Crop residues, perennial warm season grasses, and short-rotation woody crops are potential biomass sources for cellulosic ethanol production. While most research is focused on the conversion of cellulosic feeedstocks into ethanol and increasing production of biomass, the impacts of growing energy crops and the removal of crop residue on soil and environmental quality have received less attention. Moreover, effects of crop residue removal on soil and environmental quality have not been compared against those of dedicated energy crops.
In the March-April 2010 issue of Agronomy Journal, published by the American Society of Agronomy, Dr. Humberto Blanco reviewed the impacts of crop residue removal, warm season grasses, and short-rotation woody crops on critical soil properties, carbon sequestration, and water quality as well as the performance of energy crops in marginal lands.
Showing posts with label Biofuels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biofuels. Show all posts
More economical process for making ethanol from nonfood sources
Scientists in Wisconsin are reporting discovery of a way to lower the cost of converting wood, corn stalks and leaves, switch grass, and other non-food biomass materials into ethanol fuel. They describe their process, which reduces amounts of costly enzymes needed to break down tough fibrous cellulose matter in biomass for fermentation into alcohol, here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS)."We believe our finding will have a major impact on the economics of cellulose to biofuels conversions," said Rajai Atalla, Ph.D. "We think it can make cellulose significantly more competitive with corn as the primary source of glucose as a feedstock for biofuels." Atalla is the founder of Cellulose Sciences International in Madison, Wisc.
Waste could generate up to 7 per cent of electricity in Spain
Sewage treatment plant of Monfragüe (Cáceres, Spain).Credit: Naturaleza Fragüe.Researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) have calculated the energy and economic potential of urban solid waste, sludge from water treatment plants and livestock slurry for generating electricity in Spain. These residues are alternative sources of renewable energy, which are more environmentally friendly and, in the case of solid urban waste, more cost effective.
Using waste to generate electricity has economic and environmental advantages. "It gives added value to waste, because it can be seen as a type of fuel with zero cost, or even a negative cost if taxes are paid to collect it", Norberto Fueyo, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Fluid Mechanics Group of the UNIZAR, tells SINC.
Orange peels, newspapers may lead to cheaper, cleaner ethanol fuel
Scientists may have just made the breakthrough of a lifetime, turning discarded fruit peels and other throwaways into cheap, clean fuel to power the world's vehicles.
University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has developed a groundbreaking way to produce ethanol from waste products such as orange peels and newspapers. His approach is greener and less expensive than the current methods available to run vehicles on cleaner fuel – and his goal is to relegate gasoline to a secondary fuel.
University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has developed a groundbreaking way to produce ethanol from waste products such as orange peels and newspapers. His approach is greener and less expensive than the current methods available to run vehicles on cleaner fuel – and his goal is to relegate gasoline to a secondary fuel.
More, better biodiesel
The safflower is one of the plants can be made into a fuel cocktail that performs better at low temperatures than conventional biodiesel. (Jack Kelly Clark/UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resource) Yields of biodiesel from oilseed crops such as safflower could be increased by up to 24 percent using a new process developed by chemists at UC Davis. The method converts both plant oils and carbohydrates into biodiesel in a single process, and should also improve the performance characteristics of biodiesel, especially in cold weather.A paper describing the method, which has been patented, is online in the journal Energy & Fuels.
Conventional biodiesel production extracts plant oils and then converts them into fatty acid esters that can be used to power engines, said Mark Mascal, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and co-author of the paper with postdoctoral researcher Edward Nikitin. That leaves behind the carbohydrate portion of the plant — the sugars, starches, and cellulose that make up stems, leaves, seed husks and other structures.
Fueling the future with fish tank residue
As Americans demand new and cleaner ways to meet the country's energy needs, researchers are turning to algae as a promising new fuel source. The approach has the potential to significantly reduce the nation's reliance on imported oil while contributing to rural economic development and lowering greenhouse emissions.
Experts project that algae-based biofuels could displace large volumes of diesel and jet transportation fuels. One of the field's leading experts, Sandia researcher Ron Pate, will present an overview of the current state of research and development and associated opportunities and challenges for algal biofuels during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego on Feb. 19.
Experts project that algae-based biofuels could displace large volumes of diesel and jet transportation fuels. One of the field's leading experts, Sandia researcher Ron Pate, will present an overview of the current state of research and development and associated opportunities and challenges for algal biofuels during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego on Feb. 19.
Miscanthus, a biofuels crop, can host western corn rootworm
Adult rootworms feed on corn silks, while their larvae attack the roots. Photo by Joseph Spencer, INHS. The western corn rootworm beetle, a pest that feasts on corn roots and corn silk and costs growers more than $1 billion annually in the U.S., also can survive on the perennial grass Miscanthus x giganteus, a potential biofuels crop that would likely be grown alongside corn, researchers report.Rootworm beetle larvae can survive to adulthood on Miscanthus rhizomes, and adult beetles will lay their eggs at the base of Miscanthus plants grown near cornfields, the researchers found. Their study, in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, is the first to identify Miscanthus as a host of the corn rootworm.
US biofuels policies flawed
The United States needs to fundamentally rethink its policy of promoting ethanol to diversify its energy sources and increase energy security, according to a new policy paper by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
The paper, "Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy," questions the economic, environmental and logistical basis for the billions of dollars in federal subsidies and protectionist tariffs that go to domestic ethanol producers every year. "We need to set realistic targets for ethanol in the United States instead of just throwing taxpayer money out the window," said Amy Myers Jaffe, one of the report's authors.
The paper, "Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy," questions the economic, environmental and logistical basis for the billions of dollars in federal subsidies and protectionist tariffs that go to domestic ethanol producers every year. "We need to set realistic targets for ethanol in the United States instead of just throwing taxpayer money out the window," said Amy Myers Jaffe, one of the report's authors.
Biogas plant for biological wastes recycling
Ukrainian engineering company ZORG Ukraine has announced development of new waste-management solution for plants that produce alcohol. Biogas plant can reduce sanitary zone (distance from the enterprise to residential area) from 500m to 150m. In many cases such ecological issues are vital for some enterprises.
Out-of-date lagoons occupy lots of space and have bad smell. Biogas plant requires space that several times less if to be compared to lagoons and manure storages. Water in lagoons is bounded by colloid compounds hence evaporation is very faint. After treatment in biogas plant water is separated and easily vaporised.
