U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Research Centers An Overview of the Science

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Languages : en
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U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Research Centers An Overview of the Science

U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Research Centers An Overview of the Science PDF Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
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Bioenergy Research Centers An Overview of the Science

Bioenergy Research Centers An Overview of the Science PDF Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Alternative fuels from renewable cellulosic biomass--plant stalks, trunks, stems, and leaves--are expected to significantly reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil while enhancing national energy security and decreasing the environmental impacts of energy use. Ethanol and other advanced biofuels from cellulosic biomass are renewable alternatives that could increase domestic production of transportation fuels, revitalize rural economies, and reduce carbon dioxide and pollutant emissions. According to U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, 'Developing the next generation of biofuels is key to our effort to end our dependence on foreign oil and address the climate crisis while creating millions of new jobs that can't be outsourced'. In the United States, the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 is an important driver for the sustainable development of renewable biofuels. As part of EISA, the Renewable Fuel Standard mandates that 36 billion gallons of biofuels are to be produced annually by 2022, of which 16 billion gallons are expected to come from cellulosic feedstocks. Although cellulosic ethanol production has been demonstrated on a pilot level, developing a cost-effective, commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel industry will require transformational science to significantly streamline current production processes. Woodchips, grasses, cornstalks, and other cellulosic biomass are widely abundant but more difficult to break down into sugars than corn grain--the primary source of U.S. ethanol fuel production today. Biological research is key to accelerating the deconstruction of cellulosic biomass into sugars that can be converted to biofuels. The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science continues to play a major role in inspiring, supporting, and guiding the biotechnology revolution over the past 25 years. The DOE Genomic Science Program is advancing a new generation of research focused on achieving whole-systems understanding for biology. This program is bringing together scientists in diverse fields to understand the complex biology underlying solutions to DOE missions in energy production, environmental remediation, and climate change science. New interdisciplinary research communities are emerging, as are knowledgebases and scientific and computational resources critical to advancing large-scale, genome-based biology. To focus the most advanced biotechnology-based resources on the biological challenges of biofuel production, DOE established three Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) in September 2007. Each center is pursuing the basic research underlying a range of high-risk, high-return biological solutions for bioenergy applications. Advances resulting from the BRCs will provide the knowledge needed to develop new biobased products, methods, and tools that the emerging biofuel industry can use. The scientific rationale for these centers and for other fundamental genomic research critical to the biofuel industry was established at a DOE workshop involving members of the research community (see sidebar, Biofuel Research Plan, below). The DOE BRCs have developed automated, high-throughput analysis pipelines that will accelerate scientific discovery for biology-based biofuel research. The three centers, which were selected through a scientific peer-review process, are based in geographically diverse locations--the Southeast, the Midwest, and the West Coast--with partners across the nation. DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory leads the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) in Tennessee; the University of Wisconsin-Madison leads the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC); and DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in California. Each center represents a multidisciplinary partnership with expertise spanning the physical and biological sciences, including genomics, microbial and plant biology, analytical chemistry, computational biology and bioinformatics, and engineering. Institutional partners include DOE national laboratories, universities, private companies, and nonprofit organizations.

U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Research Centers 10-year Retrospective

U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Research Centers 10-year Retrospective PDF Author:
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Category : Biomass energy
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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The DOE Bioenergy Research Centers

The DOE Bioenergy Research Centers PDF Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Over the past 7 years, the US Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research has funded three Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs). These centers have developed complementary and collaborative research portfolios that address the key technical and economic challenges in biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass. All three centers have established a close, productive relationship with DOE's Joint Genome Institute (JGI). This special issue of Bioenergy Research samples the breadth of basic science and engineering work required to underpin a diverse, sustainable, and robust biofuel industry. In this report, which was collaboratively produced by all three BRCs, we discuss the BRC contributions over their first 7 years to the development of renewable transportation fuels. In additon, we also highlight the BRC research published in the current issue and discuss technical challenges in light of recent progress.

U.S. Department of Energy's Genomics:GTL Bioenergy Research Centers

U.S. Department of Energy's Genomics:GTL Bioenergy Research Centers PDF Author: R. Orbach
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Category : Alcohol as fuel
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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U.S. Department of Energy's Genomics:GTL Bioenergy Research Centers

U.S. Department of Energy's Genomics:GTL Bioenergy Research Centers PDF Author:
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Category : Biomass energy
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Biological Research for Energy and Medical Applications at the Department of Energy Office of Science

Biological Research for Energy and Medical Applications at the Department of Energy Office of Science PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology (2007). Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Publisher:
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Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Bioenergy Research: Advances and Applications

