Genetically altered trees and plants could help counter global warming

Forests of genetically altered trees and other plants could sequester several billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year and so help ameliorate global warming, according to estimates published in the October issue of BioScience.

The study [pdf], by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, outlines a variety of strategies for augmenting the processes that plants use to sequester carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into long-lived forms of carbon, first in vegetation and ultimately in soil. Besides increasing the efficiency of plants' absorption of light, researchers might be able to genetically alter plants so they send more carbon into their roots—where some may be converted into soil carbon and remain out of circulation for centuries. Other possibilities include altering plants so that they can better withstand the stresses of growing on marginal land, and so that they yield improved bioenergy and food crops. Such innovations might in combination boost substantially the amount of carbon that vegetation naturally extracts from air, according to the authors' estimates. The researchers stress that the use of genetically engineered plants for carbon sequestration is only one of many policy initiatives and technical tools that might boost the carbon sequestration already occurring in natural vegetation and crops.

The article, by Christer Jansson, Stan D. Wullschleger, Udaya C. Kalluri, and Gerald A. Tuskan, is the first in a Special Section in the October BioScience that includes several perspectives on the prospects for enhancing biological carbon sequestration. Other articles in the section analyze the substantial ecological and economic constraints that limit such efforts. One article discusses the prospects for sequestering carbon by culturing algae to produce biofuel feedstocks; one proposes a modification of the current regulatory climate for producing genetically engineered trees in the United States; and one discusses societal perceptions of the issues surrounding the use of genetically altered organisms to ameliorate warming attributed to the buildup of greenhouse gases.

Genetically Altered Trees and Plants Could Help Counter Global Warming

Technorati Tags: biofuel,biotechnology,genetic engineering,carbon sequestration,carbon capture,greenhouse gas,carbon dioxide,bioenergy

One giant step closer to fuel-from-sunlight by Joule Biotechnologies

Written by Tina Casey, Published on February 15th, 2010

Joule Biotechnologies, Inc. has just announced that a lease agreement has been signed for a new facility in Leander, Texas, which will serve as a pilot plant to develop the company’s solar powered system for producing ethanol and other biofuels.  The energy efficient process is based on photosynthetic microorganisms and it operates without the use of conventional biomass or algae biofuel processes.

CleanTechnica and Gas 2.0 have been eagerly following Joule’s progress, and the company has already produced ethanol and diesel at a lab scale rate.  It plans to start ethanol production this year at the pilot plant, with diesel to follow early next year.  Once operating at full scale, the facility has  the potential to deliver at the rate of 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre yearly, and 15,000 gallons of diesel.  That could be the tip of the iceberg, because the same process can also yield a variety of high-value chemicals in addition to biofuels.

Joule prefers to call its system “solar fuel,” and rightfully so.  The heart of the process is the company’s proprietary SolarConverter, which contains photosynthetic organisms in a bath of brackish water and nutrients, with carbon dioxide fed in.  While the concept is similar to producing algae biofuel, there are several significant twists.  The organisms are not algae, they are bio-engineered proprietary organisms that produce and secrete fuel without the need for costly fermentation processes, extraction or refinement processes.  The system also skips the need to collect and transport large quantities of biomass. …

One Giant Step Closer to Fuel-from-Sunlight by Joule Biotechnologies

Technorati Tags: biotechnology,solar power,alternative energy,biofuel

Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel

 

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2009) — Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels.

In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis.

The research appears in the Dec. 9 print edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology and is available online.