Out-of-date lagoons occupy lots of space and have bad smell. Biogas plant requires space that several times less if to be compared to lagoons and manure storages. Water in lagoons is bounded by colloid compounds hence evaporation is very faint. After treatment in biogas plant water is separated and easily vaporised.
Self-destructing bacteria improve renewable biofuel production
An Arizona State University research team has developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing lower-cost, renewable biofuels. The team has programmed a photosynthetic microbe to self-destruct, making the recovery of high-energy fats – and their biofuel byproducts – easier and potentially less costly.
"The real costs involved in any biofuel production are harvesting the goodies and turning them into fuel," said Roy Curtiss, director of the Biodesign Institute's Centre for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and professor in the School of Life Sciences. "This whole system that we have developed is a means to a green recovery of materials not requiring energy dependent physical or chemical processes."
"The real costs involved in any biofuel production are harvesting the goodies and turning them into fuel," said Roy Curtiss, director of the Biodesign Institute's Centre for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and professor in the School of Life Sciences. "This whole system that we have developed is a means to a green recovery of materials not requiring energy dependent physical or chemical processes."
Flax and yellow flowers can produce bioethanol
This is the blooms of a flax plant. Photo: Johnathan J. Stegeman and Tom Hilton /SINC.Surplus biomass from the production of flax shives, and generated from Brassica carinata, a yellow-flowered plant related to those which engulf fields in spring, can be used to produce bioethanol. This has been suggested by two studies carried out by Spanish and Dutch researchers and published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
Alternative energy trends in the U.K.
The United Kingdom's use of alternative energy sources is increasing at a rapid pace. While wind projects often receive the most media attention, several projects involving biofuels, biomass, and energy from waste are planned or already under way in the country.This new trend is a welcome sign in the event of growing concerns over the perils of global warming. Industrial emission cut and reduced use of fossil fuels are two main ways of combating the global climate change.
Termites’ gut reactions show how to improve renewable fuel
Termite damage costs the U.S. more than USD1 billion each year, but that same destructive power might help solve one of the nation’s most pressing economic quandaries: sustainable fuel production.After years of genetic sequencing, University of Florida researchers are beginning to harness the insects’ ability to churn wood into fuel. That ability involves a mixture of enzymes from symbiotic bacteria and other single-celled organisms living in termites’ guts, as well as enzymes from the termites themselves.
The team from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences spent two years dissecting and analyzing gene sequences of more than 2,500 worker termite guts. In total, they identified 6,555 genes from the termites and associated gut fauna involved in the digestive process.
As the researchers reported Oct. 15 in the online journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, they’ve begun to identify which of these genes encode for enzymes that could significantly improve the production of cellulosic ethanol, a fuel made from inedible plant material that the U.S. Department of Energy estimates could replace half of our gasoline if the production process could be made more cost effective.
“Termites are very unique creatures, and this research helps give the most complete picture of how their systems collaborate to, very efficiently, break down really tough biological compounds to release fermentable sugars,” said UF entomologist Mike Scharf, who leads the research.
The team has identified nearly 200 associated enzymes that help break down the problematic plant compound lignocellulose. This compound is the most costly barrier to wide-scale production of cellulosic ethanol because it must be broken down by intense heat or caustic chemicals.
Termites, however, are able to almost completely break down lignocellulose through simple digestion.
“The termite gut is a complicated and exotic package of biodiversity that manages these tasks with an efficiency that you really have to admire,” said Claudia Husseneder, a specialist in the molecular biology of termites at Louisiana State University who was not associated with UF’s research. “Mike’s work is on the cutting edge of understanding this system.”
In September, Scharf and the Savage, Maryland-based Chesapeake-PERL Inc., received a USD750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help develop his work into a product that can be used to help manufacture cellulosic ethanol.
Termites and their associated single-cell symbiotic organisms probably won’t have much to do with the processes that result from the work—except for their genes, of course. Scharf said that enzyme-producing genes will be transferred to a more controllable creature.
This has commonly meant that the genes would be transferred into genetically modified fungi or bacteria. However, Scharf said the genes would likely be transferred into other insects, such as caterpillars, to produce the enzymes on an industrial scale.
“Insects have played an important role in how this planet functions for millions of years,” Scharf said. “They still have a lot they can teach us. There are still many ways we can learn to benefit from Earth’s six-legged inhabitants.”
Source: University of Florida
Biofuels, the burning questions
Photo: BirdLifeBirdLife International, the European Environmental Bureau and the Transport and Environment organised a high level event at the European Parliament entitled: 'Biofuels: the burning questions'.The event, hosted by Fiona Hall MEP (Member of the European Parliament; Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) and Sirpa Pietikainen MEP (European People’s Party) includes some of the world’s top scientists studying the impacts of bioenergy such as Jerry Melillo and Tim Searchinger, and key decision makers, such as Karl Falkenberg, Director General of DG Environment, European Commission.
In December 2008, the EU passed a new Renewable Energy Directive which sets a mandatory target of 20 per cent of final energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2020. The Directive also includes a special 10 per cent target for renewables in transport, which is expected to be met mostly through a large increase of biofuels use.
The EU has introduced a set of sustainability standards for biofuels, but not for other forms of bioenergy such as solid biomass burning for heat and power production. The NGOs believes current safeguards are insufficient even for biofuels. For example current rules do not account for the impacts arising from indirect land use change (ILUC) caused when agricultural land is taken for biofuels and food production is therefore displaced elsewhere.
The surge in the use of bioenergy poses many sustainability issues both in Europe and globally, such as the clearing of rainforests and other habitats for expansion of plantations or the increased harvesting of fuel wood from natural forests.
The event mainly focussed on the need to fix the currently flawed methodology used to calculate the greenhouse gas costs and benefits of biomass. The EU currently considers biomass burning to have zero emissions and ignores ILUC. Recent research shows that a failure to correct this could lead to a widespread destruction of carbon stocks such as forests and grasslands.
"Bioenergy can and must be part of the solution to climate change, but under current EU rules there is a great risk of perverse outcomes: the wrong technologies and feedstocks being chosen, emissions increasing and ecosystems being damaged", commented Ariel Brunner, Senior EU Agriculture Policy Officer, at BirdLife International’s European Division.
