South Korea's TN Energy has entered into an agreement with Lao State Fuel to set up a joint venture (JV) to produce Power Gasoline-branded bioethanol fuel.

The joint venture, to be called Lao K-tech, will be established at Dongphosy village in Hadxaifong district, Vientiane, Laos. In the first year, the companies will survey areas for growing feedstock, namely cassava and sugarcane. The partners are planning to grow 40% of their feedstock, while the rest will be bought from local farmers. Some other feedstocks will be imported from Korea during the first or second year of production.

TN Energy expects to produce 1.2 million litres of Power Gasoline a month once the project is up and running. In turn, Lao State Fuel will be responsible for allocating locations and storage space as well as finding markets to sell the product.

United Airlines will use Honeywell Green Jet Fuel to power 12,500 flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco as part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The fuel for the flights was produced by AltAir Paramount using Honeywell UOP's proprietary renewable jet fuel process technology, which converts non-edible animal fats and oils into renewable fuels. The process is fully compatible with existing equipment commonly used in today's refineries, making it easier for refiners to use existing infrastructure to produce renewable fuels.

United will fly on a blend of 30% renewable jet fuel and 70% petroleum fuel, and the company will purchase 15 million gallons of renewable jet fuel from AltAir over a three-year period.

High-school science teacher Ross McCurdy is planning the first transcontinental flight using aviation biofuel in a certified light aircraft. McCurdy will launch from North Central Airport near Providence, Rhode Island, in a Cessna 182 to fly 2,500 nautical miles to Santa Monica, California.

Along the way, McCurdy will host events to promote clean energy, aviation and science education. His 12-year-old son will accompany him on the trip, along with several other pilots who will join for portions of the flight.

The fuel, a 50-50 mix of biofuel, made from used cooking oil, and Jet A will fuel the Cessna 182's SMA aviation diesel engine. This engine is also 30 to 40 percent more efficient than the avgas-burning stock engine it replaced.

The large surplus of crude glycerol, the main waste in biodiesel production, has led to the search for possibilities for the production of value-added chemicals from this feedstock. However, new and efficient catalysts are needed to convert glycerol to versatile chemical building blocks.

Scientists, led by Thiemo Zambanini of the RWTH Aachen University in Germany, reports on the efficient synthesis of malate, a building-block chemical that can be used for the production of bio-degradable polymers from glycerol using Ustilago trichophora TZ1. Using adaptive laboratory evolution, the growth and production rate of the strain were increased. Further medium optimization increased the final titer, yield, and overall production rate.

The results obtained verify that U. trichophora TZ1 is a promising microbial host for malate production from crude glycerol. Since this production process uses an industrial waste as substrate, it greatly contributes to a sustainable bioeconomy.

A team of researchers from Japan's Tohoku University has developed a new method for the pretreatment of biomass, which could lead to more efficient production of biofuels. Pretreating biomass improves the formation of sugars that are used to develop biofuels. However, current pretreatment processes are not always efficient.

The new method involves crushing the leaves and stalks of maize plants and placing the resulting powder in a solution of sodium percarbonate (SP). The product is then passed through a hydrodynamic (HD) cavitation system. As the product passes through a constriction in the system, bubbles form and then collapse due to a pressure change. This "cavitation", the formation, growth and subsequent collapse of microbubbles, produces high, localized energy that disintegrates the cellulose fibers.

The team previously developed a pretreatment system that uses ultrasonic (US) energy to SP-treated biomass. This also results in cavitation. The team then compared the efficiency of HD-SP and US-SP systems. The HD-SP system was found more efficient than the US-SP system.

Lignin-derived phenolic compounds are universal in the hydrolysate of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. These phenolics reduce the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis and increase the cost of ethanol production. Tianjin University researchers led by Lei Qin investigated inhibition of phenolics on cellulase during enzymatic hydrolysis. The team used vanillin as the typical lignin-derived phenolics and Avicel as cellulose substrate.

As vanillin concentration increased, cellulose conversion after 72-h enzymatic hydrolysis decreased from 53 to 26%. Enzyme deactivation and precipitation were detected with the vanillin addition. The enzyme concentration and activity consecutively decreased during hydrolysis. Inhibition was also found to be mitigated by increasing cellulose loading or cellulase concentration.

The degree of inhibition showed linear relationship with vanillin concentration and exponential relationship with the cellulose loading and cellulase concentration. Temperature and pH also showed no significant impact on inhibition degree. The presence of hydroxyl group, carbonyl group, and methoxy group in phenolics also affected the inhibition degree.