Bioenergy Research: Advances and Applications PDF Author: Vijai G. Gupta
Publisher: Newnes
ISBN: 0444595643
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
Bioenergy Research: Advances and Applications brings biology and engineering together to address the challenges of future energy needs. The book consolidates the most recent research on current technologies, concepts, and commercial developments in various types of widely used biofuels and integrated biorefineries, across the disciplines of biochemistry, biotechnology, phytology, and microbiology. All the chapters in the book are derived from international scientific experts in their respective research areas. They provide you with clear and concise information on both standard and more recent bioenergy production methods, including hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Chapters are also designed to facilitate early stage researchers, and enables you to easily grasp the concepts, methodologies and application of bioenergy technologies. Each chapter in the book describes the merits and drawbacks of each technology as well as its usefulness. The book provides information on recent approaches to graduates, post-graduates, researchers and practitioners studying and working in field of the bioenergy. It is an invaluable information resource on biomass-based biofuels for fundamental and applied research, catering to researchers in the areas of bio-hydrogen, bioethanol, bio-methane and biorefineries, and the use of microbial processes in the conversion of biomass into biofuels. Reviews all existing and promising technologies for production of advanced biofuels in addition to bioenergy policies and research funding Cutting-edge research concepts for biofuels production using biological and biochemical routes, including microbial fuel cells Includes production methods and conversion processes for all types of biofuels, including bioethanol and biohydrogen, and outlines the pros and cons of each

Energy Research Abstracts

Energy Research Abstracts PDF Author:
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Category : Power resources
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Semiannual, with semiannual and annual indexes. References to all scientific and technical literature coming from DOE, its laboratories, energy centers, and contractors. Includes all works deriving from DOE, other related government-sponsored information, and foreign nonnuclear information. Arranged under 39 categories, e.g., Biomedical sciences, basic studies; Biomedical sciences, applied studies; Health and safety; and Fusion energy. Entry gives bibliographical information and abstract. Corporate, author, subject, report number indexes.

Genomics

Genomics PDF Author: Dr. Daniel Drell
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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In his Advanced Energy Initiative announced in January 2006, President George W. Bush committed the nation to new efforts to develop alternative sources of energy to replace imported oil and fossil fuels. Developing cost-effective and energy-efficient methods of producing renewable alternative fuels such as cellulosic ethanol from biomass and solar-derived biofuels will require transformational breakthroughs in science and technology. Incremental improvements in current bioenergy production methods will not suffice. The Genomics:GTL Bioenergy Research Centers will be dedicated to fundamental research on microbe and plant systems with the goal of developing knowledge that will advance biotechnology-based strategies for biofuels production. The aim is to spur substantial progress toward cost-effective production of biologically based renewable energy sources. This document describes the rationale for the establishment of the centers and their objectives in light of the U.S. Department of Energy's mission and goals. Developing energy-efficient and cost-effective methods of producing alternative fuels such as cellulosic ethanol from biomass will require transformational breakthroughs in science and technology. Incremental improvements in current bioenergy-production methods will not suffice. The focus on microbes (for cellular mechanisms) and plants (for source biomass) fundamentally exploits capabilities well known to exist in the microbial world. Thus 'proof of concept' is not required, but considerable basic research into these capabilities remains an urgent priority. Several developments have converged in recent years to suggest that systems biology research into microbes and plants promises solutions that will overcome critical roadblocks on the path to cost-effective, large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol and other renewable energy from biomass. The ability to rapidly sequence the DNA of any organism is a critical part of these new capabilities, but it is only a first step. Other advances include the growing number of high-throughput techniques for protein production and characterization; a range of new instrumentation for observing proteins and other cell constituents; the rapid growth of commercially available reagents for protein production; a new generation of high-intensity light sources that provide precision imaging on the nanoscale and allow observation of molecular interactions in ultrafast time intervals; major advances in computational capability; and the continually increasing numbers of these instruments and technologies within the national laboratory infrastructure, at universities, and in private industry. All these developments expand our ability to elucidate mechanisms present in living cells, but much more remains to be done. The Centers are designed to accomplish GTL program objectives more rapidly, more effectively, and at reduced cost by concentrating appropriate technologies and scientific expertise, from genome sequence to an integrated systems understanding of the pathways and internal structures of microbes and plants most relevant to developing bioenergy compounds. The Centers will seek to understand the principles underlying the structural and functional design of selected microbial, plant, and molecular systems. This will be accomplished by building technological pathways linking the genome-determined components in an organism with bioenergy-relevant cellular systems that can be characterized sufficiently to generate realistic options for biofuel development. In addition, especially in addressing what are believed to be nearer-term approaches to renewable energy (e.g., producing cellulosic ethanol cost-effectively and energy-efficiently), the Center research team must understand in depth the current industrial-level roadblocks and bottlenecks (see section, GTL's Vision for Biological Energy Alternatives, below). For the Centers, and indeed the entire BER effort, to be successful, Center research must be integrated with individual investigator research, and coordination of activities, from DNA sequencing to high-throughput protein development and characterization.