Today BirdLife and a group of environmental and social NGOs have also launched a new publication analysing the current EU biofuels policy, highlighting its shortcomings and containing detailed recommendations for improving it.
"The European Parliament was key in improving the sustainability criteria in the Renewables Directive", said Fiona Hall - MEP. "MEPs fought very hard for a good calculation method which would take account of the impact of indirect land use change. When the proposals on indirect land use change and also on the sustainability criteria for biomass are published by the Commission, we will be looking at them very carefully in order to get a framework in place that will ensure that bioenergy genuinely reduces greenhouse gas emissions".
Yeast genome could boost ethanol production
As global temperatures and energy costs continue to soar, renewable sources of energy will be key to a sustainable future. An attractive replacement for gasoline is biofuel, and in two studies published online in Genome Research, scientists have analyzed the genome structures of bioethanol-producing microorganisms, uncovering genetic clues that will be critical in developing new technologies needed to implement production on a global scale.
Bioethanol is produced from the fermentation of plant material, such as sugar cane and corn, by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae, just as in the production of alcoholic beverages. However, yeast strains thriving in the harsh conditions of industrial fuel ethanol production are much more hardy than their beer brewing counterparts, and surprisingly little is known about how these yeast adapted to the industrial environment. If researchers can identify the genetic changes that underlie this adaptation, new yeast strains could be engineered to help shift bioethanol production into high gear across the globe.
Two studies published in Genome Research have taken a major step toward this goal, identifying genomic properties of industrial fuel yeasts that likely gave rise to more robust strains. In one of the studies, researcher Lucas Argueso and colleagues from Duke University and Brazil have sequenced and analyzed the structure of the entire genome of strain PE-2, a prominent industrial strain in Brazil. The group's work revealed that portions of the genome are plastic compared to other yeast strains, specifically the peripheral regions of chromosomes, where they observed a number of sequence rearrangements.
Interestingly, these chromosomal rearrangements in PE-2 amplified genes involved in stress tolerance, which likely contributed to the adaptation of this strain to the industrial environment. As PE-2 is amenable to genetic engineering, the authors believe that their work on PE-2 will open the door to development of new technologies to boost bioethanol production.
In a second study published in Genome Research, researchers from Stanford University and Brazil led by Boris Stambuk and Gavin Sherlock have also analyzed the genome structure of industrial bioethanol yeasts, searching for variations in the number of gene copies in five strains employed in Brazil, including PE-2. Stambuk and colleagues found that all five industrial strains studied harbor amplifications of genes involved in the synthesis of vitamins B6 and B1 – compounds critical for efficient growth and utilization of sugar.
The group experimentally demonstrated that the gene amplifications confer robust growth in industrial conditions, indicating that these yeasts likely adapted to limited availability of vitamins in the industrial process to gain a competitive advantage. Furthermore, the authors suggest that this knowledge can be utilized to engineer new strains of yeast capable of even more efficient bioethanol production, from a wider range of agricultural stocks.
It is evident that an expanding human population will require more energy that exerts less impact on the environment, and the information gained from these genomic studies of industrial bioethanol yeasts will be invaluable as biofuel researchers optimize production and implement the technology worldwide.
Bioethanol is produced from the fermentation of plant material, such as sugar cane and corn, by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae, just as in the production of alcoholic beverages. However, yeast strains thriving in the harsh conditions of industrial fuel ethanol production are much more hardy than their beer brewing counterparts, and surprisingly little is known about how these yeast adapted to the industrial environment. If researchers can identify the genetic changes that underlie this adaptation, new yeast strains could be engineered to help shift bioethanol production into high gear across the globe.
Two studies published in Genome Research have taken a major step toward this goal, identifying genomic properties of industrial fuel yeasts that likely gave rise to more robust strains. In one of the studies, researcher Lucas Argueso and colleagues from Duke University and Brazil have sequenced and analyzed the structure of the entire genome of strain PE-2, a prominent industrial strain in Brazil. The group's work revealed that portions of the genome are plastic compared to other yeast strains, specifically the peripheral regions of chromosomes, where they observed a number of sequence rearrangements.
Interestingly, these chromosomal rearrangements in PE-2 amplified genes involved in stress tolerance, which likely contributed to the adaptation of this strain to the industrial environment. As PE-2 is amenable to genetic engineering, the authors believe that their work on PE-2 will open the door to development of new technologies to boost bioethanol production.
In a second study published in Genome Research, researchers from Stanford University and Brazil led by Boris Stambuk and Gavin Sherlock have also analyzed the genome structure of industrial bioethanol yeasts, searching for variations in the number of gene copies in five strains employed in Brazil, including PE-2. Stambuk and colleagues found that all five industrial strains studied harbor amplifications of genes involved in the synthesis of vitamins B6 and B1 – compounds critical for efficient growth and utilization of sugar.
The group experimentally demonstrated that the gene amplifications confer robust growth in industrial conditions, indicating that these yeasts likely adapted to limited availability of vitamins in the industrial process to gain a competitive advantage. Furthermore, the authors suggest that this knowledge can be utilized to engineer new strains of yeast capable of even more efficient bioethanol production, from a wider range of agricultural stocks.
It is evident that an expanding human population will require more energy that exerts less impact on the environment, and the information gained from these genomic studies of industrial bioethanol yeasts will be invaluable as biofuel researchers optimize production and implement the technology worldwide.
New non-toxic adhesive to make biofuels more viable
An adhesive used in products like laminate countertops may also help cement a place for economically viable biofuels, according to a Kansas State University researcher.
Susan Sun directs K-State's Bio Materials and Technology Laboratory, where she studies bio-based materials. Her research group is studying adhesives made from by-products of soybean, corn, sorghum and biomass fuels.
"There are two important forces driving this research," Sun said. "We're trying to develop these bio-based adhesives to replace environmentally hazardous materials," she said. "Also, we need high-value products to sustain the biofuels economy."
Sun said the adhesives commonly used in construction products like kitchen floors and laminate furniture are formaldehyde-based and isocyanide-based. The isocyanide-based adhesives are toxic, she said. Moreover, the formaldehyde-based adhesives affect air quality and human health because the compound's carbon and nitrogen bonds are reversible in humid conditions, emitting formaldehyde into the air.
On the other hand, Sun said biofuels producers need co-products like adhesives to make sustainable fuels economically viable. For biomass biofuels, the amount of energy that goes into producing them is still greater than the energy that the biofuels can produce.