This new method has two advantages for the long-term, global-scale goal of achieving a cleaner and greener energy economy, the researchers say. First, it recycles carbon dioxide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Second, it uses solar energy to convert the carbon dioxide into a liquid fuel that can be used in the existing energy infrastructure, including in most automobiles. …

Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel

Technorati Tags: biotechnology,biofuel,carbon dioxide,global warming,climate change

BioOctanic Tower: vertical farm grows biofuel for gas stations

Sometimes it's just impossible to find a gas station. But not if Croatian Architects UPI2M have their way; They propose building vertical farms and biofuel factories on top of existing gas stations, using algae and bamboo grown on top to fuel up cars below. And, you can't miss them! …

BioOctanic Tower: Vertical Farm Grows Biofuel for Gas Stations

Technorati Tags: biofuel,green architecture

World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies

The World Bank has agreed to suspend International Finance Corporation (IFC) funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of safeguards to ensure that lending doesn't cause social or environmental harm, according to a letter by World Bank President Robert Zoellick to NGOs. A recent internal audit found that IFC funding of the Wilmar Group, a plantation developer, violated the IFC's own procedures, allowing commercial concerns to trump environmental and social standards. The findings were championed by environmental and indigenous rights' groups who have criticized World Bank support for industrial oil palm development which they say has driven large-scale destruction of forests in Indonesia, boosting greenhouse gas emissions, endangering rare and charismatic species of wildlife, including the orangutan, and displacing forest communities. …

World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies

Technorati Tags: deforestation,biofuel

Some algae biofuel news

Sustainable Green Technologies (SGT) a start-up company in Escondido, California announced today that it has discovered a highly effective and low cost way to massively increase algal oil production. Metabolic engineering research conducted at SGT over the past two years paid off when SGT scientists uncovered the elusive and long sought after “lipid trigger” in green algae. Usually algae store excess harvested solar energy in the form of starch and in smaller amounts as lipid droplets within their cells. But under certain ideal conditions, many microalgae appear to flip a switch to turn on massive production and storage of oils instead of starch. The true nature of this metabolic switch as well as the conditions which activate (or trigger) the switch remained elusive. Now SGT is able to activate the switch at will and to create “obese algae.” This breakthrough technology supports the U.S. Advanced Energy Initiative - which seeks to diversify the U.S. energy portfolio and to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

“We uncovered the algae oil lipid trigger almost by accident,” notes Dr. Elmar Schmid, SGT’s CSO. "We were looking for new and rational uses of a waste stream from our biohydrogen technology. We found the waste from our biohydrogen system sparked tremendous growth of our green algae, and more importantly, massively increased lipid production and storage within our algae. In other words, our algae became obese within one week! We now have a highly efficient, cost-effective way of producing large amounts of algae oils for biodiesel fuel production. On top of that, we can produce clean biohydrogen from the resulting biodiesel refinery waste!” exclaims Dr. Schmid. …

Calif. startup announces algae breakthrough

A Cambridge, Massachusetts-based start-up has emerged from stealth operations with a process that it says can produce transportation fuel from sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO2) without the need for growing biomass like corn, switchgrass or algae. Joule Biotechnologies, Inc. says it has achieved a bioengineering breakthrough that can harnesses sunlight to directly convert CO2 into liquid energy. Joule said its uses highly-engineered photosynthetic organisms in a process that requires no agriculture land or fresh water to produce 20,000 gallons of renewable ethanol or hydrocarbons per acre annually. The company revealed few details claiming the need to protect trade secrets at this point in time, but promised that its first product will be available in 2010. Joule's chief executive Bill Sims told the Wall Street Journal: "We're not a biofuel company, because biofuels are biomass-derived; our technology leverages a highly synthetic organism to create transportation fuels and chemicals. We don't have an intermediary that has to be grown or transported, it's a direct-to-product process."

Sustainable Business News

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

BP signs multi-year development agreement with Martek Biosciences

 

 photo: Rosa y Dani via flickr

Another fossil fuel company investing in algae: BP has announced that it will be partnering with Martek Biosciences to work on advancing development of conversion of sugars into biodiesel, using Martek's "unique algae-based technologies and intellectual property."…

BP Gets Into Algae: Signs Multi-year Development Agreement with Martek Biosciences

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

Plankton power to build algae biofuel facility on Cape Cod

photo: Plankton Power

In about a year Cape Cod will have its first algae biofuel facility. Plankton Power and the Regional Technology Development Corp. have announced that they have formed a public-private consortium to build a pilot-scale biorefinery at the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne. …

