Cornell researchers see algae byproduct as prime animal feed

Biofuels Digest


Meghan Sapp | May 27, 2014
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Grant to study willow as promising bioenergy crop

R&D
By Cornell University
Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The commercialization of shrub willow as a bioenergy crop could be years closer, thanks to a $1.37 million grant that will allow Cornell researchers to take advantage of the newly mapped shrub willow genome to study hybrid vigor and yield.

Larry Smart, associate professor of horticulture, has partnered with Christopher D. Town, professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Rockville, Md., to study the genetics of superior growth in hybrids of shrub willow, a fast-growing, perennial cool-climate woody plant.

"Determining the precise genetic mechanisms that produce hybrid vigor has been a scientific challenge for a century," said Smart.

Unlocking those mechanisms and then developing simple techniques for finding the genetic fingerprint for hybrid vigor in parent species could cut the time it takes to identify promising progeny, Smart said. And time is money; for farmers to adopt a new crop like shrub willow -- and for companies to accept the end product -- they need assurance of long-term profitability before taking on the associated higher risk.

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Researchers upgrade ethanol to a better fuel

Phys.org
June 27, 2012 By Anne Ju

(Phys.org) -- At Cornell, researchers are turning beer into biofuel.

It's not the beer that's good to drink -- but fermentation broth, which is chemically identical to the imbibing beer, from which the fuel ethanol is produced.

Using a mixed bag of microbes for specific chemical reactions, biological engineers have designed a process for upgrading ethanol into something even better -- caproic acid, a carboxylic acid that's a versatile fuel precursor. If scaled up, their process could integrate seamlessly into already-established ethanol production lines.

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How to Create Effective Biofuels Public Policy

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Joanna Schroeder – January 21st, 2010

One of the biggest challenges for our country lies in the issue of how to create effective public policies that will grow the biofuels industry and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Dr. Antonio Bento, associate professor in the Applied Economics and Management Program at Cornell University, has been researching exactly how to do this and he shared his results during the AG CONNECT Expo last week.

First we must take a step back to take two steps forward. There are several policies in place that mandate the production of biofuels with the Energy Independence & Security Act having one of the greatest impacts. This act requires 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 with 15 billion coming from corn-ethanol. Bento noted that the country is well on its way to meeting this goal yet surprisingly, “While a lot of public press has blamed the increasing food prices due to these mandates, we find very little effect. Indeed, we find the bulk of the increase in food prices comes from the fluctuation in crude oil prices and our dependence on foreign oil, and less on the land we are devoting for the production of biofuels.”

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Univ. Turns Waste Into Renewable Energy

The Cornell Daily Sun
March 12, 2009 - 12:00amBy Jamie Meyerson

What began as an idea in an e-mail two years ago is now the The Cornell University Renewable Bioenergy Initiative, seeking to utilize everything from dining hall waste to animal manure in order to create renewable energy sources on campus.

Mark Hoffman, director of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, spearheaded this initiative, looking to keep Cornell committed to its sustainable efforts. According to Hoffman, Cornell oversees over 10,000 acres of land as a living laboratory that supports the research and teaching community. This land is also a rich source of biomass that can be converted into renewable biofuels.

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Trash Into Energy: University Unveils a Campus Renewable Bioenergy Initiative

newswire.com

Newswise — From trash to treasure: In a new Cornell University campus initiative, vegetable oil from dining hall fryers, animal bedding from campus barns, farm waste from university research, and other sources of biotrash will be transformed into fuels – for use on campus.

The Cornell University Renewable Bioenergy Initiative (CURBI) is an ambitious plan to use campus biomass resources to generate bioenergy. CURBI is a key component for the university’s Advanced Sustainability Action Plan and the Cornell Climate Action Plan – and may one day become a model at the state and national level.

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