Japan develops cost-competitive way to make ethanol from farm waste

Reuters

 

TOKYO | Thu May 30, 2013 7:48am EDT

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Study provides insights into plant evolution

Biobased Digest
Tom Saidak
March 7, 2013   Read more

Grains Council: U.S. exports of DDGS to Japan hit record high

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Holly Jessen
December 31, 2012

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Japanese group plans to commercialize biohydrogen production

Biomass Magazine
By Erin Voegele
September 20, 2012

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Japan Eyes 6-Fold Increase in Use of Renewables by 2030

Utility Products

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Toyota to launch ethanol hybrid Prius in Brazil

equities.com
Kyodo News International, Inc.

TOKYO, July 31 -- (Kyodo) _ Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will launch the world's first hybrid vehicle that uses ethanol in Brazil later this year.

The Prius hybrid, with a fuel economy of 32.6 kilometers per liter, will be manufactured in Japan and exported to the country, the automaker said.

Noting that Brazil produces ethanol from sugar cane, Eiichi Tomizawa, Toyota's general manager of the Latin America and Caribbean division, said the combination of ethanol and hybrid vehicles can limit emissions even more than the current hybrid models.

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5 renewable energy trends to watch in 2012

GreenTech Pastures
By Heather Clancy March 13, 2012, 8:40am PDT

Summary: Advances in energy efficiency and grid-connected storage projects shape investments over the next 12 months, according to a new report from cleantech research firm Clean Edge.

Green technology and renewable energy research firm Clean Edge reports that the solar photovoltaic, wind power and biofuels markets grew 31 percent last year to reach $246.1 billion, despite the bad rap that renewable energy has been suffering since the Solyndra bankruptcy.

That’s one of the key findings in the firm’s “Clean Energy Trends 2012″ report. All three technology areas had a record year, according to Clean Edge. For example, solar installations grew by more than 69 percent from 15.6 gigawatts in 2010 to more than 26 gigawatts in 2011, largely due to rapidly decreasing solar technology costs. Last year was the largest year for wind power installations ever, reaching 41.6 gigawatts. (China alone has installed more than 40 percent of the global wind power capacity.)

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Joint U.S./Japan project for better biofuels

UC Davis Press Release
January 13, 2012

A better understanding of how algae can be used to make biofuels is the aim of a new joint project between UC Davis and the University of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of four new grants, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, to develop environment-friendly fuels and reduce pesticide use.

The four grants, totaling $12 million (960 million Yen), will be divided between the Japanese and U.S. laboratories. UC Davis’ share will be about $1.5 million over three years, with the possibility of renewal for another two years.

“These grants and this mutually beneficial partnership between UC Davis and the University of Tokyo will drive biofuel innovation for years to come,” said Congressman Mike Thompson (D-California). “Biofuels are not only good for our environment, they also reduce our dependency on foreign oil and help our economy by spurring green job creation.”

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Iowa State University and Noble Foundation Researchers Study Enhancing Oil Production in Plants

Biofuels Journal
Date Posted: December 9, 2011

Ames, IA—An Iowa State University research team is collaborating with scientists at the Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation and also with scientists in Japan to develop an international partnership to help make strides in the technologies needed towards a low-carbon society.

The research will look at the chemistry of basic processes in plants and how those functions can be better known and used.

"We are trying to better understand the biology (of plants) and make it a more predictable science in terms of predicting positive attributes," said Basil Nikolau, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology.

"With that information, we can manipulate (plants) to do anything you want."

One of the targets of the research is to allow scientists to alter plants so they produce more or better oils, or lipids.

These molecules are more efficient in storing energy than starch molecules.

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Biomass plants proposed to dispose of Fukushima Disaster Debris

IIFL
India Infoline News Service / 09:31 , Aug 12, 2011

The Forestry Agency noted that the earthquake and subsequent tsunami created 25 million tons of debris from houses alone, with roughly 70% of it wood and even excluding waterlogged debris there are still 5 million tons available.