Plankton Power to Build Algae Biofuel Facility on Cape Cod

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

Dow Chemical partners with Algenol Biofuels to build pilot biorefinery

 

photo: Algenol Biofuels

Though it was announced over two weeks ago, perhaps because of Exxon's backing of Synthetic Genomics, Dow Chemical's backing of Algenol Biofuels is getting a bit more play. Together they will develop a pilot-scale algae biorefinery at Dow's Freeport, Texas manufacturing site: Technology Review describe the project:

CO2 From Dow's Operations Feed Into Bioreactors
The plant will consist of 3,100 horizontal bioreactors -- troughs covered with semi-transparent film, filled with salt water pumped in from the ocean, in which the algae grows -- each of which is about 5' wide and 50' long. The algae grown in these will be able to produce about 100,000 gallons of ethanol annually. CO2 from Dow's nearby operations will be fed into the bioreactors.

The thing with Algenol's method of producing algae biofuels is that it has modified the blue-green algae to directly produce ethanol through photosynthesis. What's more is that Algenol doesn't have to harvest the algae to extract the ethanol, simplifying the process and reducing costs. …

Dow Chemical Partners with Algenol Biofuels to Build Pilot Biorefinery

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

Exxon to invest $600 million in making fuel from algae

And this is after GreenFuel went under. Hmm…

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp has agreed to invest possibly more than $600 million in a venture to develop biofuels from algae, the oil major, which previously dismissed renewable energy as uneconomic, said on Tuesday.

Exxon said in a statement it was forming a research and development alliance with Synthetic Genomics Inc., a privately held company focused on gene-based research.

"Algae-based fuels could help meet the world's growing demand for transportation fuel while reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Michael Dolan, senior vice president of Exxon. …

Exxon to invest $600 million in making fuel from algae

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

Cost viability and algae

GreenFuel has called it quits.  I haz a sad.

Posted by Heading Out on May 29, 2009

Robert Rapier recently drew attention to the demise of GreenFuel Technologies, the company founded on ideas from MIT and Harvard and supported by millions of dollars in venture capital funding. One of the creative ideas that the company has was to located their plant at existing power stations so that the carbon dioxide generated in the flue gas could be fed into the bio-reactors holding the algae, with the gas also keeping the algae at an optimal growing temperature. It was a company that was in the vanguard of promoting the use of algae in both carbon dioxide collection and liquid fuels production.

The company, however, ran into problems in raising more money in the current climate, and with the technology. According to to a recent news report:

Getting the whole thing to run smoothly, though, was tougher than expected. GreenFuel could grow algae. The problem was controlling it. In 2007, a project to grow algae in an Arizona greenhouse went awry when the algae grew faster than they could be harvested and died off. The company also found its system would cost more than twice its target.

It is that latter part of the paragraph that is the more telling. When folk first consider using algae as a future fuel source, it is often because, when tabulated, algae can produce more fuel per acre per year, than any other crop.

Source Biodiesel - Growing a New Energy Economy - Greg Paul, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005, 281 pages

However, getting what has been achieved in the short term into a production mode that sustains the same yield for year after year is not that easy. Nor is simply finding the best algae the only solution required for the problem.

Given the collapse of GreenFuel, it is perhaps useful to look at some of the things that need to be considered, if you are going to have a shot at a viable algae operation. …

Cost Viability and Algae

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

Growing biofuel without razing the rainforest

You can't cultivate biofuel crops without cutting down trees, right? Not so, says Marcos Buckeridge, who tells Jan Rocha how Brazil can supply the world with green ethanol

Your aim is for Brazil to produce sustainable biofuel while preserving its rainforests. Isn't that close to having your cake and eating it?

It's true that those of us who think like this are in a minority, caught between those who don't worry about the environmental costs of bioethanol and those who claim it is impossible to produce biofuels sustainably. The answer to those who condemn all biofuels has to be to differentiate where these fuels are being produced: we must ensure that Brazil's biofuel is green and sustainable.

How do you do make it sustainable?

