February 1, 2007

Biopact: February 2007 Digest

Biopact Blog writes many stories that are relevant to the study of BIOstock, BIOconversion, BIOoutput, and BIOwaste.

Rather than summarize and reprint excerpts from this excellent source of information, a breakdown of each month's most relevant titles is provided in one updated article...

BIOstock...
Eyes in the sky: ESA images forests in 3-D to analyse biomass
Net energy of biofuels made from crops grown in the North comes at a high cost - study
Green giant Russia to produce 1 billion tons of biomass for exports
China to develop energy forests the size of England
Valencia to make ethanol from orange peels
Florida grants US$ 1 million to study cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane bagasse

BIOconversion...
BP selects Berkeley and partners for US$500 million energy biosciences institute
Can you tackle global warming? Play the Climate Challenge game to find out
U.S. to import biofuels from Brazil, Panama
DuPont outlines commercialisation strategies for biobutanol, cellulosic ethanol
Quick comparison of renewable energy and fossil fuel prices

BIOoutput...
Scientists propose cold storage of CO2
MIT scientists look at saline aquifers for CO2 storage
The bioeconomy at work: methane storage tanks for cars made from corn cobs
Going negative: carbon-burial test will monitor leaks
Capturing carbon with "synthetic trees" or with the real thing?
Climate change heating up China faster than rest of the world - report
Fuel Cell Energy signs 10-year manufacturing & distribution agreement for its biofuel capable fuel cells in South Korea
EU opens public consultation on carbon capture and storage
EU seeks to force transport CO2 rules on trade partners

2 comments:

harshad said...

I have been a researcher in biofuels since last 5 years...Looking at the overall scenario concerned with bioethanol prospects,investments by governments and the industry for R and D , i get a feeling, that the whole thing is standing at the edge and waiting for a single development "cellulose to ethanol". Any comments on this....by anybody out there

C. Scott Miller said...

There are numerous biofuel directions being pursued at the same time. Some involve making sugar fermentation more carbon efficient, some involving BioOil and biodiesel, some producing bioproducts other than ethanol. But you are right - there is a tremendous level of anticipation about cellulose to ethanol that didn't exist two years ago.

The recent DOE awards of matching funds for 6 commercial scale deployments is a bellweather of how far we have come and an indication that the DOE thinks the scientific development is investment worthy. Within this field there are many processes under consideration and they all deserve federal and state support to move forward - both monetarily and through policy reform.

There will be no significant progress made on commercial-scale technologies without deployments. The next few years are really going to be interesting particularly if we fast-track it.