Japan’s Forestry Agency is considering building biomass power plants that can use timber from the thousands of houses that were destroyed by the massive 11 March tsunami.

Senior vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries Takashi Shinohara said, "Initially, wooden debris will be used for power generation and when it becomes financially viable, wood thinned from forests will be used," Kyodo news agency reported.

The Forestry Agency noted that the earthquake and subsequent tsunami created 25 million tons of debris from houses alone, with roughly 70% of it wood and even excluding waterlogged debris there are still 5 million tons available.

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Coffee Grounds Give Jolt to Crippled Japanese Energy Grid

ABC News
By AKIKO FUJITA (@akikofujita)
TOKYO June 6, 2011

That daily cup of coffee is giving one of Japan's large thermal power plants an eco-friendly jolt. Sumitomo Metal Industries says it has begun using coffee grounds as biomass fuel to power its Kashima Steel Works plant in Japan, a first for a large power generating facility in the country.

Sumitomo Metal says biomass fuel generated from coffee grounds currently only amounts to 1 percent of the total amount of fuel used at the plant, but it hopes to gradually increase that number. The company plans to buy 12,000 tons of coffee grounds in the first year of the project.

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Biomass Power: Pillar of a New Japan?

Biomass Power & Thermal
By Anna Austin May 24, 2011

Recent events in Japan may fuel a new push toward renewable energy as the country reevaluates its energy portfolio.

In the wake of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant incident, a result of the massive earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated Northeastern Japan on March 11, the country’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that Japan will push toward more renewable energy—solar and biomass energy specifically—as pillars of a new Japan.


The road to achieving that goal appears to be long, as renewable energy in Japan has been slow to develop. In 2008, biomass, solar and wind combined accounted for about 1 percent of the renewable energy produced, most of which is generated from biomass heat. That same year, renewables accounted for about 4 percent of the country's total energy generation, compared to 11 percent in the U.S., or 40 percent in Sweden. Since then, the percent of renewbles has fallen to 2 percent.

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Not Just Fishing for a New Uses for DDGS

National Corn Growers Association

Sept. 20, 2010: In Japan, a recent distiller’s dried grains with solubles fish feeding trial proved that DDGS offer a viable alternative to high priced fishmeal rations in trout diets. The fish produced using U.S. DDGS were found to have equal or greater quality meat while produced with lower input costs. The U.S. Grains Council conducted the trial at a rainbow trout commercial aquaculture farm in the Aichi Prefecture in response to the rising cost of fishmeal, a high demand ingredient throughout Asia with limited supply.

Mr. Akio Yonehana of the Aichi Trout Farmers Cooperative Association presented the results at a DDGS seminar conducted in Tokyo and Sizuoka. The trial showed that trout farmers can lower feed cost per weight gain by at least 10 percent by replacing 15 percent of the fishmeal inclusion with the high protein U.S. DDGS. There was also no yellow-coloring in the muscles of the trout, showing whiter fish meat in the DDGS fed group.

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Japan research team finds new path from seaweed to ethanol

Biofuels Digest
August 18, 2010 Jim Lane

In Japan, scientists from Tohoku University and Tohoku Electric Power Co. have developed a more efficient way to produce ethanol from seaweed using natural yeast discovered by the group as well as a new fermentation method.

The technology will also help seaside power plants get rid of seaweed that is regarded as a nuisance, as it obstructs power generation operations by clogging intakes for power plant cooling water.

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Marubeni and Cargill Agree to Develop Carbon Emissions-Offset Projects

Bloomberg.com
By Stuart Biggs - Aug 17, 2010 1:28 AM CT

Marubeni Corp., Japan’s fourth- largest trading company, signed an agreement with Cargill Inc. to develop projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the company said in a statement today on its website.

Marubeni and Minneapolis-based Cargill, a food and agriculture company, will develop renewable energy, forestry, and biomass projects in developing countries to generate carbon offset credits, Marubeni said.

