Foreword
It is impossible to avoid
the land use debate wherever feedstocks are concerned: are we sacrificing
valuable food crop land in order to grow crops for energy or biomass? Can the
available land be successfully managed to find a happy medium between the two?
Does the short-term problem of food scarcity outweigh the long-term problem of
climate change? If there was a right answer to this debate then there wouldn’t
be a debate in the first place. Last month we reported on a study that
demonstrated that only 0.6% of America’s prime food crop land need be utilised
for biomass, and America’s entire biomass needs could still be met. This would,
of course, require...
Other News this Month Includes:
Policy
- Federal funding for US wood
projects
- US Algae Biomass seek support in campaign to
reverse cuts
- Brazil's sugarcane shows food-based biofuels
not necessarily bad - FAO official
- UFOP dubs rapeseed "The Power
Plant"
- WRAP publishes report on organic waste
recycling in the UK
Markets
- Record global wheat stocks expected in 2018
Research & Development
- Improvements in lignin-derived carbon fibres
- Biofuel algae genome sequenced
- Camelina touted as crop solution for
variable conditions
- Inhibiting lignin production increases
cellulose yield from rice fermentation
- Polymer filler from egg shells
- UK to research greenhouse gas removal
possibilities
Wood & Crop
- UK pellet production up, provisional figures
show
- New palm oil strain increases yield with no
increased land-use
- Yield increases maintaining wheat production
growth
- Miscanthus may be good habitat for brown
hares
Feedstock Prices