Microbial factories: Researchers harness bacteria to produce energy, clean up...
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the search for answers to the planet's biggest challenges, some MIT researchers are turning to its tiniest organisms: bacteria.
View ArticleMembrane breaks through performance barrier
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have developed a new method for creating high-performance membranes from crystal sieves called zeolites; the method could increase the energy efficiency of chemical...
View ArticleResearchers boost production of biofuel that could replace gasoline
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles.
View ArticleSugar-hungry yeast to boost biofuel production
Engineering yeast to transform sugars more efficiently into alcohols could be an economically and environmentally sound way to replace fossil fuels, say scientists presenting at the Society for General...
View ArticleFuel-producing Geobacter receives support from new research grant
(PhysOrg.com) -- Last week, the US Department of Energy awarded $106 million to 37 projects to support the development of advanced energy technologies. One of the promising projects is Geobacter, named...
View ArticleNew technique improves efficiency of biofuel production
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional...
View ArticleMicrobial breakthrough impacts health, agriculture, biofuels
For the first time ever, University of Illinois researchers have discovered how microbes break down hemicellulose plant matter into simple sugars using a cow rumen bacterium as a model.
View ArticleTurning bacteria into butanol biofuel factories
(PhysOrg.com) -- While ethanol is today's major biofuel, researchers aim to produce fuels more like gasoline. Butanol is the primary candidate, now produced primarily by Clostridium bacteria. UC...
View ArticleResearchers engineer E. coli to produce record-setting amounts of alternative...
Researchers at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a way to produce normal butanol often proposed as a "greener" fuel alternative to diesel and gasoline --...
View ArticleE. coli metabolism reversed for speedy production of fuels, chemicals
In a biotechnological tour de force, Rice University engineering researchers this week unveiled a new method for rapidly converting simple glucose into biofuels and petrochemical substitutes. In a...
View ArticleNREL helps 'supersize' butanol production
The idea of "supersizing" is no longer embraced when it comes to what we eat. But when it comes to creating renewable fuels, supersizing can be a very good thing.
View ArticleLong-abandoned bacterial fermentation process converts sugar directly to diesel
A long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel fuel to replace the fossil fuels now used in transportation, University of...
View ArticleCost-saving measure to upgrade ethanol to butanol—a better alternative to...
Scientists today reported a discovery that could speed an emerging effort to replace ethanol in gasoline with a substantially better fuel additive called butanol, which some experts regard as "the...
View ArticleWater found to be an ideal lubricant for nanomachines
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam have discovered that machines just one molecule in size move far quicker if you add a 'lubricant' to their surroundings. To their surprise, water proved to...
View ArticleBoosting butanols role in the biofuel world
Butanol is the go-to industrial solvent for products such as lacquers and enamels, but it might also play a substantial role in the production of renewable fuels. Gallon for gallon, it has 30 percent...
View ArticleMore efficient way of converting ethanol to a better alternative fuel
Ethanol, which is produced from corn, is commonly-used as an additive in engine fuel as a way to reduce harmful emissions and scale back U.S. reliance on foreign oil. But since ethanol is an oxygenated...
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