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Biofuels

Renewable resource switchgrass for heating and production biofuel. Getty Images.

Sustainable biofuel: Design principles for bioengineered microbe catalysts

The US has been stuck on corn kernels for producing ethanol, rather than woody "cellulosic" material. Efficient microbes for converting cellulose to biofuel could change the game. |Medium Read
Andre Boehman, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Walter E. Lay Automotive Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Photo: Evan Dougherty

The government aims to boost ethanol without evidence that it saves money or helps the environment

Andre Boehman says increasing ethanol blended with gasoline can damage older machines and do little to curb climate change.|Medium Read
Live micro algae that is being introduced as a source of vegetable oils that can be used in the manufacturing of biodiesel fuel to replace the existing traditional agricultural sources of oil. Andre Boehman, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Walter E. Lay Automotive Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Photo: Evan Dougherty

From ponds to power: $2M to perfect algae as a diesel fuel

University of Michigan becomes one of the few institutes in the world working on the problem end-to-end.|Medium Read
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Holy Grail of fuel

Professor Margaret Wooldridge and the Mechanical Engineers inside her lab are developing the tools normally used to calibrate the chemistry behind standard diesel and gasoline to better understand the molecular structure of advanced biofuels and synthetic fuels.|Short Read