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Scientists Plan Algae ‘Alchemy’ to Turn Paddies Into Oil Fields

Bloomberg Business Week
April 19, 2010, 5:15 PM EDT
By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- As Japan’s rice fields turn fallow and its farming communities decline, a new army of workers is preparing to make the countryside fertile again. This time the crop is motor fuel and the laborers are microscopic algae.

At least 75 developers globally are studying algae, which has the potential to generate more energy per hectare than any other crop used for making fuel, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The technology has attracted the U.S. Department of Energy and big oil including Exxon Mobil Corp., which plans to spend as much as $600 million on research over five years.

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USGC: Japanese DDGS Pelleting Team Follows U.S. Corn From Seed to Feed

Grainnet.com
Date Posted: May 6, 2009

This article is reprinted from the April 30 USGC Global Update

The U.S. Grains Council sponsored a Japanese distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) pelleting team to the Midwest recently to educate end-users on quality pellet production and its use in feed rations.

According to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, Japan imported 198,000 metric tons of U.S. DDGS in 2008, an increase of 114,000 tons from 2007.

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Researchers produce hollow carbon particles from biomass

nanowerk.com
Posted: March 3, 2009

(Nanowerk News) Katsumi Kamegawa, the Biomass Refining Technology Team, the Biomass Technology Research Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), has developed a new method for producing ultra-lightweight hollow carbon fine particles (diameters ranging from several nanometers to several tens of micrometers) from lignin, which is a byproduct obtained in large quantities during the manufacture of paper or bio-ethanol, and inorganic salts.

Global warming and depletion of oil reserves are issues of global concern; hence, it is desirable to use biological resources in place of fossil resources such as oil. It is noteworthy that almost 7 million tons of lignin, which is a biological resource (biomass), is produced as a byproduct of paper manufacturing in Japan every year, and is generally burnt as waste.

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Development of Biomass Charcoal Combustion Heater for Household Utilization

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research

Development of Biomass Charcoal Combustion Heater for Household Utilization
Abstract Full Text HTML: Hi-Res PDF[1467 KB] PDF w/ Links[442 KB]
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Abstract
In the present work a prototype powdered biomass charcoal fired heater with a heat output of 6 kW is designed and developed so that a new powdered charcoal market can be initiated to enhance greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction through massive biomass utilization. The combustion heater was designed based on the concept of charcoal combustion in a thin bed cross-flow (TBCF) mode, where a very thin uniform bed of charcoal is fixed by air flow on the wall of a cylindrical chamber with an air-penetrable wall. The distinct advantage of using such a thin bed cross-flow is low fuel inventory and good air−fuel contact, resulting in fast startup/shutdown and low CO emissions in the exhaust gases. Fundamental data for realizing such a combustion heater are presented, and the performance characterization of the thus manufactured heater is investigated. The combustion heater was characterized for charcoal prepared from Japanese oak (Quercus serrata) and from several waste biomass sources, such as a pruned apple branch and charcoal formed from spent coffee waste and soybean fiber. For wood charcoal the heater’s thermal efficiency was about 65−86%, and for waste biomass charcoal species it was found to be in the range of 60−81%. When the combustion heater was operated at the stable combustion mode, the CO concentration in the exhaust after the flue gas passed through catalyst was less than 5 ppm.

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Japan's Suzuki Motor to launch 100 pct ethanol cars in U.S., Brazil - report

TradingMarkets.com
Sunday, August 17, 2008; Posted: 06:25 PM

TOKYO, Aug 18, 2008 (Thomson Financial via COMTEX) -- SZKMF Quote Chart News PowerRating -- Japanese car maker Suzuki Motor Corp plans to develop cars that run completely on bioethanol fuel and release them in South America and the United States in around 2010, the Nikkei reported at the weekend, without citing sources.

As a first step, the company plans to begin selling in Brazil and elsewhere a passenger car fuelled by a gasoline-bioethanol mixture that is 25 percent bioethanol by the end of March, the business daily said.

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