"Biomass by its nature contains not just sugar necessary for the biofuel, but also lignin, protein and other materials," Sun said. "So after you convert it into biofuel, you still have a lot of leftovers. So you have to develop high-value chemicals and bio-based products out of that biomass to balance the economics."
Lignin, a major by-product of cellulosic biomass, is what holds plants upright, Sun said. Without it, plants would grow flat on the ground. This property makes it a good basis for polymers, she said. Lignins show promise for adhesives, she said, because they're rich in aromatic structures with many functional groups.
Sun also said plant oils have properties that make them suitable for adhesives that are activated by pressure. Pressure-sensitive adhesives are used in everyday products like transparent tape, postage stamps, sticky notes and name tags. Her research group is studying the molecular structures and reaction pathways related to adhesion.
"If you have a name tag and put it on your shirt, when you peel it off, adhesives may be left on your clothes," she said. "That's why you need to design the backbone of the polymer to be strong enough to pull the sticky group back."
She said it's also important to design pressure-sensitive adhesives that can be applied quickly to products in the factory.
"If your adhesives are good but it takes a few hours to cure, the industry won't pick it up," Sun said. "So it's not just a structural challenge, it's also a performance challenge and an economic challenge."
Sun's group also studies proteins with a specific structure that relate to adhesion properties. This information will be important to K-State plant scientists, who engineer plants to produce functional protein polymers.
"They don't necessarily know which plants are good for materials, so that's why they say that I write them the prescription for the plant," Sun said.
In August, findings from this research appeared in the journal Biomacromolecules and were presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
One application of bio-based adhesives from Sun's projects was creating a bio-based barrel for cattle feed that has been commercialised. The product uses straw and soy adhesives and no hazardous chemicals, so it is safe to eat.
"With the use of oil drums to hold feed, the farmer has to pay USD6 per container to recondition them for reuse," Sun said. "This one you don't have to collect. The cattle just eat them, so it's an environmental benefit, too."
Sun's other research area is to develop biodegradable plastics. Recently, she and her co-workers collaborated with Ken Klabunde, university distinguished professor of chemistry, to improve the process flowability and strength of a bio-based plastic, such as poly(lactic acid), using magnesium oxidise nanoparticles. The flowability makes it easier for the material to flow into moulds that form products like the utensils available at K-State's Student Union. And that makes the process more efficient for manufacturers, Sun said.
This research appeared in the Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy in June and in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science in October.
"The social impact of our work at the Bio Materials and Technology Laboratory is on environmental quality and biofuel sustainability, which will improve people's life in long term," Sun said.
Susan Sun directs K-State's Bio Materials and Technology Laboratory, where she studies bio-based materials. Her research group is studying adhesives made from by-products of soybean, corn, sorghum and biomass fuels.
"There are two important forces driving this research," Sun said. "We're trying to develop these bio-based adhesives to replace environmentally hazardous materials," she said. "Also, we need high-value products to sustain the biofuels economy."
Sun said the adhesives commonly used in construction products like kitchen floors and laminate furniture are formaldehyde-based and isocyanide-based. The isocyanide-based adhesives are toxic, she said. Moreover, the formaldehyde-based adhesives affect air quality and human health because the compound's carbon and nitrogen bonds are reversible in humid conditions, emitting formaldehyde into the air.
On the other hand, Sun said biofuels producers need co-products like adhesives to make sustainable fuels economically viable. For biomass biofuels, the amount of energy that goes into producing them is still greater than the energy that the biofuels can produce.
"Biomass by its nature contains not just sugar necessary for the biofuel, but also lignin, protein and other materials," Sun said. "So after you convert it into biofuel, you still have a lot of leftovers. So you have to develop high-value chemicals and bio-based products out of that biomass to balance the economics."
Lignin, a major by-product of cellulosic biomass, is what holds plants upright, Sun said. Without it, plants would grow flat on the ground. This property makes it a good basis for polymers, she said. Lignins show promise for adhesives, she said, because they're rich in aromatic structures with many functional groups.
Sun also said plant oils have properties that make them suitable for adhesives that are activated by pressure. Pressure-sensitive adhesives are used in everyday products like transparent tape, postage stamps, sticky notes and name tags. Her research group is studying the molecular structures and reaction pathways related to adhesion.
"If you have a name tag and put it on your shirt, when you peel it off, adhesives may be left on your clothes," she said. "That's why you need to design the backbone of the polymer to be strong enough to pull the sticky group back."
She said it's also important to design pressure-sensitive adhesives that can be applied quickly to products in the factory.
"If your adhesives are good but it takes a few hours to cure, the industry won't pick it up," Sun said. "So it's not just a structural challenge, it's also a performance challenge and an economic challenge."
Sun's group also studies proteins with a specific structure that relate to adhesion properties. This information will be important to K-State plant scientists, who engineer plants to produce functional protein polymers.
"They don't necessarily know which plants are good for materials, so that's why they say that I write them the prescription for the plant," Sun said.
In August, findings from this research appeared in the journal Biomacromolecules and were presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
One application of bio-based adhesives from Sun's projects was creating a bio-based barrel for cattle feed that has been commercialised. The product uses straw and soy adhesives and no hazardous chemicals, so it is safe to eat.
"With the use of oil drums to hold feed, the farmer has to pay USD6 per container to recondition them for reuse," Sun said. "This one you don't have to collect. The cattle just eat them, so it's an environmental benefit, too."
Sun's other research area is to develop biodegradable plastics. Recently, she and her co-workers collaborated with Ken Klabunde, university distinguished professor of chemistry, to improve the process flowability and strength of a bio-based plastic, such as poly(lactic acid), using magnesium oxidise nanoparticles. The flowability makes it easier for the material to flow into moulds that form products like the utensils available at K-State's Student Union. And that makes the process more efficient for manufacturers, Sun said.
This research appeared in the Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy in June and in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science in October.
"The social impact of our work at the Bio Materials and Technology Laboratory is on environmental quality and biofuel sustainability, which will improve people's life in long term," Sun said.
Miscounting bioenergy benefits may increase greenhouse gas release
A fixable error in the way carbon is counted in current U.S. climate legislation and in the Kyoto Protocol could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using biofuels, says a premier group of national environmental and land use scientists.
