December 7, 2012
BY Colorado State University
A Colorado State University team has received a $2 million grant from the U.S. DOE to produce a biological control system for bioenergy crops.
June Medford and Mauricio Antunes, both professors in the biology department, and Ashok Prasad, a professor in chemical and biological engineering, received the grant from Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy, known as ARPA-E, which is the DOE’s advanced research division.
The rising costs of petroleum, combined with its projected shortage in the next few decades, have generated an ever increasing demand for production of fuels from biological sources, or biofuels, Medford said. By 2020, it is estimated that the global market for biofuels trade could reach $520 billion.
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“It is imperative that the nation maintain a leadership position in production of alternative fuels and in generating the needed raw material (feedstock) for the biofuels industry,” Medford said. “Substantial improvement to traditional and nontraditional bioenergy crops will come through precise engineering of traits of interest. A key limitation or bottleneck for these bioenergy crop improvements is the ability to rapidly introduce new traits via genetic transformation.”
The CSU team is experts in synthetic biology, particularly that of plants. Their work was chosen from more than 4,000 submissions and is viewed as transformational to the field of bioenergy.
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Antunes said the work will develop technology that allows rapid and precise improvement of bioenergy crops.
“While our work has specific near-term goals for bioenergy crops, our regulatory genetic circuits could also find application for biofuels, biomanufacturing and bioengineering, allowing the U.S. to retain technological lead in renewable energy,” Medford said.
The USDA significantly increased its estimate for 2025-’26 soybean oil use in biofuel production in its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, released July 11. The outlook for soybean production was revised down.
U.S. fuel ethanol capacity fell slightly in April, while biodiesel and renewable diesel capacity held steady, according to data released by the U.S. EIA on June 30. Feedstock consumption was down when compared to the previous month.
The U.S. EPA on July 8 hosted virtual public hearing to gather input on the agency’s recently released proposed rule to set 2026 and 2027 RFS RVOs. Members of the biofuel industry were among those to offer testimony during the event.
The USDA’s Risk Management Agency is implementing multiple changes to the Camelina pilot insurance program for the 2026 and succeeding crop years. The changes will expand coverage options and provide greater flexibility for producers.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on June 30 released its annual Acreage report, estimating that 83.4 million acres of soybeans have been planted in the U.S. this year, down 4% when compared to 2024.