Energy
Arizona State University researchers have reengineered the genetics of cyanobacteria, producing mutant strains that continuously secrete fatty acids through their cell walls. The reprogramming has essentially turned the microbes into tiny biofuel production facilities.
By Introducing an enzyme called thioesterase into cyanobacteria researchers were able to coax them into overproducing fatty acids. Accumulation within the cells eventually caused these fatty acids to leak out through the cell membrane, through the process of diffusion.
The enzyme is able to uncouple fatty acids from complex…
E20 fuel, which blends 20 percent ethanol with gasoline, reduces the tail pipe emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, compared with traditional gasoline or E10 blends, according to a new study in the Journal of Automobile Engineering. In addition, the research found no measurable impact to vehicle drivability or maintenance in conventional internal combustion engines.
E20, the study's authors say, could be used to reduce overall vehicle emissions at a time when many states and the U.S. Department of Transportation are considering policies that would increase the ethanol percentage in…
In a paper appearing today in Science, Los Alamos researchers report that a newly discovered "loading-unloading" effect allows nanocrystalline materials to heal themselves after suffering radiation-induced damage. The discovery may eventually lead to much safer nuclear power plants.
Nanocrystalline materials are those created from nanosized particles, in this case copper particles. A single nanosized particle—called a grain—is the size of a virus or even smaller. Nanocrystalline materials consist of a mixture of grains and the interface between those grains, called grain boundaries.
When…
The process that lights up big-screen plasma TV displays could also help produce ultra-clean fuels, according to research presented this week at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
The research describes a small, low-tech, inexpensive device called a GlidArc reactor that uses electrically-charged clouds of gas called "plasmas" to produce clean fuels from waste materials. One is a diesel fuel that releases 10 times less air pollution than its notoriously sooty, smelly conventional counterpart.
"Low-tech and low cost are the guiding principles behind the GlidArc…
To make the bio-diesel from Calotropis Procera. I have searched a lot on internet and journals on this plant. I want to know that this plant is better than the Jatropha for this purpose. I wnat your help on this because I have a very few days left and I have to submit the plan. The first question possibly will be "Prove that Calotropis is better option then Jatropha. Question by Nitin Lahoti
My answer to the question to prove that Calotropis is better option is as below.
There are 5 main considerations in terms of a. Biomass production b. land availability,
c. cropping requirements d.…
Tree |
The US average wind speed is 12.5 mph.If you double the wind speed you increase power potential by times 8.If you double the diameter of your blades increase power potential by times 4. Last check on current average market prices I'd put solar at $10 (USD) per watt, wind at $1 per watt (if you buy rather than build, this is about why you should build). Those are some of the standard basics of wind electric generation. If I felt photovoltaic (aside from just assembly) was something I could build at home I'd likely write about that.Some background to the author of this blog:…
A new study in BioScience suggests that boosting use of maize-derived ethanol will increase greenhouse gas emissions and worsen the effects of climate change as a result.
The research focuses on how mandated increases in production of the biofuel in the United States will trigger land-use changes domestically and elsewhere. In response to the increased demand for maize, farmers convert additional land to crops, and this conversion can boost carbon dioxide emissions.
The analysis combines ecological data with a global economic commodity and trade model to project the effects of US maize…
Researchers from Kuwait University predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014 — almost a decade earlier than some other predictions.
The team explains that scientists have developed several models to forecast the point at which oil production reaches a maximum and then declines, and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models, called the Hubbert model, accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United States in 1970.
The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide.…
There are 5 specific groups working on biofuel and all with different meanings and purposes and ends.
First group is people like me who started working on biofuel when Professor Melvin Calvin found out that during second world war plants were used to obtain biofuel and he started the work at UC Davis California almost in 1973 or so follow by others However once the prices and crisis came down people forgot this work or tried to put is aside.
I belong to one who picked it up on his behest in India and followed it up right from 1980 with support from Govt of India , DNES, MNES and then DBT…
Introduction
This document reflects the response of FACT Foundation to the recently published report “Jatropha! A socio
‐economic pitfall for Mozambique”1, by Justiça Ambiental (JA) and União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC). The report describes the results of a study on Jatropha production in
Mozambique carried out in 2009. The study includes a literature survey, interviews during site visits to small communities and large plantation jatropha projects in South
‐ and Central Mozambique, and interviews with other individuals, including representatives from biofuel companies.
In…