"The promise of biofuels made from biomass is huge, from both climate mitigation and economic perspectives," said Phil Robertson, Michigan State University professor of crop and soil sciences and one of the authors of the paper "Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error" published in the Oct. 23 issue of the journal Science. "But the promise could come up short if we don't pay attention to the details.One of the most important details is how the benefits of carbon capture are tallied. If we miscalculate the carbon benefits, we may find out later that our policies and practices are counterproductive; that they don't have the positive impact on climate that we want them to have."
Robertson also is a member of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Centre, a partnership between Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct basic research aimed at solving some of the most complex problems in converting natural materials to energy.
The paper authors point out that the greenhouse gas consequences of bioenergy can vary widely, depending on where the plants used to produce the energy are grown. For example, fast-growing biofuel crops grown on abandoned farmland can capture more carbon than existing plants and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is because the biofuel crop absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than would otherwise be stored.
But if existing forests are cut down and replaced with bioenergy crops, the carbon released from the soil and mature trees, plus the loss of future carbon storage, is greater than the carbon captured by the bioenergy crops.
Current carbon accounting measures mistakenly exempt all the carbon dioxide emitted from bioenergy, regardless of the source. According to a number of studies, including one by the U.S. Department of Energy, applying current carbon accounting measures globally could lead to the loss of most of the world's natural forests.
"The error is serious, but readily fixable," said Tim Searchinger of Princeton University and lead author of the paper. "The solution is to count all the pollution that comes out of tailpipes and smokestacks whether from coal and oil or bioenergy and to credit bioenergy only to the extent it really does reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
"To avoid environmental regret later and protect both private and public investments, we need to get the carbon calculations correct from the start," Robertson added.
"Michigan is particularly well positioned to benefit from correct carbon accounting practices. As the market grows for cellulosic biofuels, Midwest producers will benefit by growing biofuel crops on land not now being used for food production. Correctly crediting our carbon from the start will help to ensure the long-term market value for these fuels, protecting early investments by farmers and refiners. Just like with financial audits, it's important for carbon audits to be correct. We don't want to find out later that we've built an industry on a false premise. Ultimately, we need to mitigate climate change and we need practices in place that do so."
Popping the cork on biofuel agriculture
Scientists identify enzyme that could help grow biofuel crops in harsh environments
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin – the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant tissues by genetically manipulating the expression of this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural production of crops used for biofuels.
The research, led by Brookhaven biologists Chang-Jun Liu and Jin-Ying Gou, will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of October 19, 2009.
Plants use different polymers in constructing cell walls, each with unique qualities essential for growth and survival. Suberin, the polymer analysed in this study, is mostly located in the cell walls of seed and root systems. It moderates the substances that pass into the organism, acting as a barrier to harmful substances and microorganisms while facilitating the intake and storage of water and other nutrients.
"We sought to understand the synthesis of the 'wall-bound' phenolic component of different biopolymers, including this important suberin polymer, by identifying the enzymes responsible for their construction," said Liu. This information could eventually be used to modify plants for agricultural purposes, including improved biomass production. "Knowing which enzymes do what may allow the properties of polymers to be tailored for specific purposes through either plant breeding or genetic engineering," Liu explained.
In this experiment, Liu and colleagues analysed a strain of Arabidopsis (a common experimental plant) that had been genetically modified to disrupt the expression of a gene that codes for an enzyme now known as hydroxyacid hydroxycinnamoyltransferase (HHT). Chemical analysis showed that "knocking out" the HHT gene led to a deficiency of suberin phenolics, indicating that HHT is the enzyme responsible for biosynthesis of the polymer. Liu and his colleagues then isolated the gene and expressed it in bacteria to further characterise its function.
The team also demonstrated that the HHT-deficient plants were much more permeable to salt in solution than their wild-type counterparts. This finding, together with the ubiquitous presence of suberin in plant root tissues that control water and salt uptake, suggests that suberin plays an important role in the adaptation of plants to their terrestrial habitats.
Harnessing the mechanism responsible for suberin production might therefore allow scientists to create crop breeds tailored to thrive in specific – even harsh – environments, an important milestone on the road toward economically efficient biofuel production.
"Identifying the key biosynthetic enzymes and understanding suberin production may be particularly important for growing plants on the marginal soils that have been proposed for use in farming bioenergy crops," Liu said.
For example, if certain breeds can be created that are more adept at absorbing and storing water and nutrients, the crops could be farmed in much drier climates – maybe even the desert. In addition, the team's finding that modifications in suberin phenolic production can alter plants' tolerance to salt suggests that the newly-identified gene might be used to generate crops able to grow under salty conditions.
These approaches to biofuel agriculture would leave more-fertile land open for food crops, helping to strike a much-needed balance between the nutrition and energy needs of the world.
This research was funded by the DOE-United States Department of Agriculture Plant Feedstock Genomics program and by DOE's Office of Science.
Written by J. Bryan Lowder
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin – the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant tissues by genetically manipulating the expression of this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural production of crops used for biofuels.
The research, led by Brookhaven biologists Chang-Jun Liu and Jin-Ying Gou, will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of October 19, 2009.
Plants use different polymers in constructing cell walls, each with unique qualities essential for growth and survival. Suberin, the polymer analysed in this study, is mostly located in the cell walls of seed and root systems. It moderates the substances that pass into the organism, acting as a barrier to harmful substances and microorganisms while facilitating the intake and storage of water and other nutrients.
"We sought to understand the synthesis of the 'wall-bound' phenolic component of different biopolymers, including this important suberin polymer, by identifying the enzymes responsible for their construction," said Liu. This information could eventually be used to modify plants for agricultural purposes, including improved biomass production. "Knowing which enzymes do what may allow the properties of polymers to be tailored for specific purposes through either plant breeding or genetic engineering," Liu explained.
In this experiment, Liu and colleagues analysed a strain of Arabidopsis (a common experimental plant) that had been genetically modified to disrupt the expression of a gene that codes for an enzyme now known as hydroxyacid hydroxycinnamoyltransferase (HHT). Chemical analysis showed that "knocking out" the HHT gene led to a deficiency of suberin phenolics, indicating that HHT is the enzyme responsible for biosynthesis of the polymer. Liu and his colleagues then isolated the gene and expressed it in bacteria to further characterise its function.
