The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) is partnering with Lianhenghui Investment Co. to construct an algae production facility in Zhengzhou, China.

The facility will feature the center's novel photobioreactor technology for growing algae, which will produce fuels, nutraceuticals, and bioplastics. Lianhenggui is also constructing a second, smaller facility in Zhengzhou, which will use the same technology for the exclusive production of nutraceuticals.

Microalgae have attracted considerable interest as a high-yield renewable feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals. Algae have also been proposed as a way to capture and utilize power plant emissions, as photosynthetic algae can use the CO₂ in flue gas as a carbon source.

Clariant, a Swiss specialty chemicals producer, and Werner & Mertz (W&M), the producer of Frosch cleaning products, has launched a project which expands the possible applications of bioethanol.

Clariant's sunliquid cellulosic ethanol, made from agricultural residues such as straws, will be processed into detergents, cleansers and cleaning agents at W&M's facilities. The ethanol, also called bio-spirit, was supplied from Clariant's pre-commercial plant in Straubing, Germany.

"Bio-based chemicals from local straw, such as cellulosic ethanol, are truly sustainable and advanced active ingredients," said Andre Koltermann, head of the biotechnology group at Clariant.

Alcohol has been known for its grease and dirt-dissolving properties for decades, and through the use of cellulosic alcohol in cleaning products these properties are coupled with sustainable and environmentally friendly manufacturing.

Dong Energy UK is to build the world's first commercial full-scale plant to produce biogas from untreated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) using its new enzyme technology in Northwich, UK. The company will finance, build and operate the 120,000 tonnes per year plant, which is expected to be operational in 2017.

The plant will be the first bio-plant in the world to handle unsorted household waste, without prior treatment, using enzymes. The new technology, called REnescience, has been developed by DONG Energy and tested at a demonstration plant in Copenhagen since 2009. The design and planning of the waste to energy plant has been completed, and the site has been awarded planning permission.

The waste will be supplied by the UK waste management company FCC Environment, which already collects household waste in the Northwich region. According to DONG the REnescience plant will be able to receive unsorted household waste, which will be converted into biogas as well as recyclable plastics and metals through enzyme treatment. The biogas is converted to green power via gas engines.

DONG Energy said that it expects construction work to begin this month, with the plant being commissioned in early 2017.

The fungi from the genus Myceliophthora have a large set of enzymes targeting linkages in plant polysaccharides. Most of these have not been characterized, and their role in degradation is unknown. Utrecht University researchers, led by Maria Victoria Aguilar-Pontes, now used sexual crossing and screening in Myceliophthora heterothallica to identify specific enzymes associated with improved sugar beet pulp saccharification.

Two genetically diverse M. heterothallica strains, CBS 203.75 and CBS 663.74, were used to generate progenies. One progeny, named SBP.F1.2.11, had improved saccharification activity after growth on sugar beet pulp. Analysis of the progeny and parents showed that only 17 of 133 secreted enzymes were more abundant in progeny SBP.F1.2.11. One particular enzyme, named Axe1, was more abundant in the progeny. Supplementing Axe1 to the parent CBS 203.75 enzyme set improved release of xylose and glucose from sugar beet pulp.

Saccharification of sugar beet pulp was improved by supplementing enzyme mixtures with Axe1. Sexual crossing and selection of M. heterothallica was proven plausible as a strategy to improve enzyme mixtures for plant biomass degradation.

The Schizophyllum commune possesses a diverse array of degradative enzymes for cell wall breakdown and has a different mode of degradation compared to other fungal models. China Agricultural University researchers, led by Ning Zhu, analyzed the action of S. commune in comparison to other fungal models.

The enzymes derived from S. commune performed better than commercial enzymes from Trichoderma longibrachiatum in the hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. Analysis revealed that S. commune produced a higher diversity of carbohydrate-degrading enzymes acting on polysaccharide backbones and side chains. Multiple non-hydrolytic proteins related to enhancing polysaccharide accessibility were also identified in the S. commune.

The complex enzyme system of S. commune has significant potential for application in biomass saccharification. These discoveries will help reveal natural lignocellulose-degrading mechanisms, and advance the design of more efficient enzyme mixtures for the breakdown of lignocellulosic feedstock.

Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) have developed a new strain of yeast that could improve the efficiency of biofuel production from cellulosic biomass.

Quinn Dickinson, a research specialist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Wisconsin Energy Institute and GLBRC, and Jeff Piotrowski, a then GLBRC scientist, focused on ionic liquids, solvents that deconstruct different biomass into sugars but are toxic to microorganisms that ferment these sugars.

Using a technique called chemical genomics, Dickinson and Piotrowski engineered a yeast strain that could tolerate ionic liquids. They were able to understand the nature of toxicity of ionic liquids to yeast by identifying and studying genes in yeast that made it sensitive or resistant to ionic liquids.

Their findings helped them engineer a new yeast strain resistant to ionic liquids and with improved sugar conversion and biofuel production. The new strain could also lower the costs of making biofuels.

The technique they used, chemical genomics-guided bio-design, is also novel and has potential for future applications.