According to a statement released by Evogene, the impetus behind establishing the subsidiary is due to the need for diversifying feedstock supply to fulfill worldwide demand of biodiesel, which currently relies mainly on edible oils such as soybeans and canola.

Originally launched in 2007, Evogene’s biofuel activity targets the development of second-gen feedstocks to serve as sustainable, viable and cost-effective sources of oil for the burgeoning global biodiesel industry. In addition to its castor bean seed development and commercialization efforts, the company stated that it “intends to broaden its activity to additional potential feedstocks for the biodiesel, biojet and ethanol markets.”

“With the biofuel industry’s continued growth and tremendous demand for cost-competitive feedstock, there is a strong and immediate need for a solution based on designated second-generation seed products,” said Ofer Haviv, president and CEO of Evogene. “The establishment of Evofuel as a separate company strongly positions it to address this substantial unmet need. We are reinforced by the progress and results of our castor seed in Brazil and believe that access to Evogene’s leading plant genomics capabilities will provide Evofuel with commercial advantages and opportunities in relevant markets.”

The formation of Evofuel follows on the heels of Evogene successfully completing field trials for its advanced castor varieties in Brazil in cooperation with SLC Agricola S.A., a leading agribusiness firm in the country, which will be cultivated for biodiesel feedstock. Under the expanded agreement, Evogene and SLC Agricola intend to continue to evaluate Evogene’s castor varieties at its farm locations in Brazil. The goal is to identify the best performing varieties and agronomic practices suitable for commercial-scale production.

In addition to Brazil and Israel, field trials of castor been cultivars are also being conducted in the U.S.; most notably at Texas A&M University. Additional collaborators in the program include NASA and Honeywell’s UOP.

In mid-2010, Evogene announced that biobased jet fuel produced using its castor varieties met international standards for alternative aviation fuels. The testing was completed in collaboration with NASA and Honeywell’s UOP. Also in 2010, the company announced that a life-cycle analysis of biodiesel using its castor varieties demonstrated a 90 percent greenhouse gas reduction when compared to petroleum.BIODIESEL MAGAZINE.

Skies may be filled with algae.Bilal Bomani and salicornia in the Green Lab at NASA Glenn Research Center  In The Region: Scientists at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland may have tied the future of space exploration to sub-aquatic life. 

When it comes to energy, there’s always something new under the sun.  Except for solar power, which has always been under the sun.  NASA Glenn Researcher Bilal Bomani has been working on a process to use biofuel as an alternative energy source for commercial aviation.

Along with experiments involving everything from clean coal to bacteria, the plant Salicornia has emerged that produces an oil that can be refined into biodiesel.  It’s also robust.

“You know that hurricanes devastated Galveston, Texas.  When we went to Galveston, Texas, there was nothing there.  The oil fields were devastated, but we saw Salicornia all over the place!  It can actually help with the coast line, cause it has nice root structure, and Salicornia has very thick roots.”

Salicornia is also known as Pickleweed or Dwarf Saltwort. It’s flourishing far from the coast — in saltwater and sand tanks at NASA’s wind-turbine powered Green Lab near Cleveland-Hopkins airport.

“This is a green solution.  In order to be considered green you have to satisfy three metrics.  One, be alternative, and clearly this is alternative.  Two, be renewable, this is clearly renewable.  And three, be sustainable, and we have all three here.  That’s why this is called a green lab.  It’s completely sustainable.”

This entire process works without precious resources such as fresh water or arable land.  Even the fertilizer comes from an unlikely source: freshwater mollies, which can be climatized to saltwater in a matter of hours.

“They’re cheap, they love to have babies, and they love to go to the bathroom.  And that’s why we use them.  And so, all we have to do is basically is seed one of the tanks outside with 50 mollies, and now each one has over 300.  And that lab’s been in existence since 2009, November.”

Bomani holds degrees in mathematics and computer science from Cleveland State and Case Western, but his interest in fish led him to NASA.