The team also demonstrated that the HHT-deficient plants were much more permeable to salt in solution than their wild-type counterparts. This finding, together with the ubiquitous presence of suberin in plant root tissues that control water and salt uptake, suggests that suberin plays an important role in the adaptation of plants to their terrestrial habitats.
Harnessing the mechanism responsible for suberin production might therefore allow scientists to create crop breeds tailored to thrive in specific – even harsh – environments, an important milestone on the road toward economically efficient biofuel production.
"Identifying the key biosynthetic enzymes and understanding suberin production may be particularly important for growing plants on the marginal soils that have been proposed for use in farming bioenergy crops," Liu said.
For example, if certain breeds can be created that are more adept at absorbing and storing water and nutrients, the crops could be farmed in much drier climates – maybe even the desert. In addition, the team's finding that modifications in suberin phenolic production can alter plants' tolerance to salt suggests that the newly-identified gene might be used to generate crops able to grow under salty conditions.
These approaches to biofuel agriculture would leave more-fertile land open for food crops, helping to strike a much-needed balance between the nutrition and energy needs of the world.
This research was funded by the DOE-United States Department of Agriculture Plant Feedstock Genomics program and by DOE's Office of Science.
Written by J. Bryan Lowder
Biofuels - New report brings greater clarity to burning issue
New International Panel Launches Wide-Ranging Assessment on Environmental Pros and Cons of Crop-Based Fuels
A far more sophisticated approach needs to be taken when developing biofuels as an environmentally-friendly energy option a new report concludes.
Governments should fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.
The report, the first by the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, says some first generation biofuels such as ethanol from sugar cane can have positive impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
As currently practiced in a country such as Brazil, it can lead to emissions reductions of between 70 percent and well over 100 percent when substituted for petrol.
However, the way in which biofuels are produced matters in determining whether they are leading to more or less greenhouse gas emissions. Conditions under which production of biofuels does lead to higher emissions have been identified in the report.
The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics is cited. It can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions-up to 2,000 percent or more when compared with fossil fuels.
This is mainly as a result of carbon releases from the soils and land. However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.
The report Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels is based on a detailed review of published research up to mid-2009 as well as the input of independent experts world-wide.
It has been written to assist governments and industry in making sustainable choices in an area that over the past few years has become deeply divided while triggering sharply polarized views.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, which hosts the Resource Panel, said : "Biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah but like all technologies they represent both opportunities and challenges."
"Therefore a more sophisticated debate is urgently needed which is what this first report by the Panel is intended to provide. On one level, it is a debate about which energy crops to grow and where and also about the way different countries and biofuel companies promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes-some clearly are climate friendly while others are highly questionable," added Mr. Steiner.
"However, it is also a choice about how humanity best manages its finite land bank and balances a range of competing interests in a world of six billion people, rising to over nine billion by 2050," he said.
"The report makes it clear that biofuels have a future role, but also underlines that there may be other options for combating climate change, improving rural livelihoods and achieving sustainable development that may, or may not involve turning ever more crops and crop wastes into liquid fuels," he explained.
"The European Commission has been the firm supporter of the Resource Panel right from its outset. It is part of our long-term strategy on sustainable management of natural resources in providing authoritative and independent scientific advice to underpin policies and with a global perspective. The report on biofuels will help us in designing and implementing targets and sustainability criteria for the use of biofuels," said Timo Timo Mäkelä of the European Commission.
The report by the Resource Panel, headed by Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and written by scientists including Dr Stefan Bringezu of the body's Biofuels Working Group, for example notes that:
The report points out that in the United States the Energy Independence Act requires fuel efficiency improvements of 40 percent for cars and light trucks by 2020. Similarly, Japan is set to adopt a 20 percent fuel efficiency improvement to be implemented by 2015 with car makers there claiming that 80 percent of vehicles already meet the proposed standard.
Professor Weizsäcker said: "There are also wider life cycle issues that need to be factored into government policy decisions and in some cases these require more urgent research. Growing energy crops can involve increased use of fertilizers which in turn have implications for water quality. Fertilizer use also increases emissions of N20 which is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right."
"Using abandoned or so called waste land for biofuels might be a sensible option, but it may also have implications for biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions might be better cut by forestry schemes,' he added.
Dr. Bringezu said: "If the world's cropland is used to feed a growing population and one increasingly consuming meat, any additional demand for energy crops will almost inevitably increase pressure on grasslands, savannahs and forests. This will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions as well as rising losses of biodiversity. Using wastes and residues represents one safer and more sustainable path out of this dilemma."
Key Findings From The Report:
Biofuel Market
World ethanol production for transport fuels tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion litres to more than 52 billion litres.
Biodiesel expanded 11 fold from less than a billion litres to 11 billion litres.
Biofuels provide 1.8 percent of transport fuels.
Investment in biofuels production capacity exceeded US$4 billion worldwide in 2007.
International trade has been small, about three billion litres in 2006/07, but is expected to grow rapidly in countries like Brazil where in 2008 five billion litres were exported.
Land-Use Changes and Related Impacts of First Generation Biofuels
Global cropland will expand only to feed a growing world population with an increasing demand for more protein rich food from animals. Any additional demand for non-food biomass crops will add to the pressure of converting natural land.
Global land use for biofuel crops was about two percent of global cropland in 2008, or about 36 million hectares.
First generation biofuels include, for example, ethanol from sugar cane or corn or biodiesel from rapeseed, soya or palm oil.
Globally about 118 to 508 million hectares of cropland would be needed to meet 10 percent of global transport fuel demand by 2030 if first generation biofuels are used.
On the one hand, these biofuels could potentially substitute 0.17 to 0.76 billion tonnes of fossil CO2. On the other hand, the associated land-use change would lead to additional 0.75 to 1.83 billion tonnes of CO2.
Altogether, there could be rather more greenhouse gas emissions for the coming decades due to energy crop-based biofuels.
Land-use change for biofuel crops cannot be avoided by product standards and certification alone, as long as global demand for biomass is growing. Certified production would drive non-certified production, particularly for food, to other areas.
Climate Pros and Cons of Different Biofuels
Whether a biofuel is climate-friendly or contributes to climate change depends on numerous factors, basically whether it is based on crops or production residues and waste. The use of the latter is usually beneficial for the environment, requires no additional land and also provides economic benefits.
