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Making Use Of Biofuel Waste
10/10/2013 Making use of biofuel waste Yeast engineered to eat acetic acid Richard Jansen US RESEARCHERS have engineered a strain of yeast that will consume unwanted by-products made when plant stems and leaves are converted into biofuels. The team, based at the University of Illinois, says that discovery could improve the ethanol yield from lignocellulosic sources by as much as 10%. The yeast used to produce ethanol from lignocellulosic sources, Saccharomyces cerevisiae , is good at fermenting simple sugars – such as those found in corn kernels and sugarcane – to produce ethanol. However, coaxing the yeast into eating the stems and leaves is not so easy. Doing it on an industrial scale requires a number of costly steps, one of which involves breaking down hemicellulose, a key component of lignocellulose “If we decompose hemicellulose, we obtain xylose and acetic acid,” says Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Yong-Su Jin, who helped lead the research. “Xylose is a sugar; we can engineer yeast to ferment xylose,” he continues. “However, acetic acid is a toxic compound that kills yeast. That is one of the biggest problems in cellulosic ethanol production.” The researchers came up with a plan to deal with the waste after finding another organism – a bacterium – that consumed acetic acid. They isolated the genes responsible for the process, and began inserting them into the yeast. “One challenge with yeast is it has evolved to do one thing really well,” says Jamie Cate, from the University of California at Berkeley, who also helped direct the research. “When you start adding these new modules into what it’s already doing, it’s not obvious that it’s going to work up front.” “We sort of rebuilt how yeast uses carbon,” he adds. As well as those carrying out the conversion process, Jin claims that the breakthrough will also help those who focus on other steps in biofuels production. Plant geneticists and those involved in pretreatment can stop worrying about finding ways to eliminate acetic acid from lignocelluloses, for example. “Many people are curious about why we don’t have cellulosic biofuel right now,” he continues. “But it’s not because of one limiting step. We have many limiting steps in growing the biomass, storing, moving, harvesting, decomposing the biomass to the sugar, fermentation and then separation. “The advance that we are reporting involves one of those steps – fermentation. But it also will make other steps in the process a little easier.” Continue reading
Calculator Estimates Biomass Potential
Matthew Weaver Published: October 10. 2013 Matthew Weaver/Capital Press University of Washington research scientist and engineer Luke Rogers demonstrates use of the biomass calculator during a workshop Oct. 9 in Spokane. A biomass calculator is designed to help determine the amount of woody biomass available for potential biofuel development. University of Washington research scientist and engineer Luke Rogers says the tool helps determine the viability of bringing in a biofuel facility. The tool also indicates that the U.S. Forest Service needs to step up forest health efforts if they are to have an impact. SPOKANE — A new calculator can be used to estimate the amount of biomass materials available on forest lands. University of Washington research scientist and engineer Luke Rogers developed the calculator as part of the Washington Forest Biomass Supply Assessment in 2012. The calculator determines the amount of material that would be left over after a commercial timber harvest, Rogers said. That material is typically left behind or burned. Potential users include investors interested in building a new biomass facility or infrastructure like chippers to remove material from the forest land, policy makers supporting legislation to help the biomass industry and the DNR. The calculator shows that if the U.S. Forest Service doubles or triples its current program to treat federal forest lands in Washington, it could “substantially resolve” the majority of forest health issues on eligible lands by 2025 or 2030, Rogers said. “The existing program of treating about 6,000 acres a year doesn’t ever get us to the point where we’ve tackled the majority of forest health issues,” he said. “There needs to be some more aggressive treatments going on in order to get us there any time soon.” The calculator is meant for a watershed scale or larger. It has less use for private landowners, Rogers said, because it’s impossible to model individual landowners and their specific operations. But the tool could be useful to a group of landowners interested in developing a new industry on a countywide or watershed-wide basis. Rogers said landowners could compare the cost of the current practice of burning slash piles, including obtaining air quality permits, to bringing in somebody to take the material to a biofuel facility. “Even if you had to pay to have somebody come in and do that, and it was less than you’re paying now to get your air quality permits and pay to burn, that would be a win as well,” Rogers said. “There is a real opportunity for landowners to be able to change the way they do business and provide a product, rather than carbon into the atmosphere and smoke.” He sees the calculator as a good start toward understanding the floor-source biomass available in Washington. Future companion tools could be expanded to hardwood biofuels, such as planting short-rotation poplars, and all agricultural, municipal or construction wastes as feedstock for biofuels. Online http://wabiomass.cfr.washington.edu – See more at: http://www.capitalpress.com/article/20131010/ARTICLE/131019987#sthash.W6RmmWse.dpuf Continue reading
Biomass-To-Activated Carbon Research Receives $45,000 Grant
Taylor Scott International News Taylor Scott International Taylor Scott International, Taylor Scott Continue reading
