Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

If energy crops are to replace fossil fuels as source for heat, power or vehicle fuel, their whole production chain must have higher energy output than input. Industrial hemp has high biomass and energy yields. The study evaluated and compared net energy yields (NEY) and energy output-to-input ratios (RO/I) for production of heat, power and [...]

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Labs have announced the completion of an ARPA-E sponsored  study comparing the relative gasification efficiencies of key scriptures from the world’s major religions as biomass feedstocks. The researchers gasified typical exemplars of the Bhagavadgita, the Analects of Confucius and the Tao (in one reversible volume), the Torah (with and [...]

Investors, and project owners that are getting financing completed for scale-up tell us about the 5 boxes that must be checked off before a project will be financed. FCP – the secret magic ingredient for success in bioenergy : Biofuels Digest

Zimbabwe’s Green Fuel suspends ethanol productionWednesday March 07 2012Green Fuel said it has halted production at its Chisumbanje, Zimbabwe ethanol plant as it was running out of storage space.The company said it sits on 10 mln litres of fuel ethanol and has sold 2 mln since last October. Zimbabwe’s Green Fuel suspends ethanol production

Here are a few notable projects. Turns out that researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center, located Caldicellulosiruptor obsidiansis, a naturally occurring bacterium, onsite at Yellowstone, Sure enough, it thrives at extremely high temperatures, breaks down organic material such as sticks and leaves in its natural environment, and scientists hope to transfer this [...]

The design of an ionic liquid that has the ability to dissolve cellulose has been attempted from the viewpoint of a cellulase. N,N-diethyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl)-N-methylammonium alanine ([N221ME][Ala]) is a good solvent for cellulose. Dissolution in [N221ME][Ala] converts the crystalline structure of cellulose from Type I to II, which is known to be a form easily digested by cellulases. [...]

In 2009, a team of chemists led by Johannes Lercher at the Technical University of Munich in Germany used a combination of a palladium catalyst and a phosphoric acid catalyst to upgrade bio-oil into fuel-grade hydrocarbons. While in 2010, chemists from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, US, led by George Huber, used a combination of a [...]