News release: http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2013/08/video-chemocatalysis-to-unlock-biofuel-from-wastes.html

Additional info: http://www.catchbio.com/about_catchbio

In Netherlands, the Catalysis for Sustainable Chemicals from Biomass (CatchBio) project has published a video explaining how science and industry are collaborating to develop catalytic reactions for making biofuels, chemicals and pharmaceuticals from waste.

CatchBio involves 21 partners including Dutch universities, research institutes and industries working in the field of catalysis research, as well as key industrial key players and specialised small and medium enterprises. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has bankrolled the project to finance half of its €29 million budget. The other half is financed by all the industrial and academic partners.

At the heart of chemocatalysis technology is a catalyst that transforms one molecule into different targeted molecules. CatchBio researchers claim to have developed a cheap and effective way of using catalysts to break down the structure of cells in lignocellulosic wastes like wood and stubble and transform the feedstocks into products of a much higher value, such as biofuel.

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News article: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=4&aid=408&dir=2013/August/Monday12

In Botswana, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has donated $233,000 worth of equipment in support of a five-year research project seeking to produce biodiesel from Jatropha curcas plants.

The donation includes laboratory equipment and a weather station. The country is currently doing a research on jatropha production despite some challenges in the growing conditions.

The research project is part of a grand plan to set up a jatropha oil seed-fed processing plant that will produce 50 million liter per year of biodiesel to help reduce the country's dependence on oil imports and to curb greenhouse gas emissions while creating job opportunities.

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Journal reference: http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/pdf/1754-6834-6-116.pdf

Bioprocess engineering researchers from the Technical University of Denmark have reduced the required temperature for hydrothermal pretreatment of wheat straw using a pre-step process that allows the production of organic acids to preserve straw residue.

Production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass like wheat straw requires a pretreatment process based on hydrothermal principles of high temperatures (170 to 220 degrees Celsius) in aqueous solution, which is the most energy intensive and most expensive step in biomass conversion.

The Danish research group reported in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels the beneficial effect of wheat straw ensiling, a well-known method of forage preservation via production of organic acids, as a pre-step process to pretreatment. The group's study sought to subject the wheat straw to 4-week ensiling facilitated by the addition of xylose and lactic acid bacteria for production organic acids prior to hydrothermal pretreatment. Results showed evidences of polysaccharide preservation with ensiling. Data on sugar yield after enzymatic breakdown of the solid fractions from ensiled and non-ensiled wheat straw showed the significant positive efect of ensiling, especially at the lower temperatures of 170 and 180 degrees Celsius.

The group concluded that ensiling potentially enables a considerable reduction in energy consumption during hydrothermal pretreatment of wheat straw, thereby making the production of biofuels from these materials more economically viable.

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News release: http://www.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/topics/2013/20130814-1.html

Journal reference:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066483

A research group at The University of Tokyo's Faculty of Agriculture has found a way to grow the microalga Botryococcus braunii in culture making it possible to harness the large amounts of hydrocarbons that it can produce as raw materials for biofuel production.

B. braunii has been a target of research with potential application in biofuel production owing to its ability to efficiently accumulate hydrocarbons. Conventional way of recovering these valuable hydrocarbons generally requires pretreatment steps such as drying or heating of wet algae followed by extraction using organic solvents.

The Japanese research group reported in the open-access journal Plos One that more than 90 percent of the accumulated hydrocarbons in B. braunii could be readily extracted without such pretreatments. The group accomplsihed this by simply mixing intact wet algal culture with an organic solvent after culturing the freshwater alga in media with a salinity corresponding to 25 percent seawater for a certain period.

Continuous recovery of hydrocarbons from B. braunii maintained in the media can prevent the problem of contamination associated with conventional large-scale extraction system and potentially reduce the energy and cost required for hydrocarbon production.

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News article: http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/New_possibilities_for_efficient_biofuel_production_999.html

Journal reference (paid subscription is required for full access): http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/08/14/science.1241602.full

An international collaboration of scientists has identified a new enzyme that has a major role in the biosynthetic pathway of lignin, providing a new opportunity to greatly increase the efficiency of conversion of biomass to biofuels.

Lignin is a tough polymer in plant cell walls that limits the access to cellulose trapped within the plant biomass. Prior to conversion of cellulose to glucose molecules which can be fermented into fuel, the lignin barrier has to be removed by means of a harsh and energy-consuming pretreatment process. Thus, plants with lower amount of lignin or with lignin that is easier to break down can be an advantage in biofuel production.

Scientists from VIB and Ghent University (Belgium), the University of Dundee (UK), the James Hutton Institute (UK) and the University of Wisconsin (USA) have identified the new enzyme in the lignin pathway as caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE). Using Arabidopsis thaliana plants, the team performed a functional analysis of CSE through a gene knock-out approach. Plants with knocked out cse gene exhibited 36 percent less lignin per gram of stem material.

The new study published online in Science Express also found an altered structure for the remaining lignin in the modified Arabidopsis plants. As a result, the direct conversion of cellulose to glucose from non-pretreated plant biomass increased four-fold in cse-deficient plants.

The new insights from this research can be used to screen natural populations of bioenergy crops for a non-functional cse gene or to genetically engineer the expression of cse in these crops.