Just over a week ago, Denmark became the first European country to make available to drivers second generation biofuel, fuel made of agricultural residues that do not compete with food crops. The fuel, called Bio95, is now on offer at 100 filling stations across the country on a 95% (more…)

One of the biggest challenges for biofuels is to find ways to break down cellulosic biomass and convert it into ethanol. These are the cell walls of plants, which contain sugars that can become fuel without competing with food crops. The trouble is getting the right enzyme to do the job.

Research is being carried out into this (more…)

Our country needs a strong, vibrant rural economy. Advanced biofuel production will help create it. Not only will biofuel production from non-food sources create new jobs and new streams of farm income, it will improve environmental quality and reduce our dependence on fossil fuel imported from foreign countries. (more…)

One of the major concerns regarding biofuels is the competition with food stocks due to concerns of diversion of plants such as maize, sugar cane, rapeseed etc to make fuel.

Second generation biofuels are greener as they can be made from non-food crops such as grass and sugar cane bagasse. (more…)

Glycos Biotechnologies succeeds in creating metabolic process for synthesis of biofuels and biochemicals from fatty acids.

Biofuels are mostly based on feedstock from edible crops such as sugarcane, sugar beet, corn and sorghum. However, their use has sparked concerns over sustainability and prompted the industry to look for (more…)

Biofuels have the potential to come from any number of sources. On one end of the spectrum we have a variety of crops and plant based biofuels that extend all the way to algae based biofuels, while on the other end we get more interesting developments like whiskey biofuel. One of the latest trends in biofuel news is the development of bacteria that are capable (more…)

Macroalgae grown off the coast of Norway will provide the material for the production of “renewable, sustainable and low cost” ethanol.

Berkeley-based Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) and Statoil, an offshore oil and gas producer with a presence in 40 countries, have announced a partnership whereby Statoil will provide direct funding for R&D (more…)

Aurora Algae, formerly Aurora Biofuels, earlier this week introduced what the company says is the industry’s first photosynthetic algae-based platform for the production of sustainable products in the fuel as well as pharmaceutical, nutritional supplement and aquaculture markets. The announcement marks Aurora Algae’s transition from pilot technology development (more…)

Last week was an eventful one in venture capital clean tech funding, especially for California-based Solaria, Solazyme and Calisolar. Here’s a closer look at each of them, and what to look out for in the near future.

Solaria

HQ: Fremont, CA (more…)

Russia is not known for being a country with any immediate interests in renewable energy or biofuels. The country still has a great deal of invested time and money in oil and coal based power plants are still a common sight in many parts of the country. Recently, however, it has been announced that Russia will be preparing for the construction of the country’s first biofuel (more…)