“In college, I did not have a television, I had a fish tank.  In 2006, there was a meeting of the minds at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.  And they said ‘we need to think outside the box; we need to come up with something that’s dealing with saltwater.’  And that’s how they found me.  Actually it was Dr. Bulzan, we had a meeting, he was like ‘well, we’re looking into this, do you think you could do this?’  And I said ‘let me think for a minu- YES, I can do this’.”

As the fish do their thing, the Salicornia grows and eventually produces oil that is shipped to a company in Chicago.  OAP refines the oil into jet fuel, which is sent back to NASA Glenn for combustion testing in a DC-8.  So far, the fuel has all the required characteristics: high freezing temperature, light weight and “carbon neutrality,” which means the entire process of producing the fuel results in lower overall emissions.

David Pimentel of Cornell University, thought this sounded too good to be true.  He’s been skeptical of ethanol and soybean biodiesel for years.  His primary concern is how much labor, fertilizer, water and electricity it takes to make each kilocalorie of fuel?  Depending on how all of those costs are defined, theoretical prices for a gallon of algae-derived fuel range from 19 cents to $52.  And that’s one of the reasons Pimentel was skeptical of algae as well.

But he and fellow Cornell researchers investigated and are authoring a paper on the subject.  In their controlled environment, they were pleasantly surprised at their findings.

“We were getting 1.3 kilocalories per kilocalorie of input that we had in the system.  That’s still way and above ethanol production, better than biodiesel production.”

Pimentel’s group isn’t the only one studying algae biomass jet fuel.  Many of Bomani’s partners are right here in Ohio.

“In this area we do have some collaborators.  Obviously Cleveland State University, we have Toledo, we have OAI, we have Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Univenture, which is in Dayton area, we got Phi Cal which you may have heard of is here.  I would say there is an Ohio initiative.”

The Ohio Initiative, as he calls it, has even signed an agreement on alternative fuels with Governor Ted Strickland.

All of this assumes the greener jet fuel can be made on a scale that meets the country’s needs.

“If we had the land mass of the state of Maryland, and we had our algae and halophytes, we’d have enough fuel for the entire U.S.  It’s not as far off as you think.  We don’t have a lot of time, because by 2013, we need 400,000 gallons of this.”

If a former skeptic like Pimentel can be convinced, Bomani’s goal of 2013 doesn’t seem that far-fetched.

SOURCE: WKSU

Fruits of J. curcas. Fruits are produced terminally in the branches, and each fruit contains three seeds. Image credit: Dr. Wagner A Vendrame, University of Florida at Homestead.

 What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That’s what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station.

The experiment, National Lab Pathfinder-Cells 3, is aimed at learning whether microgravity can help jatropha curcas plant cells grow faster to produce biofuel, or renewable fuel derived from biological matter. Jatropha is known to produce high quality oil that can be converted into an alternative energy fuel, or biofuel(biodiesel).

By studying the effects of microgravity on jatropha cells, researchers hope to accelerate the cultivation of the plant for commercial use by improving characteristics such as cell structure, growth and development. This is the first study to assess the effects of microgravity on cells of a biofuel plant.

“As the search for alternate energy sources has become a top priority, the results from this study could add value for commercialization of a new product,” said Wagner Vendrame, principal investigator for the experiment at the University of Florida in Homestead. “Our goal is to verify if microgravity will induce any significant changes in the cells that could affect plant growth and development back on Earth.”

Launched on space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-130 mission in February, cell cultures of jatropha were sent to the space station in special flasks containing nutrients and vitamins. The cells will be exposed to microgravity until they return to Earth aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS-131 mission targeted for April.

For comparison studies of how fast the cultures grow, a replicated set of samples are being maintained at the University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead.

“Watching the space shuttle go up carrying a little piece of my work is an indescribable experience,” said Vendrame. “Knowing that my experiment could contribute to creating a sustainable means for biofuel production on Earth, and therefore making this a better world adds special value to the work.”   by Lori Meggs, AI Signal Research, Inc.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Source: Nasa