BiotechMashup

For centuries, seafarers were plagued by wood-eating gribble that destroyed their ships, and these creatures continue to wreak damage on wooden piers and docks in coastal communities. But new research is uncovering how the tiny marine isopod digests could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.

Taking a cue from Mother Nature, researchers have undertaken a first-of-its-kind study of a naturally occurring phenomenon in trees to spur the development of more efficient bioenergy crops. Tension wood, which forms naturally in hardwood trees in response to bending stress, is known to possess unique features that render it desirable as a bioenergy feedstock. Although individual elements of tension wood have been studied previously, the team is the first to use a comprehensive suite of techniques to systematically characterize tension wood and link the wood's properties to sugar release.

An architecture professor with an architecture student has designed a network of modular floating docks to harness clean energy for New York City. According the the designers, the tidal action of New York City rivers would be strong enough to run the system. The docking stations would plug into the conventional piers of New York City. Eventually, the piers would be extended further into the river to optimize clean energy generation while increasing public green space and tidal pools for wildlife.

Researchers have discovered key plant enzymes that normally make the energy stored in wood, straw, and other non-edible parts of plants difficult to extract. The findings can be used to improve the viability of sustainable biofuels that do not adversely affect the food chain.

(University of Washington) Pacific Northwest trees harvested sustainably can both remove existing carbon dioxide from the air and help keep the gas from entering the atmosphere in the first place. That's provided wood is used primarily for such things as building materials, instead of cement and steel, and secondarily that wood wastes are used for biofuels.

(Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have discovered key plant enzymes that normally make the energy stored in wood, straw, and other non-edible parts of plants difficult to extract. The findings, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can be used to improve the viability of sustainable biofuels that do not adversely affect the food chain.

Marine pest species costing billions in damage to fisheries, coastal communities and infrastructure are spreading as the world's shipping nations continue to largely neglect bringing into effect an international treaty setting out requirements for consistent handling and treatment of ships' ballast water, according to new report.

(DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Tension wood, which forms naturally in hardwood trees in response to bending stress, is known to possess unique features that render it desirable as a bioenergy feedstock.

(Delft University of Technology) Researchers from TU Delft in the Netherlands discovered that the bacterium Cupriavidus basilensis breaks down harmful by-products which are produced when sugars are released from wood. They also managed to incorporate the degradation process in bacteria which are in common industrial use. This breakthrough does away with the need to resort to costly and environmentally unfriendly methods for removing by-products, thereby boosting the appeal of waste wood as a sustainable resource for biochemicals and biofuels.