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Archive for the ‘Climate’ Category

Adding Value to Biofuel Waste

Posted in Climate, Plants, tagged , , on 06/09/2014|

Screen shot 2014-06-09 at 3.47.19 PMWhat do you get when you cross E. coli with biofuel waste products?  A new process that may revolutionize the economic development of the growing biofuel industry.

Biofuels represent the best sustainable, secure, and renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Unfortunately, biofuel production is beset by the same problem as traditional petroleum refining – excess waste. In traditional refining, only about 60 percent of the crude oil becomes gasoline, the rest is used to make other products. Similarly, as biofuel production increases, the market is being flooded with its waste byproducts, specifically glycerin, also known as glycerol.

Glycerin is cheap and abundant in the current marketplace. Although there are many potential uses for the substance, it is difficult to break it down into products with greater economic value.

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Trees: A Poplar Source for Biofuels

Posted in Climate, Plants, tagged , , on 06/09/2014|

There is no simple solution to the energy problem. Crops, such as corn, compete with the food supply. Poplars and other trees could provide a sustainable alternative for ethanol production; however, they require costly pretreatment before processing into ethanol. Researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have identified a potential solution to the problem.

Currently, the ethanol industry provides about four billion gallons of ethanol to the fuel market, which is expected to grow. Developing a process that effectively makes ethanol from cellulose derived from different types of plant biomass, particularly wood, remains difficult due to one significant barrier. The barrier is known as lignin.

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Scientists Examine the Impact of Increased Carbon Dioxide on Plants

Posted in Climate, Plants, tagged , , on 06/09/2014|

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is believed to raise global temperatures. In the past 200 years, carbon dioxide has increased by 35 percent. Scientists are working with natural resource managers to better understand how plants respond to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide to maximize plant productivity.

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Oh Dusty, Dusty Earth

Posted in Climate, Geology on 02/23/2010|

New satellite images suggest that the Earth is getting dustier. Well, not necessarily, chimed in Dan Muhs of the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists increasingly turn to satellite images to track dust plumes in the atmosphere.

“The ability to monitor dust plumes is better now than in the past. This new information gives us a better appreciation of atmospheric dust,” said Muhs.

And it is important to study dust, because it is, in the words of Karen Kohfeld of Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Canada, the great communicator of the Earth System. “Dust links the land, air and sea system,” said Kohfeld.

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