The growing and conversion processes from biomass to fuel determine the environmental performance.
Brazil's sugar cane-to-ethanol industry is considered to have a positive climate benefit because and in part it uses wastes known as bagasse to power the processing and to also generate electricity for the national grid.
Bioethanol from corn can be less climate-friendly in cases where fossil fuels are used in the process of converting the crop to liquid fuel. Depending on the efficiency of modern mills and other factors, it actually leads to a nearly 60 per cent cut in CO2 emissions when compared with gasoline, or a five percent increase in green house gas emissions.
Palm oil biodiesel can reduce emissions when compared to fossil fuels by 80 percent. But if the palm oil is grown on cropland from cleared tropical forests, greenhouse gas emissions can be up to 800 percent higher.
And if the land use was cleared peat forests the emissions increases over using fossil fuels can rise to 2,000 percent.
Examples of other beneficial biofuels are biomethane from manure, with emissions savings of over 170 percent and second generation ethanol produced from agricultural and forestry wastes- savings in the region of 80 percent to 90 percent over petrol.
Jatropha, an energy crop being recommended in drylands in India and across Africa, can generate greenhouse gas savings if grown on degraded land but if grown on shrubland this can increase emissions through land use change. However, this needs to be balanced with the possibility to satisfy energy needs that are currently satisfied largely with traditional biomass use, which often leads to deforestation - again with an impact on climate change.
There are other impact categories beyond climate change that need to be assessed. The report highlights impacts on water quality and quantity and biodiversity.
The Way Forward
The report calls for governments to consider a variety of measures and for additional research including:
A far more sophisticated approach needs to be taken when developing biofuels as an environmentally-friendly energy option a new report concludes.
Governments should fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.
The report, the first by the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, says some first generation biofuels such as ethanol from sugar cane can have positive impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
As currently practiced in a country such as Brazil, it can lead to emissions reductions of between 70 percent and well over 100 percent when substituted for petrol.
However, the way in which biofuels are produced matters in determining whether they are leading to more or less greenhouse gas emissions. Conditions under which production of biofuels does lead to higher emissions have been identified in the report.
The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics is cited. It can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions-up to 2,000 percent or more when compared with fossil fuels.
This is mainly as a result of carbon releases from the soils and land. However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.
The report Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels is based on a detailed review of published research up to mid-2009 as well as the input of independent experts world-wide.
It has been written to assist governments and industry in making sustainable choices in an area that over the past few years has become deeply divided while triggering sharply polarized views.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, which hosts the Resource Panel, said : "Biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah but like all technologies they represent both opportunities and challenges."
"Therefore a more sophisticated debate is urgently needed which is what this first report by the Panel is intended to provide. On one level, it is a debate about which energy crops to grow and where and also about the way different countries and biofuel companies promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes-some clearly are climate friendly while others are highly questionable," added Mr. Steiner.
"However, it is also a choice about how humanity best manages its finite land bank and balances a range of competing interests in a world of six billion people, rising to over nine billion by 2050," he said.
"The report makes it clear that biofuels have a future role, but also underlines that there may be other options for combating climate change, improving rural livelihoods and achieving sustainable development that may, or may not involve turning ever more crops and crop wastes into liquid fuels," he explained.
"The European Commission has been the firm supporter of the Resource Panel right from its outset. It is part of our long-term strategy on sustainable management of natural resources in providing authoritative and independent scientific advice to underpin policies and with a global perspective. The report on biofuels will help us in designing and implementing targets and sustainability criteria for the use of biofuels," said Timo Timo Mäkelä of the European Commission.
The report by the Resource Panel, headed by Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and written by scientists including Dr Stefan Bringezu of the body's Biofuels Working Group, for example notes that:
- Generating electricity at local power stations using wood, straw, seed oils and other crop or waste materials "is generally more energy efficient that converting biomass to liquid fuels".
- Land, including abandoned land can be used for energy crops but could equally be used for re-afforestation or solar power which the report argues may be more efficient for turning sunlight into energy.
- Meanwhile, in transport, modal shifts and higher fuel efficiency standards and the development of alternative technologies such as plug-in vehicles could dramatically reduce emissions in their own right.
The report points out that in the United States the Energy Independence Act requires fuel efficiency improvements of 40 percent for cars and light trucks by 2020. Similarly, Japan is set to adopt a 20 percent fuel efficiency improvement to be implemented by 2015 with car makers there claiming that 80 percent of vehicles already meet the proposed standard.
Professor Weizsäcker said: "There are also wider life cycle issues that need to be factored into government policy decisions and in some cases these require more urgent research. Growing energy crops can involve increased use of fertilizers which in turn have implications for water quality. Fertilizer use also increases emissions of N20 which is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right."
"Using abandoned or so called waste land for biofuels might be a sensible option, but it may also have implications for biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions might be better cut by forestry schemes,' he added.
Dr. Bringezu said: "If the world's cropland is used to feed a growing population and one increasingly consuming meat, any additional demand for energy crops will almost inevitably increase pressure on grasslands, savannahs and forests. This will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions as well as rising losses of biodiversity. Using wastes and residues represents one safer and more sustainable path out of this dilemma."
Key Findings From The Report:
Biofuel Market
World ethanol production for transport fuels tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion litres to more than 52 billion litres.
Biodiesel expanded 11 fold from less than a billion litres to 11 billion litres.
Biofuels provide 1.8 percent of transport fuels.
Investment in biofuels production capacity exceeded US$4 billion worldwide in 2007.
International trade has been small, about three billion litres in 2006/07, but is expected to grow rapidly in countries like Brazil where in 2008 five billion litres were exported.
Land-Use Changes and Related Impacts of First Generation Biofuels
Global cropland will expand only to feed a growing world population with an increasing demand for more protein rich food from animals. Any additional demand for non-food biomass crops will add to the pressure of converting natural land.
Global land use for biofuel crops was about two percent of global cropland in 2008, or about 36 million hectares.
First generation biofuels include, for example, ethanol from sugar cane or corn or biodiesel from rapeseed, soya or palm oil.
Globally about 118 to 508 million hectares of cropland would be needed to meet 10 percent of global transport fuel demand by 2030 if first generation biofuels are used.
On the one hand, these biofuels could potentially substitute 0.17 to 0.76 billion tonnes of fossil CO2. On the other hand, the associated land-use change would lead to additional 0.75 to 1.83 billion tonnes of CO2.
