Wood

Use of briquettes and wood fuel to conserve energy.

Domespace is a new type of housing entirely made of wood it can rotate automatically or manually (remote control) to follow the sun. Its geometry and conception turn it positive in terms of energy offer and demand ratio. Due to its shape it resists to 280 km per h winds and is anti-seismic.

North Carolina State University is seeking an industry partner to commercialize a novel method for the ionic liquid based pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials for biofuel production. US Patent No. 8182557 has issued on this technology.Ethanol is gaining in popularity as an alternative fuel and is currently primarily made from the starch in kernels of field corn. However the use of corn as a starting material is a severe limitation since corn is a valuable food source.

A researcher at the University of California Davis working in cooperation with an outside collaborator have developed a multi-stage process and system for treating organic waste materials. This process produces a high-quality compost derived from food waste and other organic materials while avoiding the environmental problems of traditional composting methods such as emissions of odors volatile organic compounds and other noxious gases.

Background: Methods to produce bioethanol from cornstarch or sugarcane are inadequate to meet the global demand for renewable fuels. To be sustainable biofuel production should rely on abundant cheap inedible lignocellulose – like switchgrass corn stover wheat straw wood chips and waste paper. However lignocellulose is a complex material made of cellulose wrapped by tough hemicellulose and lignin. For this reason lignocellulose is more difficult than starch to break down and convert (hydrolyze) into fermentable sugars.

Background: The cellulose found in abundance in wood grasses and other plant matter (biomass) is a rich largely untapped sugar source for ethanol production. Cellulose is a polymer of hundreds to thousands of glucose units that is ubiquitous in plant cell walls. The cellulase family of enzymes has been exploited to break cellulose down into glucose for use as a feedstock in bioethanol production. The nature of cellulose in biomass poses a number of challenges to attaining high glucose yield.

A technology involving generation of light by a cuboid metallic box lit with a drum containing wood charcoal generated from burning wood in the cuboid metallic box. It burns out in 12 hours.

Genetic optimization of biomass is necessary to improve the rates and final yields of sugar release from woody biomass. Areas that would benefit from genetic optimization include growth rate environmental stress tolerance yields of easily fermentable polysaccharides total lignin content lowering biomass recalcitrance to fermentation and wood density. Successful application of biotechnology requires both gene discovery and a proper means for gene expression control.

The concern about the effective use of the unused wood biomass from energy security or a perspective of CO2 reduction is increasing. The knowledge corresponding to the multi-energy supply which paired the biological oil manufacture technology from the woody biomass by rapid thermal cracking gasification and biological oil-ization is held. (The level of practical use is reached by joint research with a plant manufacturer.) In addition it owns the knowledge about the circulation and storage corresponding to the properties of biological oils flammability etc.

Background: Eastern cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) that are suitable for planting in Iowa that produce increased biomass have been developed at Iowa State University. Technology Description: Fast growing trees such as aspen cottonwood and eucalyptus can be grown as so-called short rotation crops and have potential to be used as a source of woody biomass for the production of biofuels such as wood pellets and cellulosic ethanol.