Smoldering wood chips in oxygen-starved chambers will be used to generate steam heat for most of the buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The new energy-efficient process also provides a market for low-grade wood that loggers would otherwise leave on the forest floor, officials said. The cutting-edge biomass gasification plant replaces four worn-out boilers that [...]
U.S. Teams With India On Massive New Biofuel Project
The U.S. has just launched a five-year, $125 million alternative energy research project with India, aimed partly at developing biofuels from non-food crops. The biofuel project, funded by the Department of Energy and led by the University of Florida, has the goal of managing climate change and reducing U.S. dependence on petroleum products, and that [...]
DOE To Fund $15 Million To Research Biomass-Based Fuel Supplements
As part of President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources, the Energy Department announced last week up to $15 million available to demonstrate biomass-based oil supplements that can be blended with petroleum, helping the U.S. to reduce foreign oil use, diversify the nation’s energy portfolio, and create jobs for [...]
Obama Administration Announces New Funding For Biomass Research
As President Obama recently visited Ohio State University to discuss the Administration’s all-out, all-of-the-above strategy for American energy, the White House announced up to $35 million over three years to support research and development in advanced biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. The projects funded through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI), a joint [...]
Federal Agencies Implement Hundreds Of Renewable Energy Initiatives
Governmentwide, 23 agencies and their 130 sub-agencies reviewed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) implemented nearly 700 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010. The Departments of Defense (DOD), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), and the Interior were collectively responsible for almost 60% of all initiatives. The initiatives supported a range of renewable energy sources, [...]
Range Fuels Plant Sold For $5.1 Million
Officials of LanzaTech NZ Ltd., a closely held biofuels company based in Auckland, New Zealand and backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla, say it will convert a U.S. cellulosic ethanol plant it bought from Range Fuels Inc. to produce chemicals from biomass. LanzaTech is developing a process that uses proprietary microorganisms to convert carbon monoxide-containing gases [...]
Feds Plan To Liquidate Range Fuels Ethanol Plant
Federal officials who backed Range Fuels Inc., a Broomfield-based biofuel company, plan to liquidate its $100 million plant in Georgia, according to news reports. The Bloomberg news service reports that the Soperton, Ga. factory is to be liquidated after Range defaulted on a federal loan and failed to produce cellulosic ethanol, a fuel made from [...]
NFREC Developer Forced To Back Out Of Project
Rentech, Inc., the developer of the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center, has been forced to back out of the project, citing an inability to secure financing. The developer had hoped to secure a federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, but this summer the DOE put the term sheet for the loan guarantee [...]
U.S. Department Of Energy Releases ‘Billion-Ton’ Study
The U.S. Department of Energy recently released a report, the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry, detailing U.S. biomass feedstock potential nationwide. The report examines the nation’s capacity to produce a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital U.S. farm and forest [...]
Verenium Awarded DOE Funding
Verenium Corp., a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes, has been awarded an additional $4.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund ongoing activities at its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, Louisiana. This cooperative agreement is an extension of the grant previously awarded to the company in [...]