A few years ago, when the search for fossil fuel replacements became more urgent, Brazil rediscovered the sugar cane ethanol programme it put into place in the 1970s because of the oil crisis. Back then, nobody worried about sustainability. Now we have to show why Brazil's sugar cane ethanol is different from America's maize ethanol. It is unfair to lump the two together. Our bioethanol is produced by using less than 1 per cent of Brazil's total agricultural area. It does not destroy preserved areas or compete for land with food crops. In fact, Brazilian food production should increase in the next five years. People fear sugar cane will be planted in the Amazon rainforest, but it is too humid for sugar cane there. We want to supply the world with green ethanol without cutting down a single tree. That's the challenge. …

Growing biofuel without razing the rainforest

Technorati Tags: biofuel,deforestation,Amazon

Aquatic Energy to open demo-scale algae biofuel facility in Louisiana

 

Algae paste, photo: Biofuels Digest

Lake Charles, Louisiana-based Aquatic Energy has announced that it is ready to move beyond its initial pilot-scale algae biofuel facility, and will be expanding to an 11-acre demonstration project using the company's open pond system, which is achieving yields on 2500 gallons per acre...

Aquatic Energy to Open Demo-Scale Algae Biofuel Facility in Louisiana

Technorati Tags: biofuel,algae

Singapore scientists say can turn CO2 into biofuel

 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Scientists in Singapore say they have found a way to turn planet-warming carbon dioxide into clean-burning methanol using a process that uses less energy than previous attempts.

The scientists at the state-backed Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said on Thursday they used non-toxic organocatalysts to make ethanol, a biofuel that is also used as an industrial feedstock.

In a statement, the institute said the team, led by Yugen Zhang, used N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), an organocatalyst in the chemical reaction with carbon dioxide.

NHCs are stable and the reaction between NHCs and carbon dioxide can take place under mild conditions in dry air, the statement said, adding only a small amount of the catalyst was needed.

The process also used hydrosilane, a combination of silica and hydrogen.

"Hydrosilane provides hydrogen, which bonds with carbon dioxide in a reduction reaction. This carbon dioxide reduction is efficiently catalyzed by NHCs even at room temperature," Zhang said in the statement.

"Methanol can be easily obtained from the product of the carbon dioxide reaction," Zhang added. …

Singapore scientists say can turn CO2 into biofuel

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide,biofuel

Bacteria turn excess clean energy into methane for storage

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered a solution to the problem of reliable storage for alternative energy: a bacteria that can convert electricity to methane when combined with CO2.

Any surplus power from wind, solar, or tidal sources is fed into the bacteria and combined with CO2 from the atmosphere to create methane for storage. Methane is a clean-burning gas and 80% of energy fed into the process was retained at the end. ...

Bacteria Turns Excess Clean Energy Into Methane for Storage

Technorati Tags: alternative energy,methane,biofuel,carbon dioxide

Algae biofuels: the hype, the hope, the promise

The Algae Biofuels World Summit concluded this week in San Francisco. I was on-hand and on assignment for Triple Pundit Monday at the day long pre-conference briefing featuring leaders in research, government, and business involved in pushing the infant industry toward commercial-scale production.

It was a sobering day for me, as it became clear that much of what is bandied about on blogs and in the mainstream media (to the extent algal biofuel research gets any coverage in the mainstream media) is wild-eyed optimism and pure hype. No, you can not produce 15,000 gallons of algae biofuel per acre per year; no, algae biofuel will not replace oil all by itself - and the list goes on.

The plain reality is that producing algae biofuel at a commercial scale is not a given, it will not be cheap or easy, and a lot more R&D needs to be done before any real hope of algae biofuel being more than an experimental or "boutique" fuel is realized. …

Algae Biofuels - The Hype, the Hope, the Promise

Technorati Tags: algae,biofuel

A sober look at biofuels from algae

Large-scale algae-to-biodiesel production is getting tantalizingly close to reality. However, some highly touted production pathways may not be all they are cracked up to be.

