Socioecology Research Today

Lactic acid is an important commodity chemical that is mainly used in the food industry or for the manufacture of biodegradable plastics. A highly efficient strategy for the conversion of carbohydrates from biomass to lactic acid through alkaline hydrolysis in superheated water is presented. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201300092

Instead of burning waste wood treated with chromated copper arsenite (CCA) or disposing of it in landfills, the CCA-treated wood can be used as a raw material for the production of chemicals. Catalytic or alkaline oxidation together with very mild sulfuric acid extraction produces an easily enzymatically hydrolyzable material. Usage as a raw material for [...]

From the results of the attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) of the bioethanol-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC), shown in the first part of this work, changing the feedstock from fossil- to bioethanol-based ethylene appears to be a way to decrease the environmental impacts of that product on climate change and non-renewable resources. Although, other environmental concerns [...]

Upcoming bio-refineries will be at the heart of the manufacture of future transportation fuels, chemicals and materials. A narrow number of platform molecules are envisioned to bridge nature’s abundant polysaccharide feedstock to the production of added-value chemicals and intermediate building blocks. Such platform molecules are well-chosen to lie at the base of a large product [...]

Cost-effective production of optically pure lactic acid from lignocellulose sugars is commercially attractive but challenging. Bacillus coagulans C106 was isolated from environment and used to produce l-lactic acid from xylose at 50 °C and pH 6.0 in mineral salts medium containing 1–2% (w/v) of yeast extract without sterilizing the medium before fermentation. In batch fermentation [...]

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2013/03/20/zeal-optics-introduces-e-llume-the-worlds-first-bio-based-lens/ In Colorado, ZEAL Optics introduced the world’s first and only plant-based lens, at the International Vision Expo in New York City. ZEAL’s sunglass lens uses a plant-based bonding agent, thus replacing the petroleum-based bonder. Currently ZEAL produces all their sunglass frames with Z-resin, a plant-based material that uses castor oil, eliminating crude oil from [...]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C3NP20120A Natural products and related structures are essential sources of new pharmaceuticals, because of the immense variety of functionally relevant secondary metabolites of microbial and plant species. Furthermore, the development of powerful analytical tools based upon genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics and other 21st century technologies are greatly expediting identification and characterization of these natural products. [...]

http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/uga-discovery-may-allow-scientists-to-make-fuel-from-co2-in-the-atmosp/ The process is made possible by a unique microorganism called Pyrococcus furiosus, or “rushing fireball,” which thrives by feeding on carbohydrates in the super-heated ocean waters near geothermal vents. By manipulating the organism’s genetic material, Adams and his colleagues created a kind of P. furiosus that is capable of feeding at much lower temperatures [...]

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/biobased/2013/03/28/cell-o-core-uses-cereplast-compostables-resins/

Anellotech’s products will be profitable and priced competitively to their identical petroleum-derived counterparts. These excellent economics are achieved by performing the thermo chemical conversions in one processing step in a single fluidized bed reactor, using an economical, proprietary catalyst and non-food biomass feedstocks.The first application of the technology, Biomass to AromaticsTM (“BTA”) will produce “green” [...]