Biofuel in Never-Tried-Before Concentrations

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on May 1, 2012

Honeywell is about to start a test program meant to prove biofuel/fossil fuel blends can be used in aviation successfully. UOP, its subsidiary, will cooperate with the National Research Council of Canada and Agrisoma Biosciences to carry out the program. Some may argue (rightfully) that corn biofuels compete for land with food crops, but Honeywell’s [...]

Wood Waste Converted to Biofuel by Fast Pyrolysis

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on May 1, 2012

Pulp and paper company Domtar from Montreal and Battelle, an independent research and development specialist in Columbus, Ohio chose Domtar’s mill operations in Dryden, Ontario to test fast pyrolysis: oxygen-free heating for the conversion of biomass (wood chips) into biofuel. The role of Battelle in all this comes in looking for a bigger market value – [...]

Airport Grasslands Could Become Great Biofuel Source

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on April 6, 2012

Airports… those large, desolating places, with lots of high-potential agricultural areas around the landing runways. Why wouldn’t they be used for something? If we are to trust a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these sites could very well grow biomass for biofuels and still not come in the way of planes or [...]

Self-Aware E.coli Bacteria Producing Three Times More Biofuel

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on April 4, 2012

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have improved the way that genetically-modified E.coli bacteria can produce biofuels from ethanol and fatty acids. They have developed a genetic sensor that allows the bacteria to regulate their gene expression as a response to varying levels of ethanol or fatty acids. So far, the biofuel production by [...]

NASA Seeking Green Fuels for Future Spaceships

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on February 14, 2012

In an effort to cut costs associated with maintenance and operational hazards, but to also green up their activities, NASA is actively seeking anyone who could give them a better, alternative fuel solution for flying their spacecraft. Hydrazine is currently used to propel the ships, and it does its job very well. On the other [...]

European Report Expects Diminished Use of Biofuels

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel, Ethanol, Green Economics on February 2, 2012

One alternative source of energy grows in trees…or almost! I’m talking about plants involved in the production of biofuels, like sugarcane, corn or palm oil. At the time it was discovered, this conversion seemed like a pretty good idea, so governments all over the world a few years ago came up with incentives and tax [...]

Thai Airways to Inaugurate Asia's First Commercial Biofuel Flight

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on December 13, 2011

In recent years, many airlines have turned their attention to biofuels. Now, Thai Airways, the national airline of Thailand, has decided to launch Asia’s first commercial biofuel flight. According to the president of Thailand’s flag carrier, Piyasavasti Amranand, the commercial flight will take off on December 22. This biofuel flight is part of the airline’s [...]

Alaska Airlines Launches 75 U.S. Biofuel-Powered Flights

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on November 18, 2011

Alaska Airlines has recently launched 75 commercial passenger flights in the United States, all powered by biofuels. The company is convinced that the aviation will surely enter a new era, where all airplanes will be powered by sustainable fuels. This way, the environmental impact will be significantly reduced. Currently, two maiden biofuel-powered flights have left [...]

Heat-Loving Fungi Help Making Biomass-based Fuels

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on October 5, 2011

An international group of scientists have cracked the genetic code of two heat-loving fungi, Myceliophthora thermophila and Thielavia terrestris, and could use their findings for faster and greener development of biofuels derived from biomass. They discovered that the two fungi can accelerate the breakdown of fiber-containing biomass at temperatures between 40 and 70 degrees Celsius. [...]

Renmatix Uses Supercritical Water to Turn Biomass into Biofuels

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel, Ethanol on October 4, 2011

Wood chips, switchgrass and other non-edible parts of crops, also known as “agricultural waste” have been touted recently as good biofuel sources. However, extracting the necessary sugars that would further on get converted into fuels had been proven hard to accomplish. Renmatix, a Georgia-based company, has found a new process to quickly extract the sugars [...]

Alligator Fat Turned Into Precious and Cheap Biodiesel in Louisiana

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on August 18, 2011

A team of researchers from the Lafayette campus of the University of Louisiana have not only gotten used to the idea of putting plant oil (biodiesel) into their tanks, but are also thinking how they could convert alligator fat into an energy-rich fuel. 45 billion gallons a year: that the total diesel consumption in the [...]

Algae-Based Biofuels Not "Silver Bullet," Study Says

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel on August 11, 2011

The process of switching from petroleum is not all milk and honey, a recent scientific report says. The researchers, Andres F. Clarens and Lisa M. Colosi from the New University of Virginia analyzed algae biofuels and compared them to canola and switchgrass biofuels from a wheel-to-wheel perspective. Algae-based transportation fuels usually come with minimal land [...]

First Biofuel Blend-Powered Intercontinental Flight Launched by Aeromexico

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on August 2, 2011

A few weeks ago, Lufthansa became world’s first airline that began regular biofuel passenger flights within Europe, more precisely between Frankfurt and Hamburg. Now Aeromexico, Boeing, and the Mexican Government succeeded launching the first transcontinental flight powered by biofuels.

Two Michigan Airports Plan to Grow Their Own Biofuel

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on July 25, 2011

According to some reports, a major amount of greenhouse gases is produced by airplanes. Airports in Michigan are planning to help solve this problem by growing biofuel-producing plants on the airport’s land. These crops will generate biofuel for planes and will also cut their carbon footprint.

The First Passenger Flights Running On Biofuel By Lufthansa

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Biodiesel on July 18, 2011

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), one of the Europe’s largest airline, became the first company in the world that begins regular biofuel passenger flights between Frankfurt and Hamburg.