By Martin Tampier

First-generation biofuels are based on commonly available agricultural commodities such as wheat or corn. Second-generation biofuels process lignocellulosic biomass, such as corn stover, straw or wood. There is now a lot of talk about third-generation biofuels, which include algae-based biodiesel or ethanol. Seed Science Ltd. spent several months examining the technical and economic feasibility of algae-to-biofuels in British Columbia. As a result, skepticism has surfaced as to whether algae will be part of the biofuels future, whether in British Columbia or elsewhere.

The advantage of growing algae instead of conventional agricultural crops is their very high growth rate, which in turn reduces the surface required to produce a given amount of biofuel. In addition, there is no competition for agricultural land useful for growing food crops since algae can be grown on land unsuitable for agriculture. Big names such as Shell Oil Co. and Chevron Corp., as well as the U.S. military, are investigating biofuels from algae. Over the past few years, some algae start-up companies have been able to leverage several million dollars of investment. So, surely consumers will soon see the first biofuels made from algae at gas stations, won’t they? …

A Sober Look at Biofuels From Algae

Technorati Tags: biofuel

The top 5 technologies that will save us from climate change

Dear Pablo: What do you believe are the top technologies that will help us overcome climate change?

First of all, the number one solution to climate change is not a technology at all; it is political will. As Thomas Friedman, the author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded said in a speech last week "change your leaders, not your light bulbs." …

1. Algae Biofuels

Algae, that green scum that grows in your pool when you forget to chlorinate it, can contain more than 50 percent lipids (fat). By feeding algae with nutrient-rich water (wastewater treatment plant effluent, for example) and carbon dioxide (the climate change-causing emissions from power plants) and exposing them to warmth and sunlight, they multiply rapidly (see image above). The lipids can then be extracted easily and used to create biodiesel fuel, which can replace or be mixed with regular diesel. The remaining material can be used as cattle feed, burned as a biomass fuel, or processed into methane by small organisms.

What could be better than a plant-based solution that uses waste materials (dirty water and CO2) and renewable resources (sunlight) to create both a transportation fuel and a heating fuel? Not much, which is why algae holds so much promise. Several companies, such as PetroSun and GreenFuel Technologies, are currently working on commercializing this technology. The Torres winery in Villafranca del Penedes, Spain is even operating an experimental facility that captures the emissions from wine fermentation to grow algae for making biofuels. …

The Top 5 Technologies That Will Save Us from Climate Change

Technorati Tags: climate change,alternative energy,biofuel,algae

Desert shrub, guayule, may be fuel of the future

Superb natural latex from a desert shrub called guayule (why-YOU-lee) makes high-quality gloves, medical devices, and other in-demand natural rubber products. But guayule may also prove to be an economical, environmentally friendly source of another valuable resource--energy.

But guayule may also prove to be an economical, environmentally friendly source of another valuable resource—energy. That's according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Colleen M. McMahan at the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

Bioenergy can be made from ground-up guayule stems and branches, left after their white, rubber-rich latex has been removed, McMahan noted. The leftovers—a soft, light brown sawdust-like material called bagasse—provide 8,000 to 9,000 Btu per pound, about the same as charcoal.

McMahan's collaborators include ARS chemist Kevin M. Holtman at the Albany center, who has already made small amounts of ethanol from guayule, and chemical engineer Akwasi Boateng at the ARS Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pa. Boateng is looking into converting guayule bagasse into bio-oil or synthetic gas.

Guayule offers many biofuel benefits. It isn't a food or feed crop, so using it for energy production won't compete with those uses. Guayule shrubs can be harvested for the first time as early as two years after planting, and are ready to harvest again in about another year and a half. …

Desert Shrub, Guayule, May Be Fuel Of The Future

Technorati Tags: biofuel

Genome sequencing of fungus may lead to improved bioethanol production from wood

Scientists have discovered the mechanisms with which certain types of fungus attacks wood in order to use the cellulose contained within. These results are important for designing processes using wood to produce bioethanol.

The results, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has enabled the determination of the mechanisms with which this fungus attacks wood in order to use the cellulose contained within. These results are important for designing processes using wood to produce bioethanol. …

Genome Sequencing Of Fungus May Lead To Improved Bioethanol Production From Wood

Technorati Tags: biofuel