The Energy Department will invest a total of $78 million to fund early-stage bioenergy research and development projects. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement  that DOE seeks to improve the conversion of algae, energy crops and various waste streams into biofuels, biopower and bioproducts through the four new funding opportunities. DOE will award up to $28 million under the BioEnergy Engineering […]

Reducing carbon emissions in order to prevent climate change requires developing new technologies for sustainable and renewable biofuel production. Molecular hydrogen is regarded as one of the most promising energy carriers due to its high energy density and clean, carbon-free use. A research group from the University of Turku, Finland, has discovered an efficient way […]

Hydrogen might burn clean, producing only water as a by-product, but currently over 90% of the hydrogen produced in the US comes from fossil fuels. Although algae can produce hydrogen using photosynthesis, it was believed that this only occurred for a few minutes at dawn, resulting in limited amounts of the gas. However, tests by […]

Researchers at NREL have taken a page from the petroleum refinery (and the meat packing industry) to propose a multi-product algal biorefinery concept as a means to let no component of the microalgal biomass go to waste.  Using their expertise at compositional analysis and thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies, they have identified a number of new […]

A Colorado State University project to grow and harvest ocean macroalgae for biofuel production has received support from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). ARPA-E has poured over $22 million into their Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program, with the aim of establishing the U.S. as a leader in biofuel production. CSU Energy […]

ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics Inc.  announced a new phase in their joint algae biofuel research program that could lead to the technical ability to produce 10,000 barrels of algae biofuel per day by 2025. The new phase of research includes an outdoor field study that will grow naturally occurring algae in several contained ponds in California. […]

Cambridge scientists have edged closer to greener fuel cells by designing an algae-powered cell five times more efficient than existing plant and algal model. The model also offers the potential to be more cost effective and practical to use. The demand on energy is ever-increasing as the global population rises, and the threat of climate […]

For the last 10 years, scientists all over the world have been racing to figure out how to convert massive quantities of seaweed into biofuel. UConn Professor Charles Yarish is one of them.  The grant from the Department of Energy is $5.7 million, and will go to Yarish and colleagues at the University of Connecticut and […]

Miguel Arias Cañete, the European Union Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, has inaugurated the new phase in the All-Gas project in the El Torno treatment plant in Chiclana, Cadiz. Co-financed by the European Commission with the Seventh Framework Programme, the All-Gas Project aims to demonstrate the large scale production of biofuels and biogas based […]

Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Algoma Algal Biotechnology (AABT), a limited liability company (LLC) started through the research work at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO) in the US, for mutual transfer of knowledge and technology in the field of producing bio-fuel from micro-algae. The research team in MKU had identified certain […]

Changing the way the nation generates and consumes energy is at the heart of a new NSF grant awarded to Arizona State University and Kevin Redding, professor in the School of Molecular Sciences and director of the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis (CB&P). The goal of Redding and his research group is to obtain industrial […]

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have come up with a new method for production of biodiesel from microalgae, which they claim is low-cost and more effective. Elaborating on the research, professor BR Gurjar, head of centre for transportation systems of the institute said, “Microalgae are considered to be one of the […]

A Maine university is receiving more than $1.3 million in federal money to develop methods for the U.S. to become a leader at utilizing seaweed for uses such as energy. The U.S. Department of Energy is giving the money to the University of New England over three years. The award is part of a program called Macroalgae […]

Scientists from University of Tokyo are researching to use euglena, a type of microalgae found in fresh and salty water for food, fuel and pharmaceuticals. Euglena, during photosynthesis, produce certain oils or lipids that can be used as nutritional supplements and also as a potent biofuel. The oil from euglena is chemically similar to kerosene but […]

Researchers from the Cornell-affiliated Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and Texas A&M University have found an exciting new technology that may revolutionize the search for the perfect algal strain: algal droplet bioreactors on a chip. A single algal cell is captured in a tiny droplet of water encapsulated by oil and millions of algal droplets squeeze onto a chip about […]

Cars and trucks might one day run on biofuel made from seaweed with the help of two technologies being developed at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The two technologies are among 18 new projects receiving $22 million in funding from DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, also known as ARPA-E. The projects are […]

The United States Department of Energy has tasked the University of Toledo (UT) with finding a faster, cleaner process to produce fuel. UT was awarded nearly $2.4 million in federal grants to develop a way to turn algae into fuel without adding carbon dioxide. More

Scientists have successfully engineered algae that when starved for nitrogen, put most of their stored energy, into fats. These fats are chemically similar to hydrocarbons and are thus further processed into “biofuel”. However, this processing of fats into biofuel is not a straightforward process. Interestingly, researchers from France also found the solution to the problem from […]

Serbian scientists are leading a research project to develop the commercial production of biofuel from algae. The pioneering project is supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme and is carried out by Belgrade’s Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in cooperation with Manchester University in the United Kingdom and Baylor University in the […]

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology have created a catalyst for biofuel production from algae using sand from Rajasthan, nickel and cobalt that cuts the price of production to half of that of fossil fuel. Many catalysts use expensive rare materials such as Rhodium that push up the price of production. The researchers say […]

Scientists at Imperial College are working to produce biofuels from genetically modified algae. Though the team is experimenting with several genetically modified algae, their research will focus primarily on three types of algae – Cyanothece sp., Synechocystis sp, Chlamydomonas. Their idea is to produce three types of biofuels – Biohydrogen which is a clean transport […]

ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics have announced that they have achieved a breakthrough where it is possible to maximize lipid content and also increase the growth of algae under nutrient deprived conditions. Nannochloropsis gaditana is used industrially for the production of oil. It is possible to increase the lipid content of the microalgae by starving it […]

Synthetic Genomics and ExxonMobil have extended their agreement to conduct joint research into advanced algae biofuels after making significant progress in understanding algae genetics, growth characteristics and increasing algae production. Both the companies have been researching and developing oil from algae for use as a renewable alternative to conventional transportation fuel since the launch of […]

Scientists from Michigan State University have engineered Molecular Velcro into cyanobacteria, boosting this microalgae’s biofuel viability as well as its potential for other research. This research may improve the efficiency of harvesting algae as well as improve the artificial microbial communities for sustainable biofuel production. In the study, the team focused on surface proteins of […]

Scientists at Tel Aviv University has developed a new strain of super algae that emits five times more hydrogen than normal. The development could have huge implications for the shift to clean energy, as automotive giants like Hyundai and Toyota release hydrogen-powered vehicles. Algae creates hydrogen with the assistance of the enzyme hydrogenase, which is […]