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Topic: Biofuel Production

  

California's Low-Carbon Fuel Rule: A Boon for Alternative Fuels?

California passed the country's first low-carbon fuel standard law yesterday, with a goal of cutting carbon emissions 10% by 2020. The allowable carbon intensity of fuels will lower incrementally beginning in 2011. As a result, ...READ MORE

World War Two-Era Fungus, Elephant Dung Combine to Make Biofuels

Hemp, soy, mustard, sunflower and palm oil can all be used to make biofuels, so why not elephant dung and World War Two-era fungus? Copenhagen-based Danisco A/S is using the fungus, which was discovered during WWII eating soldier's ...READ MORE

Ottawa Shell Station First to Deliver Gasoline Blended with Cellulosic Ethanol

In what is being described as the first commercial delivery of cellulosic ethanol, a Shell service station in Ottawa, Ontario is selling gasoline containing a 10% blend of biofuel made from wheat straw. The biofuel and gasoline ...READ MORE

BP Buys $100 Million Biofuel Business

There was a time not so long ago when BP tried to brand itself as being "Beyond Petroleum." That tagline is, of course, laughable now that BP has turned the Gulf into a giant petroleum bathtub. But the tainted company is still ...READ MORE

NASA Coaxes Biofuel From Bags of Sewage

There are lots of creative ways to produce biofuel from algae, but NASA's takes the cake. The space agency is growing biofuel in plastic bags of sewage floating in the sea. The Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) ...READ MORE

GM-Backed Coskata Breaks Ground on Feedstock-Flexible Ethanol Facility

What if we could quickly and cheaply make ethanol using any cellulosic feedstock, including wood chips and construction waste? That's exactly what Coskata claims it can do with its new semi-commercial flex ethanol facility, launched ...READ MORE

Fast Talk: A Shining Biofuel Success

Patricia Woertz CEO, Archer Daniels Midland Co. Decatur, Illinois Patricia Woertz, 54, a veteran of Chevron and Gulf Oil, plans to increase ADM's focus on ethanol and other biodiesel fuels. "We want to be the global leader ...READ MORE

GM-Backed Coskata Breaks Ground on Feedstock-Flexible Ethanol Facility

What if we could quickly and cheaply make ethanol using any cellulosic feedstock, including wood chips and construction waste? That's exactly what Coskata claims it can do with its new semi-commercial flex ethanol facility, launched ...READ MORE

A Mushroom in Your Tank?

Taking stock of the latest in alternative-fuel strategies.READ MORE

Colonialism, Redux: European Companies Grab African Land in Bid for Biofuels

One continent's environmental victory could be another's downfall. READ MORE

Shell Oil Bets $2 Billion on ... Sugar?

Add Shell to the growing list of oil companies investing in alternative energy sources: in this case, sugarcane.READ MORE

Mascoma Close to Achieving the 'Golden Dream' of Cellulosic Ethanol Production

It seems like major biofuel breakthroughs are coming down the pipeline every day, but cellulosic ethanol start-up Mascoma's announcement today that it has achieved a breakthrough in consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is the biggest ...READ MORE

Continental Biofuel Flight Saved Energy, Lowered Carbon Emissions

The results are back from Continental Airlines' biofuel test flight in January, and they look good. Continental's biofuel blend yielded a 1.1% increase in fuel efficiency over traditional jet fuels, and more impressively, cut carbon ...READ MORE

Does Joule Biotechnologies Hold the Key to Our Biofuel Future?

Joule grows engineered microbes using sunlight and CO2 in a "SolarConverter" system full of brackish water to produce what it calls "SolarFuel." The process is apparently so effective that it can produce ethanol and other hydrocarbon fuels for under $50 a barrel at a rate of 20,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year.READ MORE

BP Joins Exxon in Algae Fuel Lovefest

The latest Big Oil endorsement of algae-derived fuels signals that the technology may be feasible--and a better alternative--sooner than anyone expected.READ MORE

Genifuel Develops Process to Turn Algae Into Natural Gas, Not Biofuel

A number of companies--Sapphire Energy, Solazyme, and Bionavitas to name a few--are working on methods to convert algae into biofuel. But Genifuel wants to turn the pond scum into something different: natural gas. The company, ...READ MORE

Where the Streets are Paved in Corn

Word on the street is that alternative fuels are the answer to our country's dependence on foreign oil. An added bonus is that these alternative fuels may also reduce greenhouse gases - a big thumbs up for the environment- although ...READ MORE

Everyone Poops - - And A Few Spin Gold

Renewable energy is in big demand as states try to cut carbon emissions... READ MORE

Mobile Biofuel Processor Can Rove the Midwest In Search of Quality Biofuel

Almost any kind of raw biomass can be turned into biofuel, but it's not always cheap--transporting raw biomass to a processing facility is significantly more expensive than transporting liquid fuel derived from that biomass. So ...READ MORE