A newly defined biochemical pathway in plants may provide the scientific tools to design plants that will yield larger quantities of alternative transportation fuels than currently can be produced, according to Purdue University researchers.

More Canadians will soon be putting cleaner biofuels in their vehicles such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Ecological impacts of genetically engineered corn are particularly important because of increased corn demand created by biofuels production

‘Second generation’ biorefineries – those making biofuel from lignocellulosic feedstocks like straw, grasses and wood – have long been touted as the successor to today’s grain ethanol plants, but until now the technology has been considered too expensive to compete.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visit this week in Mexico, Central America and Caribbean to discuss the development of biofuels.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says the poorest countries in the world could prosper in the biofuel industry, which produces fuel from crops such as corn and grain.

China may entirely switch to non-food materials such as cassva, sweet potato, sorgo and cellulose in producing ethanol fuel as a substitute for petroleum, said a government official.

A team of scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia has discovered a way to create engineered minichromosomes in maize and attach genes to those minichromosomes. This discovery opens new possibilities for the development of crops that are multiply resistant to viruses, insects, fungi, bacteria and herbicides, and for the development of proteins and metabolites that can be used to treat human illnesses.

In a breakthrough that could make the production of cellulosic ethanol less expensive, Cornell researchers have discovered a class of plant enzymes that potentially could allow plant materials used to make ethanol to be broken down more efficiently than is possible using current technologies.