Altogether, there could be rather more greenhouse gas emissions for the coming decades due to energy crop-based biofuels.
Land-use change for biofuel crops cannot be avoided by product standards and certification alone, as long as global demand for biomass is growing. Certified production would drive non-certified production, particularly for food, to other areas.
Climate Pros and Cons of Different Biofuels
Whether a biofuel is climate-friendly or contributes to climate change depends on numerous factors, basically whether it is based on crops or production residues and waste. The use of the latter is usually beneficial for the environment, requires no additional land and also provides economic benefits.
The growing and conversion processes from biomass to fuel determine the environmental performance.
Brazil's sugar cane-to-ethanol industry is considered to have a positive climate benefit because and in part it uses wastes known as bagasse to power the processing and to also generate electricity for the national grid.
Bioethanol from corn can be less climate-friendly in cases where fossil fuels are used in the process of converting the crop to liquid fuel. Depending on the efficiency of modern mills and other factors, it actually leads to a nearly 60 per cent cut in CO2 emissions when compared with gasoline, or a five percent increase in green house gas emissions.
Palm oil biodiesel can reduce emissions when compared to fossil fuels by 80 percent. But if the palm oil is grown on cropland from cleared tropical forests, greenhouse gas emissions can be up to 800 percent higher.
And if the land use was cleared peat forests the emissions increases over using fossil fuels can rise to 2,000 percent.
Examples of other beneficial biofuels are biomethane from manure, with emissions savings of over 170 percent and second generation ethanol produced from agricultural and forestry wastes- savings in the region of 80 percent to 90 percent over petrol.
Jatropha, an energy crop being recommended in drylands in India and across Africa, can generate greenhouse gas savings if grown on degraded land but if grown on shrubland this can increase emissions through land use change. However, this needs to be balanced with the possibility to satisfy energy needs that are currently satisfied largely with traditional biomass use, which often leads to deforestation - again with an impact on climate change.
There are other impact categories beyond climate change that need to be assessed. The report highlights impacts on water quality and quantity and biodiversity.
The Way Forward
The report calls for governments to consider a variety of measures and for additional research including:
- Development of harmonized product standards for biofuels based on internationally-recognized life cycle-assessments-ones that factor in wider environmental aspects such as greenhouse gas emissions linked with fertilizers, impacts on water and implications for land use.
- Reconsideration of current biofuel mandates, targets and quota in order to limit the demand to levels which can sustainably be supplied - considering impacts for land use globally through targets for national use.
- Measures to limit the expansion of arable land into high-value natural ecosystems, such as forests and areas with high biodiversity. Brazil, for example, is developing a zoning system for palm oil production that distinguishes between suitable land and land of high conservation value.
- More comprehensive assessments of the amount of degraded land in the world that might be suitable for biofuel production set against its other potential uses such as for food production or forestry or natural regeneration, also considering the economic viability of biofuels produced on degraded land.
- Action to sustainably boosted yields in currently low-yielding countries and regions such as Africa so as to produce more crops per hectare of land for both food and energy use.
- Research into the environmental performance of advanced (often referred to as second and third) generation biofuels such as those derived from wastes and sources such as switch grass and marine algae.
- Research to compare the relative advantages in site specific locations of stationary power generation versus converting biomass into liquid fuels-assessments too of the relative merits of biofuels versus solar power on the same land.
- Introduce policies that reduce overall fuel consumption in countries such as through fuel taxes and fuel efficiency standards-for example, the European Union's Directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services says every member state must improve its energy efficiency beyond the trend by one percent annually.
Poet’s Inviz to replace more petroleum products
Poet senior scientist John Lawton holds powdered Inviz and a paper with zein coating.New ethanol co-product to enter plastics, film and coatings marketEthanol producer Poet is one step closer to gleaning the maximum value from each part of the corn kernel with a new ethanol co-product, Inviz, which is set to replace petroleum-based ingredients in household products ranging from pill coatings to plastic packaging.
Inviz is Poet’s brand of zein, a biodegradable, low-nutrient protein found in corn. It can be used as a gum base or in films, packaging, adhesives, coatings and glazes. Inviz zein is extracted using a patent-pending process developed by Poet.
Inviz is derived from the less valuable protein in Poet’s Dakota Gold HP distiller’s grains. It differs from other zein products because Poet’s production process fractionates the corn kernel and ferments ethanol without using heat. For that reason, Inviz is a more pure corn protein than other zein products, which are typically exposed to sulfur dioxide in the wet-milling process.
Poet’s research into zein started in 2004 through collaboration with the National Center for Agricultural Utilisation Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill. Those efforts ramped up considerably 2.5 years ago with the hiring of Senior Scientist John Lawton, a leader in zein research, from the NCAUR. Lawton was intrigued by the potential for zein in Poet’s no-cook ethanol production.
"Inviz can be used to make biodegradable plastics, time-release capsules for pills and other substances, varnish, there are just so many possibilities" Lawton said. "It has been the focus of much of my research throughout my career, and I’m excited to see this product brought to market"
Poet CEO Jeff Broin sees a lot of unrealised potential in the zein market, and he expects Inviz to open up many new uses for corn.
"The corn kernel has so much untapped potential" Broin said. "With Inviz, we are still providing fuel and high-protein feed to the world while using the least nutritional part of the kernel to replace even more petroleum-based products"
Some of Lawton’s previous research regarding zein includes: Zein: A History of Processing and Use and Plasticizers for zein: Their effect on tensile properties and water absorption of zein films.
Zein is a class of prolamine proteins found in corn that has a number of unique characteristics and functionalities. Pure zein is colorless, odorless, tasteless, hard, water-insoluble, edible and biodegradable. Zein has also achieved Generally Regarded As Safe (G.R.A.S.) status from the FDA .
Inviz is zein extracted from Poet’s Dakota Gold HP distiller’s grains. This high-protein feed is possible thanks to Poet’s patent-pending technologies, BFRAC and BPX. BFRAC separates the corn into three fractions: fiber, germ and endosperm. The endosperm is fermented to created ethanol, while the remaining fractions are converted into value-added co-products such as Dakota Gold HP. BPX, Poet’s raw starch hydrolysis process, converts starch to sugar and ferments to ethanol with the use of enzymes rather than heat.
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